Haughton v. International Woodworkers of America

• Decision Date: 12 December 1958
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 9854.
• Citation: 168 F. Supp. 273
• Parties: Laurence D. HAUGHTON and Maude Haughton, Copartners, doing business under the Name and Style of Elk Creek Logging Company, Plaintiffs, v. INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA (AFL-CIO) et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Oregon

168 F. Supp. 273

Laurence D. HAUGHTON and Maude Haughton, Copartners, doing business under the Name and Style of Elk Creek Logging Company, Plaintiffs, v. INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA (AFL-CIO) et al., Defendants.

Civ. No. 9854.

United States District Court D. Oregon.

December 12, 1958.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Hart, Spencer, McCulloch, Rockwood & Davies, and Gray & Lister, Portland, Or., for plaintiffs.

George & Conway, Harry George Jr., Portland, Or., for defendants.

EAST, District Judge.

Plaintiffs (Elk Creek) in this cause have instituted this action under Sec. 303(b) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, as amended, hereafter called the "Act," 29 U.S.C.A. 187(b)¹ alleging that the Defendants are engaged in a strike forbidden by Sec. 303(a) (1) of the Act, which provides in part:

"(a) It shall be unlawful * * in an industry or activity affecting commerce, for any labor organization to engage in, or to induce or encourage the employees of any employer to engage in, a strike * *, where an object thereof is —

"(1) forcing or requiring any employer * * * to cease doing business with any other person." 29 U.S.C.A. § 187(a).

Elk Creek owns and operates a logging operation in the State of Oregon.

Defendant Local Union 5-40, International Woodworkers of America (Local), and Defendant Columbia River District Council No. 5 (Council) are labor organizations within the provisions of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947. 29 U.S.C.A. § 141 et seq.

This action against International Woodworkers of America (AFL-CIO), has been voluntarily dismissed.

Elk Creek is a private logging contractor who by bid offers its services to timber owners to log and transport obtained logs to appropriate mills for lumber products. For some 12 years prior to May 12, 1958, Elk Creek had a collective bargaining agreement with Local. Sometime during the year 1953, Elk Creek entered into a separate agreement called a "Truck Seniority Agreement" with Local, whereby a formula was agreed upon as to what trucks and drivers Elk Creek would employ to transport the logs. Under this agreement Elk Creek leased log trucks from independent operators, but supplied its own drivers. Drivers and trucks worked under this Agreement until May 7, 1958. On or about May 1, 1958, Elk Creek entered into an oral contract, later reduced to writing on June 10, 1958, whereby one Carignan was to transport Elk Creek's logs on an independent-contractor basis. Commencing on May 12, 1958, Carignan, as per his agreement with Elk Creek, began hauling all of Elk Creek's logs. This resulted in a dismissal of many of the trucks and drivers who had worked for Elk Creek under the "Truck Seniority Agreement." On May 19, 1958, pickets appeared and a strike occurred at Elk Creek's logging operation, the dispute arising between Local and Elk Creek over the alleged violation of the "Truck Seniority Agreement."

Local contends that Elk Creek unilaterally created the situation that resulted in the strike by breaching the existing labor contract between the parties. Local specifies two reasons for the breach, being a failure to follow the contract with regard to:

(1) Truck and truck driver seniority; and

(2) Subcontracting only with subcontractors having bargaining agreements with Local.

This Court finds that there was a valid contract binding the parties involved to follow the formula controlling truck drivers and truck seniority and that this formula had been closely adhered to by both parties since its inception in 1953. But this contract does not bind this Court to find that Elk Creek is guilty of unfair practices by refusing to follow the formula and instead hiring an independent contractor. A collective bargaining agreement is not a guarantee of continued employment for employees unless it clearly and unequivocally so provides. Sloan v. Journal Publishing Co., Or.1958, 324 P.2d 449.

