Huffman v. Ford Motor Co.

• Decision Date: 03 March 1952
• Docket Number: No. 11448.,11448.
• Citation: 195 F.2d 170
• Parties: HUFFMAN v. FORD MOTOR CO. et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

195 F.2d 170 (1952)

HUFFMAN v. FORD MOTOR CO. et al.

No. 11448.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

March 3, 1952.

Herbert H. Monsky, Louisville, Ky., Herbert H. Monsky, Louisville, Ky., on brief, for appellant.

Louis Seelbach, Louisville, Ky., Eugene B. Cochran, Louisville, Ky., on brief, for Ford Motor Co.

Sol Goodman, Cincinnati, Ohio, for U.A. W.-C.I.O.

Before HICKS, Chief Judge, and ALLEN and McALLISTER, Circuit Judges.

ALLEN, Circuit Judge.

The principal question presented by this appeal is the validity of a seniority provision in a collective bargaining agreement between appellee Ford Motor Company, the employer, and appellee International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO. Petition for declaratory judgment and answers by both appellees were filed. All parties moved for summary judgment. The court sustained the motions of the appellees and dismissed the action.

The case arises out of the following facts, which are uncontradicted:

Huffman, the appellant, was employed by the Ford Motor Company September 23, 1943. He entered the military service of the United States November 18, 1944, and was discharged July 1, 1946. Within thirty days he was reemployed by Ford, as his petition states, "with his seniority unimpaired and continuing to date from his original hiring-in date as provided by the federal statute (50 U.S.C.App. 308)."

Huffman, a member of the CIO, is still employed by the Ford Motor Company. His petition for declaratory judgment alleges in substance that he and approximately 275 other employees at the Ford plant in Louisville, Kentucky, constitute a class whose positions on the seniority roster have been made lower than they rightfully would be under their true hiring-in dates. He alleges that employees of another class have had their positions on the seniority roster at the Louisville plant improved and stand higher than they rightfully would under their true hiring-in dates, due to a clause of the applicable collective bargaining contract between Ford and the CIO. These allegations are admitted by the CIO and by Ford with exception of the number of employees in each class. July 30, 1946, prior to Huffman's reinstatement, the CIO and Ford made the following agreement:

"Section 13-(a) Any employee covered by the terms of this contract who left his employment with the Company subsequent to May 1, 1940, in order to perform training or service in the land or naval forces or the Merchant Marine of the United States, (or the armed forces of the allies) or who shall hereafter leave his employment for such purpose while the United States is at war, shall accumulate seniority during his period of such service subsequent to May 1, 1940. He shall be reinstated on the basis of his accumulated seniority. * * *

"(c) Any veteran of World War II who was not employed by any person or company at the time of his entry into the service * * * and who is hired by the company after he is relieved from training and service * * * shall, upon having been employed for six (6) months and not before, receive seniority credit for the period of such service subsequent to June 21, 1941, provided:

* * * * * *

"(2) Such veteran shall not have previously exercised his right in any plant of this or any other company.

* * * * * *

"(d) It is further understood and agreed that, regardless of any of the foregoing, all veterans in the employ of the company at the time the Contract is thus amended shall receive seniority credit for their period of service, subsequent to June 21, 1941 in the land or naval forces or Merchant Marine of the United States or its allies, upon completion of their preliminary period."

Contracts negotiated between Ford Motor Company and the CIO in 1947 and 1949 readopted substantially the same provisions as to seniority rights of veterans.

Since the appellees both moved for summary judgment, the facts alleged in the petition must be taken as true unless by the admissions, depositions or other evidence introduced the contrary appears. McCombs v. West, 5 Cir., 155 F.2d 601. But the material allegations of the petition were admitted by both appellees. This, therefore, was a proper case for summary judgment; McComb v. Southern Weighing & Inspection Bureau, 4 Cir., 170 F.2d 526; Harris Stanley Coal & Land Co. v. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co., 6 Cir., 154 F.2d 450, certiorari denied 329 U.S. 761, 67 S.Ct. 111, 91 L.Ed. 656; and the question presented is one of law as to the validity of the collective bargaining contract under which Huffman and those similarly situated were deprived of their seniority in layoffs and furloughs in favor of veterans later employed but with longer military service.

