Henzel v. Cameron

• Decision Date: 18 October 1961
• Citation: 365 P.2d 498,228 Or. 452
• Parties: Joseph M. HENZEL et al., Respondents, v. David H. CAMERON, as Department of Employment Commissioner of the State of Oregon et al., Appellants.
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

Page 498

365 P.2d 498

228 Or. 452

Joseph M. HENZEL et al., Respondents, v. David H. CAMERON, as Department of Employment Commissioner

of the State of Oregon et al., Appellants.

Supreme Court of Oregon, In Banc.

Argued and Submitted May 5, 1961.

Decided Oct. 18, 1961.

E. Nordyke, Asst. Atty. Gen., argued the cause for appellants. With him on the brief were Robert Y. Thornton, Atty. Gen., Roland V. Brown, Ralph W. Taylor and Carlotta H. Sorensen, Asst. Attys. Gen.

Richard R. Carney, Portland, argued the cause for respondents. On the brief were Carney & McCarroll, Portland.

Before McALLISTER, C. J., and ROSSMAN, WARNER, PERRY, SLOAN, O'CONNELL and GOODWIN, JJ.

ROSSMAN, Justice.

This is an appeal by the defendant, Department of Employment Commissioner, from a judgment of the circuit court which reversed a decision of the Appeals Board of that department. The circuit court directed that the claims of the plaintiffs (employee claimants) be referred back to the defendant, David H. Cameron, as Department of Employment Commissioner so that he may fix and pay unemployment compensation benefits to the plaintiffs for the period of August 10, 1958, to September 20, 1958, without deeming the plaintiffs disqualified on account of a labor dispute. Hereafter, Mr. Cameron (the defendant-appellant) and the plaintiff-respondents will be referred to respectively as the commissioner and the claimants.

The claimants are employees of trucking firms that operate in Oregon and are members of Teamster unions under the jurisdiction of Joint Council No. 37 which covers Oregon and some southern Washington counties. Two types or classes of drivers are involved: (1) line drivers (intercity) and (2) terminal drivers (pickup and delivery, intracity). The claimants seek unemployment benefits for the period August 10, 1958, to September 20, 1958, during which they were unemployed because of a lockout effected by their employers who are members of the Truck Operators League of Oregon.

The events leading up to the lockout developed in the following manner. The contracts under which the claimants and the employers had been working expired May 1, 1958. Prior to 1958 negotiations between claimants' employers and the union were on a state-by-state basis. Negotiations for the 1958 contract, however, were attempted by the Western Conference of Teamsters on a multi-state basis and sought to effect a master agreement with employers of eleven western states represented by the Western Empire Operators Association.

The negotiations in question were carried on, for the most part, in San Francisco. The goal of the negotiating committees was to arrive at a master agreement, covering non-cost items which would encompass the eleven western states. This master agreement was then to be applied to the respective areas by supplements which would cover the cost items.

It was agreeable to both union and employer representatives to proceed on the master agreement-supplement basis for the long line drivers, but the employers, at the beginning, declined the union's efforts to negotiate for the terminal employees on an eleven state basis.

Negotiations with respect to the master agreement were almost completed and negotiations regarding the supplemental agreements had been entered into when an impasse was reached with respect to the supplementals on or about May 25, 1958. In an effort to save the negotiations from failure an off-the-record meeting of some of the leaders in the negotiations was held and as a result a proposal in the form of a memorandum was submitted to the group present in San Francisco on May 27, 1958. It was at this juncture in the negotiations that the employers state that the negotiations for the terminal drivers swung over to an eleven state basis, for the May 27 memorandum applied specifically to terminal as well as long line drivers. The May 27 memorandum applied to all of the eleven western states.

The group in San Francisco accepted the May 27 memorandum and agreed to submit it to their respective memberships. Voting on this memorandum was conducted as follows: (1) line drivers: vote of all union members in the eleven western states, majority to rule; (2) terminal drivers: vote to be on a local area basis. The Oregon employers accepted the May 27 memorandum as did the terminal locals in Oregon. The Oregon line drivers voted against the memorandum, but as it was accepted by a majority of the line drivers in the eleven western states, it was deemed accepted by all. Various areas, such as the Oakland and the Sacramento areas, rejected the May 27 memorandum with respect to terminal drivers.

