Irvin v. MOHAWK RUBBER COMPANY, H 68-C-13.
| Decision Date | 12 January 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. H 68-C-13.,H 68-C-13. |
| Citation | 308 F. Supp. 152 |
| Parties | Melvin D. IRVIN and Johnie E. Lewis, Plaintiffs, v. MOHAWK RUBBER COMPANY and Local 539, United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas |
George Howard, Jr., Pine Bluff, Ark., Barbara Morris, New York City, for plaintiffs.
J. W. Barron, Little Rock, Ark., J. P. Baker, Jr., West Helena, Ark., Joseph M. Holden, Akron, Ohio, for Mohawk Rubber Co.
James E. Youngdahl, Little Rock, Ark., for Local 539.
This is a class action brought by the plaintiffs, Melvin D. Irvin and Johnie E. Lewis, Negro employees of the Mohawk Rubber Company, on their behalf and on behalf of other Negroes similarly situated, against the defendants, Mohawk Rubber Company and Local 539, United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America, AFL-CIO, to enjoin them from continued employment practices and procedures in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e et seq.).
The plaintiffs allege that due to the employment practices and collective bargaining agreements of the defendants, they have been segregated in their employment which has resulted in discrimination because of their race and color, thereby depriving them of equal employment opportunities.
Plaintiffs further allege that Local 539, their collective bargaining agent, has continuously refused to represent them (members of the collective bargaining unit) fairly. Furthermore, it is contended by the plaintiffs that Local 539 has acted in such a manner as to limit the plaintiffs' employment opportunities and to adversely affect their status as employees on the basis of race and color.
Jurisdiction is invoked pursuant to 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e-2(a) (c) (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), 28 U.S. C.A. § 1343 and 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1981, 1983.
Pre-trial motions for summary judgment filed by the defendants were decided on the pleadings and briefs and denied July 18, 1969. The cause of action was tried to the Court on October 1 and 2, 1969.
The Mohawk Rubber Company at all times material herein has been engaged in the manufacture of vehicle tires at its plant in West Helena, Arkansas, and has in its employment approximately 589 persons. At all times material herein the defendant union, Local 539, has been the duly certified bargaining agent for certain of the employees, or groups of employees, including the plaintiffs and the class they represent.
The Defendant Company commenced operations in West Helena, Arkansas, in 1956. It is organized into divisions and into departments within those divisions.
The Plaintiff Melvin D. Irvin has been an employee of the Defendant Company since October 20, 1956, a short time after the plant opened. Three Negroes were employed at the plant when Irvin commenced work. The Plaintiff Johnie E. Lewis has been an employee of Mohawk since 1957.
The union was organized in 1957 and recognized as the bargaining agent. Traditionally contracts have been negotiated between defendants every two years and at all times material herein there has been in effect a collective bargaining contract between the company and the union.
Until 1965, after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, all Negroes employed by Mohawk were segregated and confined to three departments of Division "B" in the plant and to the Janitorial Department 30 of Division "A". Until that time all employees of the three departments of Division "B" and Department 30 of Division "A" were Negro. There were no Negro employees in any other of the divisions or departments of Mohawk.
In April, 1966, Plaintiffs Irvin and Lewis filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against both defendants; on consideration of the complaint, the Commission found reasonable cause to believe that the Defendants Mohawk and Local 539 had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Until September, 1966, Defendant Mohawk directly hired employees needed and necessary in the operation of the plant. At that time, which date becomes important in this proceeding, the Company changed its employment policy and begain hiring its employees through the Arkansas Employment Securities Division at Helena, Arkansas.
As of September 1, 1966, there were 554 employees of Mohawk, 454 white and 100 Negroes. Of the 100 Negroes 60 were assigned to Division "B" and 23 to Department 30 of Division "A". There were no white employees in Department 30 or in Division "B". One Negro was employed in a department of Division "C" and 15 Negroes were employed in six departments of Division "D".
For a clearer understanding of the organizational scheme of the Mohawk Rubber Company in manufacturing and fabricating rubber products, the plant is organized into six divisions as follows:
Division A - comprised of departments: 30 janitorial department
31 power house
32 boiler room
33 plant maintenance
Division B - banbury or mixing division
which is comprised of departments: 02 compounding and mixing
division
20 cement house
42 receiving raw materials
department 50 has been combined
with department 42
Division C - the stock preparation division
which is comprised of
departments: 04 free roll and gum calendar
05 tubing and milling
07 (which has been combined
with department
17)
Z calendar
Division D - building, curing and final
finishing division, which is
comprised of departments: 06 passenger band building
09 scrap salvage
10 passenger tire building
11 truck band and tire building
12 passenger tire curing
14 truck tire curing
18 final finishing and shipping
25 and 18 have been combined
as have departments 15
and 18
Storehouse Division
Statistical Quality Control Division
We are concerned primarily with the employment practices of Division "A", Janitorial Department 30; Division "B"; Division "C"; and Division "D".
At the time of the trial the company had in its employment some 589 employees. There were 68 employees in 15 classifications or separate job descriptions in Division "A"; there were 59 employees with 14 job classifications in Division "B"; there were 59 employees with 28 job classifications in Division "C"; and there were 392 employees with 52 job classifications in Division "D". The other employees were in the Storehouse Division and in the Statistical Quality Control Division.
From 1957 to 1960 the collective bargaining agreement negotiated between the defendants provided that in the event of curtailment of production, or reduction in force, Negro employees in Division "A" Department 30 and those in Division "B" could not transfer to vacancies in other departments or divisions. The collective bargaining agreement prohibited inter-divisional transfer to fill vacant positions. As a result, these Negro employees were permanently "locked" into these departments and divisions by reason of their race.
From June, 1960, until August, 1968, the collective bargaining agreement (traditionally negotiated every two years) was altered only to the extent that in the event of curtailment of work, or reduction of the labor force, all employees who would have been laid off by reason of the foregoing conditions were allowed to transfer temporarily to vacant positions in divisions and departments other than their regular divisions and departments. However, upon resumption of work, these employees were required to return to their resident departments.
Complaint was made to defendants about these procedures and Plaintiff Irvin requested that non-discriminatory practices be adopted whereby employees could transfer to vacancies in any department or division on the basis of their seniority attained at the plant. The issue was considered by Defendant Local 539, which consistently refused to alter or change the procedure and allow inter-divisional transfers on the basis of seniority within the plant.
After the filing of this proceeding and during its pendency a new contract was negotiated between the defendants in June, 1968. The new contract included a provision for the filling of vacancies in the various divisions of the company plant. It provided four steps in job opportunities. Eligibility for an initial opening or vacancy was based on maximum seniority in the same department and division in which the vacancy occurred. The second step in the chain for a vacancy was open only to an employee with the greatest seniority in the division where the vacancy occurred. Employees in the other divisions and their...
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Chrapliwy v. Uniroyal, Inc.
...F.Supp. 532 (W.D.N.C.1971); United States v. Virginia Electric & Power Co., 327 F.Supp. 1034 (E.D.Va.1971); and Irvin v. Mohawk Rubber Co., 308 F.Supp. 152 (E.D. Ark.1970). The more difficult question now facing the court is whether Uniroyal breached its duty of affirmative action. As a pra......