General Iron Corp. v. Livingston
| Decision Date | 25 September 1957 |
| Docket Number | D,AFL-CI |
| Citation | 170 N.Y.S.2d 581,8 Misc.2d 538 |
| Parties | GENERAL IRON CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. David LIVINGSTON, individually and as President, and Cleveland Robinson, individually and as Secretary-Treasurer, of District 65, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union,efendants. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court |
Samuel P. Shapiro, Brooklyn, for plaintiff.
Weisman, Allan, Spett & Sheinberg, New York City (Irving Rozen, New York City, of counsel), for defendant.
Cooper, Ostrin & DeVarco, New York City (Herman E. Cooper and Eugene N. Sosnoff, New York City, of counsel), for amici curiae.
This is a motion for a temporary injunction to compel the defendants and others affiliated with District 65, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union, AFL-CIO, to cease picketing plaintiff's premises. Defendants cross-move to dismiss the complaint for legal insufficiency on the ground that it fails to comply with the provisions of section 876-a of the Civil Practice Act in that a labor dispute is involved.
Plaintiff operates a business engaged in the manufacture of wrought iron furniture at 2715 West Fifteenth Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., and on May 15, 1957, entered into a collective bargaining agreement for a period of three years with the Allied Trades Local 18, National Industrial Union Council, a labor organization which is not a party to this proceeding, and which agreement covers wages, hours, working conditions and other terms of employment.
Plaintiff alleges that in August, 1957, the defendants demanded that plaintiff tear up the contract it had with Local 18 and that a new contract be signed with it. This the plaintiff refused to do and plaintiff alleges that as a result, and since September 4, 1957, the defendants have persuaded, coerced and intimidated about seventeen of plaintiff's employees to go out on strike and to picket plaintiff's premises. Plaintiff alleges further that the defendants have picketed in large groups barring ingress to and egress from plaintiff's place of business, have committed some violent acts which have intimidated plaintiff's employees and have stopped deliveries of merchandise to plaintiff's place of business. Plaintiff also alleges that the placards carried by the pickets and the statements made by them that a 'strike' is in progress is an attempt on the part of the defendants to mislead the public to believe that a bona fide labor dispute is involved, whereas it is merely a struggle between two rival unions for the privilege of representing plaintiff's employees. Plaintiff also asserts that the damage resulting from the defendants' acts of picketing, intimidation and coercion are incalculable and irreparable.
It is defendants' contention that Local 18 corruptly and collusively signed a 'sweetheart' contract with the plaintiff simply as an 'insurance policy' in an attempt to protect and defend the plaintiff against honest trade unionism and in an attempt by plaintiff to subjugate and exploit its employees. Defendants also allege that the overwhelming majority of plaintiff's employees have joined up with the defendant District 65 and have gone out on strike. These allegations are categorically denied by the plaintiff.
The facts in this case are almost identical with those presented to the court in J. Radley Metzger Co., Inc., v. Fay, Sup., ...
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...employer is under contract with another union, the picketing has an unlawful objective and should be enjoined (General Iron Corp. v. Livingston, 8 Misc.2d 538, 170 N.Y.S.2d 581, affirmed 4 A.D.2d 959, 168 N.Y.S.2d 470; J. Radley Metzger Co. v. Fay, 4 A.D.2d 436, 166 N.Y.S.2d 87, motion for ......