Graphic Arts Intern. U. v. Graphic Arts Intern. U., 81-6080-CV-SJ.

• Decision Date: 14 January 1982
• Docket Number: No. 81-6080-CV-SJ.,81-6080-CV-SJ.
• Citation: 529 F. Supp. 587
• Parties: GRAPHIC ARTS INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL-CIO, Plaintiff, v. GRAPHIC ARTS INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL NO. 529 (AFL-CIO), a/k/a Graphic Arts Union, Local 529, (AFL-CIO) and Helen Herring, President and Larry Huston, Secretary-Treasurer/Business Agent, Officers of Graphic Arts International Union, No. 529 (AFL-CIO), Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri

529 F. Supp. 587

GRAPHIC ARTS INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL-CIO, Plaintiff, v. GRAPHIC ARTS INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL NO. 529 (AFL-CIO), a/k/a Graphic Arts Union, Local 529, (AFL-CIO) and Helen Herring, President and Larry Huston, Secretary-Treasurer/Business Agent, Officers of Graphic Arts International Union, No. 529 (AFL-CIO), Defendants.

No. 81-6080-CV-SJ.

United States District Court, W. D. Missouri, St. Joseph Division.

January 14, 1982.

David Whipple, Whipple & Kraft, P.C., Kansas City, Mo., Charles A. Werner, Schuchat, Cook & Werner, St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiff.

Ronald S. Reed, Stephen Briggs, St. Joseph, Mo., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SACHS, District Judge.

This is an action brought by Graphic Arts International Union, AFL-CIO ("GAIU" or "the International") against Graphic Arts International Union, Local 529 (AFL-CIO) ("the Local") and two of its officers. The issues are framed in three counts in the First Amended Complaint, filed October 29, 1981, and by defendants' answer and counterclaim filed October 30, 1981. Jurisdiction is alleged under 29 U.S.C. § 185(a), 29 U.S.C. §§ 462, 464, and 29 U.S.C. § 501. Plaintiff seeks to have defendants enjoined from interfering with imposition of an emergency temporary administrator upon the local (a trusteeship), and from disaffiliating with the international, and to have an accounting of the local's assets and their distribution. Defendants counterclaim for injunctive relief from interference by the international in the affairs of the local and the administration by the local of contracts with employers with whom the local allegedly has contracts. A hearing was held November 2, 1981, and November 11, 1981. The parties agreed that the hearing was for the purpose of both preliminary and permanent relief and the trial of the action on the merits was therefore advanced and consolidated with the hearing on the preliminary injunction pursuant to Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The following constitutes the findings of fact and conclusions of law of this Court pursuant to Rule 52(a).

The local was Local 9B of the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders when that union merged with the Lithographers and Photoengravers International Union in 1972, to become the Graphic Arts International Union. Herring and Norton testimony; Plaintiff's Exh. 3. Under the constitution of the new international, the local automatically became an affiliate as though chartered by GAIU. Plaintiff's Exh. 3, § 2.1.A at page 26. On October 1, 1977, a new charter was issued in the name of Local 529, which was formed from a merger of three locals of the international, including 9B. The locals of GAIU are subject to the international to the extent specified in the constitution and by-laws of the international, but "in respect to all other matters each Local is subject only to its membership." Id. at § 1.1. A primary duty of the local is to submit fees to the international, including per capita taxes and special assessments. Id. at § 22.9. Local 529 did so from the creation of GAIU in 1972 through August, 1981. None were paid for September or later. Huston testimony. If no per capita dues are paid for three months, a local is considered delinquent and not in good standing. Norton testimony. Local union dues or assessments are determined and retained locally and are not subject to international regulation. Id. The employer of the overwhelming majority of the local's members, Mead Products, has been holding all dues collected through the check-off procedure since it was notified of this dispute. Hackel testimony.¹ The local is considered a relatively large one, and per capita taxes are generally in the range of $4,000 per month. Norton testimony. The local has received from the international various benefits, including sacrifice benefits in 1979 and 1980 of approximately $180 per member employed at Mead, and strike funding in 1974 of $30,000 per week for eight weeks. Herring and Metzinger testimony. Several witnesses also testified that the international sent various representatives to participate in contract negotiations at Mead. It is not necessary to evaluate the services rendered by the international, as compared with the cost of affiliation. Whether affiliation was beneficial or not was and is a matter for decision by the membership subject to democratic processes and lawful constitutional restrictions.