Huffman alleges that the enforcement of these contracts results in discriminatory layoffs and furloughs of himself and those similarly situated. He contends that veterans with longer periods of military service but shorter periods of employment with Ford are favored above Huffman and his class. He therefore claims that the provisions of the contract are discriminatory and void as to him and those similarly situated because they give to veterans not employed at the time they entered military service seniority credits for their period of armed service after June 21, 1941.

The District Court, as the basis for dismissing the action, found: "* * * the Court, being sufficiently advised, is of the opinion that the collective bargaining agreement expresses an honest desire for the protection of the interests of all members of the union and is not a device of hostility to veterans. The Court finds that said collective bargaining agreement sets up a seniority system which the Court deems not to be arbitrary, discriminatory or in any respect unlawful."

Huffman first contends that the collective bargaining agreement violates rights of veterans previously employed by the Ford Motor Company, which were secured under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, 50 U.S.C.App., § 308, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 308.¹

We think the District Court correctly held that this contention could not be sustained. This statute, among other things, gives veterans protection within the framework of the seniority system plus a guaranty against demotion or termination of employment without cause for one year after reemployment. Fishgold v. Sullivan Drydock & Repair Corp., 328 U.S. 275, 66 S.Ct. 1105, 90 L.Ed. 1230. But the Supreme Court in that case points out that a furlough or a layoff is not a discharge. The person laid off is put on a waiting list for reassignment. He has a right to be restored to work under specific conditions and insurance and other benefits continue to accrue to him. In the Fishgold case the court held that the statute was not violated by a slackening of work which caused the employee to be laid off by operation of a seniority system. It follows that the layoffs and furloughs alleged to have displaced Huffman and others similarly situated in favor of veterans who had been employed later but had been engaged in a longer period of war service, do not violate § 308, 50 U.S.C.App., 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 308.

A more difficult question is presented as to Huffman's second contention. This is that the CIO and Ford, in the contracts attacked, set up a seniority system which is unlawful because of discrimination. The statute, § 308, 50 U.S.C.App., 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, § 308, is construed in the Fishgold case, supra; Trailmobile Co. v. Whirls, 331 U.S. 40, 67 S.Ct. 982, 91 L.Ed. 1328; Aeronautical Indus. Dist. Lodge 727 v. Campbell, 337 U.S. 521, 69 S.Ct. 1287, 93 L. Ed. 1513; but the proper scope of collective bargaining contracts has not been broadly adjudicated. In Aeronautical Lodge v. Campbell, discussed later, the change of bargaining contract alleged to be discriminatory was shown to be for the benefit of the entire union. Huffman's principal contention here is that the contract is not for the benefit of the entire union; that the union as bargaining agent was not authorized to contract away his seniority rights, and the rights of those similarly situated. He urges that such a contract cannot legally ignore the factors ordinarily considered relevant in establishing a seniority system, such as length of employment in the service of the particular employer, skill, ability, and merit. He attacks the provision under which some employees are given preference over others in case of layoffs because of military service entered into before employment, that is, upon the basis of matters unconnected with the employment, antedating it and in no way related to the interest of the union as a whole.

The question presented is not whether a legislature could have imposed this change in seniority provisions through the medium of statute. Enactments granting preferences to veterans both in the securing of employment and in ratings for civil service examinations have been passed and are constitutional. Section 459, 50 U.S.C. App., 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 459; Fishgold v. Sullivan Drydeck and Repair Corp., supra. Cf. Sections 486-10 and 486-13, Ohio General Code; State ex rel. King v. Emmons et al., State Civil Service Commission, 128 Ohio St. 216, 190 N.E. 468. The question squarely presented is whether the union and management can by contract...