Hodgson v. United Mine Workers of America, Civ. A. No. 662-70.

• Decision Date: 15 June 1972
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 662-70.
• Citation: 344 F. Supp. 17
• Parties: James D. HODGSON, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, Plaintiff, and Mike Trbovich, Intervenor, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

344 F. Supp. 17

James D. HODGSON, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, Plaintiff and Mike Trbovich, Intervenor, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 662-70.

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

May 1, 1972.

Order June 15, 1972.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

David Orlikoff, Paul D. Cullen, J. M. Cogbill, Dept. of Justice, Edwin Hopson, Robert Logather, John Perry, George Avery, Dept. of Labor, for plaintiff.

Jeremiah C. Collins, Belford V. Lawson, Edward L. Carey, Gen. Counsel of the UMWA, C. L. Widman, E. C. Dudley, Jr., Richard M. Cooper, Washington, D. C., for defendant.

Joseph V. Rauh, Jr., Clarice Feldman, Washington, D. C., Daniel B. Edelman, Joseph A. Yablonski, for plaintiff intervenor.

OPINION

BRYANT, District Judge.

This action was instituted by the Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, as plaintiff, under Titles II and IV of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. § 401 et seq.), hereinafter referred to as the Act,¹ for a judgment declaring the election held by the United Mine Workers of America, hereinafter referred to as the defendant or the UMWA, on December 9, 1969, null and void and directing the conduct of a new election under the supervision of the plaintiff, and for an order directing and compelling defendant and its subordinate districts to maintain records as required by Section 206 of the Act (29 U.S.C. § 436).

On January 17, 1972, the United States Supreme Court granted Mike Trbovich, a member in good standing of the UMWA, leave to intervene in the Title IV aspects of this action under Rule 24(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Trbovich v. United Mine Workers of America, 404 U.S. 528, 92 S.Ct. 630, 30 L.Ed.2d 686 (1972), and he thereafter fully participated in this action, through counsel, as a party plaintiff. Defendant, an unincorporated association engaged in collective bargaining, is an international labor organization engaged in an industry affecting commerce within the meaning of the Act, and maintains a principal office at 900—15th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C., within the jurisdiction of this court.

Structurally the UMWA is a three-tiered organization composed of the International, Districts and Local unions. It has twenty-three districts and between 1290 and 1300 locals, with a total membership variously estimated to be between 193,000 and 200,000 in the United States and Canada. Of this number approximately 120,000 are actively engaged in mining coal and the remainder are retired pensioners. At the International level the president shares the responsibility of general supervision of the union with the International Executive Board. The districts are intermediate organizations having supervision over the local unions within their geographical boundaries, thus constituting a direct link between the International and the locals, inasmuch as the International Executive Board members are chosen from the districts. Of the districts, only four are autonomous; two are semi-autonomous and the remainder are provisional districts. In autonomous districts the local union members elect both the district officers and the International Executive Board members. In semi-autonomous districts the officers are appointed by the International President and the International Executive Board member is elected by the local union members. In the provisional districts, i. e., those in trusteeship, the officers are appointed by the International President and the Executive Board members are elected by the International convention. The International President appoints the nominating committee which presents the slate of candidates for the International Executive Board to the convention, and there has never been any opposition to the slate presented to the convention by the nominating committee. Thus it appears that for all practical purposes the International Executive Board members are chosen by the president. The authority to hire and fire most of the district personnel and International representatives puts almost complete control of the entire union in the hands of the president.

On December 9, 1969 the defendant held a regularly scheduled election of International officers, i. e., president, vice-president, secretary-treasurer, auditors, and tellers. The defendant's constitution requires that the election of International officers be conducted in each of its local unions, and clearly indicates that the local union election officials are agents of the International in the conduct of the election and accountable to it for any misconduct.

