Hartford Div., Emhart Industries, Inc. v. Amalgamated Local Union 376, U.A.W.

• Decision Date: 14 June 1983
• Citation: 190 Conn. 371,461 A.2d 422
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: , 119 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2860, 99 Lab.Cas. P 55,411 HARTFORD DIVISION, EMHART INDUSTRIES, INC. v. AMALGAMATED LOCAL UNION 376, U.A.W., et al.

Page 422

461 A.2d 422

190 Conn. 371, 119 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2860,

99 Lab.Cas. P 55,411

HARTFORD DIVISION, EMHART INDUSTRIES, INC. v. AMALGAMATED LOCAL UNION 376, U.A.W., et al.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued March 4, 1983.

Decided June 14, 1983.

[190 Conn. 372] J. William Gagne, Jr., Hartford, with whom, on the brief, was David A. Swaine, Hartford, for appellants (defendants).

Henry J. Kelston, Hartford, with whom, on the brief, was Burton Kainen, Hartford, for appellee (plaintiff).

Before PETERS, HEALEY, PARSKEY, SHEA and GRILLO, JJ.

ARTHUR H. HEALEY, Associate Justice.

The plaintiff in this case is the Hartford Division of Emhart Industries, Inc. (Emhart). Emhart operates a manufacturing plant located in Windsor. The defendant, Local 376 of the International Union of United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (union), is the certified bargaining representative of Emhart's employees. There are also six individually named defendants. Philip Wheeler, James Bowen and Robert Madore are all officers of the union; Wheeler is president, while Bowen and Madore are the business agents for the union. Joseph Belliveau, Felix Velez and George Johnson are all employees of Emhart and members of the union. In addition, Belliveau is the shop chairman for the union, and Velez and Johnson were designated as "picket captains" for the union by Wheeler.

At midnight on September 12, 1982, the then existing collective bargaining agreement between Emhart and the union expired. Because the parties were unable to negotiate a new contract, the union commenced a strike against Emhart immediately upon the expiration of the old contract. The union began picketing the plant on Monday morning, September 13, 1982. On Wednesday, September 15, 1982, Emhart filed a verified complaint and an application for a temporary restraining order, a temporary injunction and a permanent injunction, alleging that the union and the individually named defendants were engaged in unlawful conduct. Hearings on Emhart's request for injunctive relief began on September 17, 1982, and concluded on October 5, 1982. On October 13, 1982, the trial court, Kremski, J., filed a "Memorandum of Decision and Finding of Facts," in which it found that there was a basis for issuing a temporary injunction. It, therefore, granted Emhart's request for a temporary injunction, attaching a copy of its order to the memorandum. ¹

The defendants appealed from this order on October 25, 1982.

Although the defendants have raised a number of issues in their brief, these issues can be synthesized into three broad claims. ² Their first claim is that, pursuant to the criteria set forth in General Statutes §§ 31-114 ³ and 31-115, ⁴ there was insufficient evidence to justify the issuance of a temporary injunction against any of the individually named defendants or the union. Their second claim is that the injunction issued by the trial court was overly broad and vague. Finally, they claim that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence certain documents as full exhibits.

At the time that the strike began there were 318 union members ⁵ working at Emhart's plant in Windsor, and 287 nonunion employees. There are four entrances to the plant. Two of the entrances open onto Day Hill Road in Windsor, while the other two open onto Addison Road. Once the picketing began, however, only one entrance was used except for limited time periods. This entrance was designated as Gate A on a map of the plant introduced into evidence by Emhart, and was referred to as such throughout the proceedings. The decision to utilize one entrance was apparently reached after the chief of the Windsor police force, Maxie L. Patterson, cautioned Emhart officials against the use of all four Picketers began to arrive at the plant at around 5 a.m. on Monday, September 13. From that date until the date of the hearings, the defendants admit that picketing took place on a 24 hour basis. A number of employees testified to delays of up to two hours caused by the picketing, particularly during the peak rush hours in the mornings. One employee also testified to a similar delay when he attempted to leave the plant on the afternoon of the first day of picketing. In addition, Emhart introduced into evidence, over the union's objection, the time cards of the employees who reported to work, as well as a summary of the hours they lost during the first week of the strike. The summary indicated that the total number of hours lost due to strike delay was 1248. These delays were a result of the manner in which the picketing was conducted. The court found that the defendants "picketed in mass" at the gate to the plaintiff's plant. The picketers would walk in a circular line in the driveway leading to Gate A. No car was permitted to pass through this circular line, either to enter or to leave the plant, until the picketers made a full rotation. The trial court estimated that anywhere between ten and thirty pickets would walk in the circle, with each rotation taking between one and one-half and two minutes. The court found that the rate at which vehicles were permitted to pass through the picket line was from 30 to 40 per hour. This, in turn, caused the traffic to back up for a number of blocks impeding traffic on the adjoining streets. The court found that the pickets employed the same tactics when the plaintiff's employees were leaving the premises. Furthermore, although the court found that the number of picketers walking in the circular picket line was ten to thirty, there was also testimony that the actual number of picketers surrounding the plant was, at times, much greater.