The contract between Elk Creek and Local contained no specific provision binding Elk Creek to indefinitely follow the "Truck Seniority Agreement." This Court adheres to the reasoning of Dairy Workers v. Detroit Creamery Co., 38 Labor Relations Reference Manual 2303, 2304, where the Court said:

"The mere signing of a collective bargaining agreement does not deprive the company of its normal rights of management, and no intention to yield or impair such inherent managerial functions, including the right to subcontract, can be implied by such signing. Management may, if it chooses, restrict its freedom of action in this field, but its intention to yield its inherent prerogatives must be found in the agreement."

However, it does not follow that an employer may indiscriminately disregard his contract with the bargaining union, but if management acts in good faith and for a legitimate business purpose, changes in operating procedures are not violative of the Act. Sloan v. Journal Publishing Co., supra. This Court is satisfied that Elk Creek's abandonment of the "Truck Seniority Agreement" rested on sound business reasons.

Local has argued extensively the question of whether Carignan was in fact an independent contractor and has presented to this Court some 36 different criteria to show Carignan is performing exactly the same work in the same manner as was done prior to May 7, 1958,² by the union-member truck owners and drivers who were discharged on said date. Local contends that Carignan is not a true independent contractor and that Carignan's work is so interdependent upon, and highly integrated into, Elk Creek's operation that Elk Creek is merely conducting a "straight line" and/or "ally" operation within the framework set down by Douds v. Metropolitan Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists & Technicians, Local 231, D.C. 1948, 75 F.Supp. 672 and related cases; N. L. R. B. v. Business Mach. and Office Appliances, Mechanics Conference Board, Local 459, 2 Cir., 1955, 228 F.2d 553; N. L. R. B. v. Truck Drivers & Helpers Local Union 728, 5 Cir., 1956, 228 F.2d 791; H. N. Thayer Co. v. Binnall, D.C. 1949, 82 F.Supp. 566; Mills v. United Ass'n of Journeymen and Apprentices of Plumbers and Pipe Fitting Industry of United States and Canada, D.C.1949, 83 F.Supp. 240, and therefore Carignan is not "another person" within the meaning of Sec. 303(a) (1) of the Act. 29 U.S.C.A. § 187(a) (1). This Court finds that the rationale of these cases inapplicable to the situation present here. Oregon's primary industry being the lumber industry, this Court will take judicial notice of the fact that the customary way of doing business in the logging industry is by subcontract as here involved, and the inherent nature of the industry prohibits entirely segregated action by the interested parties. Mere cooperation between a contractor and the principal does not preclude the existence of an independent contractor relationship. N. L. R. B. v. Denver Building and Construction Trades Council, 1951, 341 U.S. 675, 71 S.Ct. 943, 95 L.Ed. 1284, 1285.

Local's second primary contention is that Elk Creek breached the existing labor contract between the parties by failing to subcontract only with a contractor having an existing labor agreement with Local. This contention centers around the terms of Article 8, Paragraph 2 of the Working Agreement between Elk Creek and Local, dated October 28, 1957. This paragraph is set out in the margin.³

Carignan, the independent contractor, although a union member, has no existing labor agreement with Local. By a careful reading of said paragraph, it is evident that the term "bona fide contract" has no application to the loghauling contract between Elk Creek and Carignan. Taken in context with the Agreement as a whole, this reference is limited to the operation of falling the timber and not the transportation of the logs. The contract between Elk Creek and Local being so limited, the subsequent contract between Elk Creek and Carignan must be held valid in that regard.

In this action, Elk Creek bases its complaint upon a violation of Sec. 303(a) (1) of the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 187. The counterpart of Sec. 303(a) is contained in Sec. 8(b) (4) (A) of the Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158, describing such procedure as an unfair labor practice on the part of a labor organization. Section 303 was enacted to give the injured party the right to sue for damages without waiting for, or resorting to, administrative proceedings. International Longshoremen & Warehousemen Union v. Juneau Spruce Corp., 342 U.S. 237, 72 S.Ct. 235, 96 L.Ed. 275. Section 303(b) of the Act has given the district courts general jurisdiction over unfair labor practices enumerated in Sec. 303, as distinct from the exclusive jurisdiction of the...