In San Francisco the Western Conference of Teamsters and the Western Empire Operators Association had agreed that they would meet in Seattle in June of 1958 to conclude formally all the agreements at the same time. However, when it developed that some areas had refused to accept the terminal contract as it was set out in the memorandum of May 27, the employers, comprising the Western Empire Operators Association, refused to conclude the agreements when they reached Seattle.

No further negotiations on an eleven state basis were held in June or July of 1958--the employers stood on the May 27 memorandum. July 25, 1958, the Oakland local union went on strike for approximately a week due to a dispute over the terminal drivers' agreement. Long line operations throughout the eleven western states continued during this strike. Shortly thereafter the employers heard 'rumbles' that there was a possibility of a strike occurring in the Sacramento Valley area by one of the locals due to a dispute its members were having over the pickup and delivery agreement. The Vice Chairman of the Western States Employers Negotiating Committee, in response to the rumors of a strike, sent a telegram August 4, 1958, to the unions in the eleven western states which declared the employers' policy that 'a strike against one is a strike against all.' August 11, 1958, seven days after the telegram was sent, the members of Joint Council No. 38, which includes the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valley areas of California, went on strike because of a dispute over the terminal drivers' contract.

The employers, including the Truck Operator League of Oregon, on August 11, 1958, invoked their policy of 'a strike against one is a strike against all' as they had warned they would. Normal operations were closed as soon as the docks had been cleared and on-the-road freight delivered, except for some emergency hauling permitted by the League. Throughout the lockout the claimants were ready and willing to work and needed no permission from their local unions to accept work. But for the lockout work would have been available to the claimants to the same extent as prior to the lockout.

On September 18, 1958, a stipulation was entered into by the parties and the lockout was terminated. Pursuant to the stipulation final agreements were entered into to become effective May 1, 1958. There are several differences between the May 27 memorandum and the final agreements with respect to both the line drivers and the terminal drivers. The differences with respect to the line drivers' contract were: (a) a cost-of-living clause was added to the final agreement; (b) a delay in the employer increase in health and welfare benefits until July 1, 1959; (c) an additional week's vacation after twelve years' service was added. Regarding the terminal drivers the differences were: (a) the wage formula of 10-10-10 was changed to 10-10-4-4; (b) a cost-of-living clause was added; (c) an additional week's vacation after twelve years of service was added.

The claimants sought unemployment benefits for the period August 10, 1958, to September 20, 1958. Their claims were denied by deputy decisions which found that their unemployment was due to a labor dispute in active progress at the place of employment. The claimants appealed from the deputy decisions and a hearing was had before an appeals referee of the Department of Employment. Two separate referee decisions were entered, one concerning the line drivers and the other concerning the terminal drivers, each of which affirmed the deputy decisions. Thereafter application was made by the claimants for review by the Appeals Board of the Department of Employment. On January 26, 1960, the Appeals, Board entered a decision which affirmed that of the referee; it held that a labor dispute existed and that all of the claimants were unemployed in the period of August 10, 1958, to September 20, 1958, because of a labor dispute in which they were 'directly' interested. It further held that the labor dispute disqualified the claimants from receiving unemployment compensation under the purview of ORS 657.200 (1) which provides as follows:

'An individual is disqualified for benefits for any week with respect to which the commissioner finds that his unemployment is due to a labor dispute which is in active progress at the factory, establishment or other premises at which he is or was last employed or at which he claims employment rights by union agreement or otherwise.'

Claimants then sought judicial review in the circuit court. August 23, 1960, that court reversed the decision of the Appeals Board and referred the claims back to the commissioner. The circuit court, while agreeing that the claimants had been unemployed due to a labor dispute, held that a proper interpretation of the act exempted the claimants as not 'directly' interested and, therefore, pursuant to ORS 657.200 (3) were not disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation. ORS 657.200 (3) declares:

'This section does not apply if it is shown to the satisfaction of the commissioner that the individual:

'(a) Is not participating in or financing or directly interested in the labor dispute which caused his unemployment; and

'(b) Does not belong to a grade or class of workers of which, immediately before the...