                gates.   Chief Patterson testified that he told the officials:  "That for them to utilize the gates, it would require a considerable amount of manpower on my part to insure that the vehicles could be safely gotten in, that traffic could be adequately handled to preclude any serious injuries, and particularly along Day Hill Road, because we're talking about a peak traffic hour period, at approximately--from the time period of seven o'clock until eight o'clock in the morning, and also the evening hours, when the plant lets out, and at the time frame of approximately four twenty p.m., and I did express to him that I did have some reservations about the safety of being able to utilize those gates."
                

The picketers intimidated some nonstriking employees who attempted to enter the plant by subjecting them to verbal abuse and to verbal threats. In addition, one employee testified that he observed a picketer copying down license plate numbers of the cars that drove through the picket line. There was also evidence of individual acts of violence and vandalism. At one point, on Monday, September 20, about fifty picketers surrounded a nonstriking employee's blue Honda automobile and jumped up and down on it, kicked its sides, pounded on the roof, scratched some paint off and cracked its windshield, and also verbally threatened the driver. This incident led to the arrest of one of the picketers.

There were also reports introduced into evidence, over the defendants' objection, which were prepared by agents of Burns International Security Services, Inc., whose duties included securing the building and the property and filling out these reports. Certain of these reports indicated that on three separate occasions people having business with Emhart drove up to the plant and were either verbally harassed or prevented from entering. On one occasion, a bottle was thrown at a vehicle. There were also numerous reports that on different days unidentified strikers would drop or throw glass bottles and ball bearings on the premises of the plant.

There was substantial evidence describing the action of the union and the individual defendants during the strike. The union president, Wheeler, testified that it was the In addition, Wheeler testified that he was present at the time of the incident that occurred on September 20, where a nonstriking employee's car was surrounded and repeatedly battered by a group of picketers who also subjected the driver to verbal threats. Rather than directing his attention to curtail the actions of the picketers, however, Wheeler yelled at the guard, telling him to open the gate.

                union's normal procedure to set up a rotational picket line and to let cars pass through only after the picketers had completed a full rotation.   There was testimony that Felix Velez, whom Wheeler appointed along with George Johnson to take care of the picketers, was controlling the picket line and determining when to let cars pass through the line.   There was also testimony that all six of the individual defendants were near the gate while picketing was going on and that Bowen, Belliveau, Johnson and Velez actually participated in the picketing.   Furthermore, as has been previously noted, while the picketing was taking place the people who went through the line were subjected to verbal harassment.   One of the police reports introduced by Emhart stated that the "labor leaders" 6 [190 Conn. 379] aggravated the situation on one occasion by informing the picketers that they "could legally continue" being verbally abusive towards the occupants of the vehicles passing through the picket line
                

In regard to the activity of the police in supervising the picket line it is evident from the record that, for the most part, from Monday, September 13, when the picketing began, until Thursday, September 16, the police took little action to prevent the picketers from engaging in their rotational picketing. It is also clear, however, that the police did not determine how the picketers should conduct their picket line. When the police arrived on the first day that the picketing started, September 13, the picketers had already established their procedure of letting one car through after each revolution. Wheeler himself testified that this was...