W. A. "Tony" Boyle, President, George J. Titler, Vice-President, and John Owens, Secretary-Treasurer, were candidates for reelection. On May 29, 1969 Joseph A. Yablonski publicly announced his candidacy for the presidency of the union, and the subsequent election campaign was primarily a bitter confrontation between him and Boyle. The entire Boyle slate was successful, including the candidates for International auditor and credential committee and International tellers. The results of the election were: for president, Boyle 80,577, Yablonski 46,073; for vice-president, Titler 77,379, Elmer Brown 45,151; for secretary-treasurer, Owens 102,346. Owens had been unopposed for reelection.

Alleging numerous violations of the Act and also the UMWA constitution, Yablonski filed an internal challenge to the election results with the International tellers and notified the three principal officers that he intended to present his protest to the next meeting of the International Executive Board as a further step in exhausting his internal remedies as required by the Act (Section 402(a) of the Act) 29 U.S.C. § 482(a).

Joseph Yablonski, his wife and daughter were found murdered in their home on January 5, 1970.

On January 8, 1970 defendant's general counsel, acting on behalf of the defendant, requested an immediate investigation of the election by the United States Department of Labor, waiving post election exhaustion of internal remedies required by Section 402(a) of the Act (29 U.S.C. § 482(a)). After the official report of the results of the election had been issued, Mike Trbovich, a member in good standing of defendant, through counsel, filed a written complaint with the Secretary of Labor challenging the conduct of the December 9, 1969 election of officers in which he incorporated by reference the complaint filed on December 18, 1969 by Yablonski. Plaintiff, in accordance with the provisions of the Act, immediately conducted an investigation of the complaints and found probable cause to believe that violations of Title IV of the Act had occurred in the conduct of the election at all levels of the union, and had not been remedied at the time of the filing of this action; and in addition that defendant had failed and was still failing to maintain records and to require its subordinate districts to maintain records on matters required to be reported under Title II of the Act (29 U.S.C. § 431 et seq.), which provides that labor organizations subject to the Act retain the necessary basic information and data from which documents filed with the plaintiff may be verified, explained or clarified and checked for accuracy and completeness as required by Section 206 of the Act (29 U.S.C. § 436). Thereupon this suit was filed.

One of plaintiff's principal reasons for asking that the election results be declared null and void is that the defendant used union assets to promote the candidacy of its incumbent International officers. This allegedly occurred through misuse of the union's Journal, the purchase and distribution of campaign materials, the manipulation of salary increases to its employees, and various other ways. The defendant denies any wrong doing in this regard, and claims that in most instances the matters complained of were nothing more or less than normal and traditional union activity.

THE JOURNAL

The United Mine Workers Journal is the official publication of the UMWA and is published and distributed free semi-monthly to the entire membership by a printing company which is furnished with a mailing list for that purpose. All this is completely financed by union funds. The editor of the Journal is an experienced journalist who serves at the pleasure of the International Executive Board which in turn has full power to decide all questions concerning publication, business management and policy. Journalistic policy is subject to the direct influence of President Boyle.

The election of 1964 marked the first time in the history of the union that the International President had been challenged. At that time, though not a serious threat to Boyle, a virtual unknown named Steve "Cadillac" Kochis did run against him. Although the Yablonski candidacy did not surface until May 29, 1969, the incumbent president knew as early as February 1969 that there were two contenders for his office: the same Steve "Cadillac" Kochis, and yet another, named Elijah Wolford.

Beginning with the March 1, 1969 issue and continuing until enjoined by the issuance of a restraining order by Judge Waddy of this court on August 28, 1969, the type of coverage given to the International officers by the Journal clearly supports the charge that it was a campaign instrument for the incumbents. The issues from March 1 through June 1 are replete with speeches, statements and pictures of Boyle, Titler and Owens. The April 15 issue even carried a convention song for Tony Boyle to be sung to the tune of "Hello Dolly," the first verse of which is

"Hello Tony and Hello Johnny, and Hello to Big George Titler, too.

You're looking great fellows, We're feeling great fellows to be led by men the likes of all of you."

A none too subtle clue to the determination to use the Journal as an effective campaign sheet is revealed when we note that up to the time Yablonski announced...