It is difficult to pinpoint precisely when the local members' dissatisfaction with affiliation with GAIU began. There was some evidence that they opposed the Bookbinders' merger, and that they did not consider their trade to have a common ground with the dominant groups in GAIU. In any event, the hard-fought negotiations for the 1979 Mead contract, Plaintiff's Exh. 14, led to some bitter feelings among the members that the international was not giving them sufficient backing, or that they had otherwise received a less than favorable contract agreement. E.g., Huston testimony. Apparently there have been general discussions since that time of doing something about changing affiliation, but nothing formal was undertaken until the summer of 1981. The Mead contract is still in effect and does not expire until October 31, 1982. That contract recognizes "Graphic Arts Union, Local 529 (AFL-CIO)" as the bargaining agent for unit employees. Plaintiff's Exh. 14 at 1, 49-50.

The disaffiliation issue was raised during the spring officers' elections. Placing the local's money "elsewhere" was also discussed by the executive board as early as May. Defendants' Exh. 3. Huston, around the beginning of July, 1981, talked with stewards and other individuals from each department at Mead to determine the extent of the problem. He stated that "no one" he talked to was "for staying with the GAIU." Also in July, Huston was authorized to go to Washington, D. C., to discuss disaffiliation with an attorney employed by the United Paperworkers International Union.² Herring testimony. Minutes of executive board meetings reflect that on August 27, it was resolved that the President, Secretary-Treasurer and Second Vice-President were "authorized and directed to make all necessary action to preserve and make available for whatever reasons necessary to Local 529 all funds now the property of local 529." Defendants' Exh. 3. Special meetings regarding the funds and disaffiliation were also discussed at that meeting and on September 8, 1981. It was determined that some funds would be kept available for operation, Huston's salary and some other expenses paid a few months in advance, and "all other union funds will be protected, with Larry, Helen and Orville the only members knowing where the money is being held." A motion was made at a September 11 executive board meeting, after a meeting of the board with counsel for the local, to "attempt to refund the money to the membership"; the motion died for lack of a second. However, on September 16, a pro rata share plan based on departmental seniority was discussed, which was detailed and approved at a September 18 meeting.

Meanwhile, notices were posted of the scheduled special meetings. The notices went up on September 15 and petitions were circulated "requesting" the meetings which were returned on September 17 or 18 (the results seem to have been a foregone conclusion). Plaintiff's Exhs. 6-9. The disaffiliation meeting was also advertised in the local labor newspaper. Defendants' Exhs. 1, 2, 7, 8; Herring testimony. Some time before the first of the two special meetings on September 24, the funds of the local were transferred to a new account and cashiers' checks drawn up for the pro rata disbursement. Huston testimony. A separate amount was earmarked for refund at the October 3rd meeting of an assessment that was paid in over the summer (the pro rata share disbursement totalled some $74,000-$75,000; the refund of the assessment approximately $9,000). Funds of $4,000-$5,000 remained in the treasury after the disbursement and refund amounts were withdrawn.

On September 24, approximately 495 of the 700-800 total members attended the special meeting at which funding was discussed. This was a large and apparently representative attendance. A vote was held on the disbursement formula, with the "in favor" vote "impossible to count," Herring testimony, but only one vote in opposition and seven abstentions. Id. A separate vote was then taken on refunding of the assessment, which also was approved. The disbursement was carried out by distribution of the cashier's checks personally to members who picked them up at the union hall, beginning the same day. A record was kept of the amounts of the checks, with members signing a list when they picked them up. Defendants' Exh. 12. The assessment refund was made in cash after the second special meeting October 3rd, with each member who had paid in either $5.00 (one month) or $10.00 (two months), receiving $6.00 or $12.00, respectively, in return. Defendants' Exh. 11; Defendants' Exh. 3; Herring testimony.

On October 3, 1981, votes were taken by ballot on the disaffiliation question. Herring testimony; Plaintiff's Exh. 10. The count in favor of disaffiliating was 584, against, 53, and 3 who "didn't care." The sentiment for disaffiliation apparently crosses all "factional" lines within the local and includes all leadership elements. No person has been identified by name as a leader of the small "loyalist" minority opposing disaffiliation. After the count on this issue was completed by the election committee of five members, Huston addressed the subject of affiliation with a different international, stating that the UPIU "looked good." Herring testimony. A stand-up vote was taken, which indicated that everyone still at the meeting (seven had left between the votes) favored affiliating with UPIU. Id. Later that evening, UPIU presented the officers with a charter for new Local 29. Id.; Plaintiff's Exh. 20.³

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