International Broth. of Elec. Workers, Local Union 976 v. Grand River Dam Authority

• Decision Date: 24 January 1956
• Docket Number: No. 36419,P,No. 976,976,36419
• Citation: 292 P.2d 1018,1956 OK 24
• Parties: 29 Lab.Cas. P 69,719, 1956 OK 24 INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION 976, and R. H. Dresia, president and business agent of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Unionlaintiffs in Error, v. GRAND RIVER DAM AUTHORITY, a Public Corporation, Defendant in Error.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

Page 1018

292 P.2d 1018

29 Lab.Cas. P 69,719, 1956 OK 24

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION

976, and R. H. Dresia, president and business agent of the

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union

No. 976, Plaintiffs in Error, v. GRAND RIVER DAM AUTHORITY, a Public Corporation, Defendant in Error.

No. 36419.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

Jan. 24, 1956.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Grand River Dam Authority, as created by S.B. 395, S.L.1935, (now 82 O.S.1951 §§ 861-881, as later amended) is a state owned and operated governmental agency, body politic and corporate, with powers of government and the authority to exercise such public functions as are now or may hereafter be prescribed by the legislature.

2. Employees of the Grand River Dam Authority are employees of the State of Oklahoma conducting a state function for public purposes and have no right to strike against the state.

3. 82 O.S.1951 § 862(m) authorizing the Directors of the Grand River Dam Authority to enter into contracts with labor unions is discretionary and not mandatory and does not authorize its employees to call a strike in support of their demand that a contract be executed with a labor union.

Appeal from the District Court of Mayes County; Josh J. Evans, Judge.

Action by Grand River Dam Authority to enjoin the defendants, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 976, et al., from continuing a strike of plaintiff's employees. From judgment granting a permanent injunction, defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Lewis Frank Grayson, Pryor, Schwoerke & Schwoerke, Oklahoma City, for plaintiffs in error.

Q. B. Boydstun, Vinita, Marion J. Blake, Tulsa, for defendant in error.

JACKSON, Justice.

This action was brought in the District Court of Mayes County by the Grand River Dam Authority, hereafter called the Authority, to enjoin International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 976, hereafter called the Union, and its president, R. H. Dresia, from continuing a labor strike of the Authority's employees which had been called by the Union because the Authority had refused to enter into a proposed contract with the Union. The proposed contract, over which this controversy arose, provided, among other things, that the Authority would recognize this Union as the exclusive bargaining agency for all employees listed in a certain classification and in departments therein specified.

The Union has appealed from a judgment of the trial court granting a permanent injunction against it from continuing the strike.

No claim is made by the Union that public employees of the State or any of its political subdivisions have a right to strike. The National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 152(2) provides that the term 'employer' as used therein shall not include the United States or any wholly owned Government corporation or any State or political subdivision thereof. The Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 203(d), provides that the term 'employer' shall not include the United States or any State or political subdivision thereof.

The Union contends that the Authority is not a department of the State or a political subdivision thereof and that its employees are not public employees, and concludes that the Union, as a legal and legitimate labor union with a legal and legitimate labor dispute with the Grand River Dam Authority, has a right to strike and peacefully picket the property and activities of the Authority. This proposition compels inquiry into the nature and status of the Authority and its relationship to the State.

Grand River Dam Authority was created by S.B. No. 395, art. 4, ch. 70, S.L.1935, now 82 O.S.1951 §§ 861-881, as later amended, and was the corporate name applied to a conservation and reclamation district thereby created, and comprising certain designated counties. It was by the Act 'declared to be a governmental agency, body politic and corporate, with powers of government and with the authority to exercise the rights, privileges, and functions hereinafter specified.'. It appears from Section 862 of the Title that the principal purposes of the Authority include conservation of the water resources of the State along the Grand River and its tributaries and the prevention of floods and soil erosion within the watershed area. Electricity generated from water flowing through the turbines of the Dam is sold by the Authority. Under Section 863, it is provided that the powers, rights, privileges and functions of the Authority shall be exercised by a board of directors, the members of which, subject to approval of the Senate, shall be appointed by and hold their offices at the pleasure of the Governor.

In Grand-Hydro v. Grand River Dam Authority, 192 Okl. 693, at page 697, 139 P.2d 798, at page 802 of the Oklahoma Report in the body of the opinion, this court said:

'The state may engage in any occupation or business for public purposes such as supplying hydro-electric power. Sec. 31, art. 2, Const. And it exercised that power when the Legislature created the Grand River Dam Authority.'

In Sheldon v. Grand River Dam Authority, 182 Okl. 24, 76 P.2d 355, 356, this court held in the second paragraph of the syllabus:

'The Grand River Dam Authority is not one of the 'political corporations, or other political subdivisions of the State,' within the meaning of section 26, article 10, Oklahoma Constitution, but is a governmental agency of the state.'

In the body of the opinion 182 Okl. at page 28, 76 P.2d at page 361, that court said:

'The waters and potential electric energy of the Grand river are the natural resources of the state, and stripped of all its detail, the act creates an agency through which the state seeks to exploit, preserve, and utilize in a certain and specific manner that portion of its natural resources. * * * We therefore conclude that * * * the act * * * creates a governmental agency or public corporation, with limited powers, for the purpose of conducting a state function, which could have been accomplished by an existing state board or office, * * *.'

Since the Authority is engaged in 'public purposes', and having determined in Sheldon v. Grand River Dam Authority, supra, that the Authority is 'conducting a state function, which could have been accomplished by an existing state board or office', we conclude that the State of Oklahoma is the owner of and is operating...