JACKSONVILLE MAR. ASS'N v. INTERN. LONGSHOREMEN'S ASS'N

• Decision Date: 10 December 1976
• Docket Number: No. 76-749 Civ-J-S.,76-749 Civ-J-S.
• Citation: 424 F. Supp. 58
• Parties: JACKSONVILLE MARITIME ASSOCIATION, INC., a Florida Corporation, et al., Plaintiffs, v. INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S ASSOCIATION, LOCAL NO. 1408-A, a labor organization, and as an unincorporated association, by and through Landon Williams, its President, or its other officers, business agent, manager or person in charge, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida

424 F. Supp. 58

JACKSONVILLE MARITIME ASSOCIATION, INC., a Florida Corporation, et al., Plaintiffs, v. INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S ASSOCIATION, LOCAL NO. 1408-A, a labor organization, and as an unincorporated association, by and through Landon Williams, its President, or its other officers, business agent, manager or person in charge, Defendant.

No. 76-749 Civ-J-S.

United States District Court, M. D. Florida, Jacksonville Division.

December 10, 1976.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Gary A. Bubb, Jacksonville, Fla., for plaintiffs.

Lacy Mahon, Jr., Jacksonville, Fla., for defendant.

OPINION AND PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

CHARLES R. SCOTT, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. The Court's jurisdiction is invoked under 29 U.S.C. § 185 (Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, hereafter `LMRA'). The Jacksonville Maritime Association, Inc. (`JMA') is an employer for the purposes of 29 U.S.C. § 152(2) (Supp.1975) and Section 185(a); and its member-employees are bound by the collective bargaining agreement between JMA and Local 1408-A, International Longshoremen's Association. Paul v. Lindgren, 375 F.Supp. 843, 850-851 (N.D.Ill.1974); Local 415, International Ladies Garment Worker's Union AFL-CIO v. Miami Casuals, Inc., Case No. 70-90 Civ-Ec, April 8, 1971, S.D.Fla.), aff'd 456 F.2d 799 (5th Cir. 1972); Farina Bros. Co. v. Local 107, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, 152 F.Supp. 423, 424-425 (D.Mass.1957). Local 1408-A, International Longshoremen's Association is a labor organization whose members are employees of an employer engaged in interstate commerce for the purpose of 29 U.S.C. § 152(5) and Section 185(b). As a basis for its issuance of the preliminary injunction, the Court finds the facts and declares the pertinent principles of law as follow:

FINDINGS OF FACT

The first plaintiff, JMA, is a Florida corporation and a multi-employer collective bargaining association with its principal place of business in Jacksonville, Florida. Its principal purpose is to represent its member-employers in collective bargaining negotiations with unions employed in the maritime industry in Jacksonville, Florida. The second and third plaintiffs in this action are the Jacksonville Port Authority (`JPA') and Eller & Company (`Eller'). JPA and Eller are members of JMA. JPA and Eller are operators of marine warehouses at the Jacksonville Port. JPA owns two warehouses adjacent to the docks at Blount Island Terminal in Jacksonville. Incoming and outgoing cargo is handled at those warehouses, either before loading ships for delivery, or after unloading ships upon arrival and receipt of shipments. The first defendant, Local 1408-A, International Longshoremen's Association, is an unincorporated labor organization whose members are employees of JPA and Eller (as well as other employer-members of JMA). Local 1408-A (`the Union') has its principal place of business in Jacksonville, Florida. The second defendant, Landon Williams, is President of the Union. The Union is the certified bargaining representative for its members who are workers in the shipping and warehousing industry. The Union represents its members over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment affected by the collective bargaining process. Those members are not stevedores, because they do not directly load or unload ships, but instead handle cargo coming in and going out of warehouses only. The Union operates a hiring hall in Jacksonville, under a procedure whereby its members report daily to fill hiring orders sent by the employer-members of JMA, to work in the warehouses. JPA and Eller daily receive their workers through the Union's hiring hall. This procedure is provided by the current collective bargaining contract existing between the Union and JMA. That contract, which became effective on August 8, 1974, will expire on September 30, 1977.

The parts of the collective bargaining contract between the Union and JMA that are germane to the dispute at issue in this case are set forth as follows:

7-A. It is understood and agreed that members of Local No. 1408-A shall be given employment if they are available and they can satisfactorily qualify as to physical fitness and experience. The employer is to designate the number of men to be employed and reserves the right to hire and discharge. That all the men to be hired by the header designated by the employer (sic), however, the employer reserves the right to reject men if they feel that they are not qualified.

14. Management of the employer's business and the direction of the work forces in the operation of its business are exclusively vested in the employer as functions of management. Except as specifically provided in this agreement, all of the rights, powers and authority employer had prior to signing this agreement are retained by employer.

Additionally, the collective bargaining contract contains an agreement by the Union and JMA members not to engage in strikes and lockouts during the life of a contract.

15. During the terms of this agreement this employer agrees that there shall be no lockouts of the members of the Union, and the Union agrees that there shall not be any strike of any kind or degree whatsoever, walkout, suspension of work, curtailment of limitation of production, slowdown, or any other interference or stoppage, total or partial, of the employer's operation for any cause whatsoever; such causes including but not limited to unfair labor practices by the employer or violation of this agreement. The right of employees not to cross a bona fide picket line is recognized by the employer. The Union shall not be financially responsible for strikes or walkouts not authorized or assented to by the Union.

Finally, the collective bargaining agreement provides for a grievance procedure culminating with binding arbitration of disputes during the life of the contract.

16. Matters under dispute which cannot be promptly settled between the local and individual employer shall, not later than 48 hours after such discussions, be referred in writing covering the entire grievance to a port grievance committee composed of one member from a company not involved in the dispute, the port employer member of the joint negotiating committee, the port union member of the negotiating committee, and a Union member not involved in the previous attempts to settle the dispute. In the event this Port Grievance Committee cannot reach an agreement within five days after receipt of the complaint, the written record of the dispute shall be referred to the joint negotiating committee which will function as a district grievance committee on the following basis:

There must be present at the grievance committee meeting at least three regular employer members and three regular Union members, in addition to the members from the Port originating the dispute as these latter members may participate in the discussion but may not vote. Each side shall have four votes, and if the fifth member on either side is absent he shall authorize his vote to be cast by one of the voting members in attendance. This grievance committee shall meet at least quarterly, and in the case of urgent matters it shall make every effort to meet as soon as possible. A majority decision of this committee shall be final and binding on both parties and on all employers signing this agreement. In the event the committee is unable to reach a majority decision within seventy-two hours after meeting to discuss the case, it shall employ a professional arbitrator whose expenses and fees as well as those of any expert witnesses required by the arbitrator are to be borne jointly by the management and union of the port concerned. Should the committee be unable to agree on the selection of an arbitrator, they shall request the assistance of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in designating a suitable arbitrator. Expenses of the employer members of the district grievance committee are to be borne by the Port employers, and of the Union members of the District Grievance Committee by the I.L.A.

Any decision in favor of an employee involving monetary aspects or discharge shall require the employer involved to make financial restitution from the time of the complaint concerned whereas decisions involving working methods or interpretations shall take effect seventy-two hours after being rendered.

On October 19, 1976, JPA sent an order to the Union hiring hall for two men to work at JPA's Blount Island warehouse on the next day. On October 20, 1976, the two men ordered by JPA were sent from the Union hiring hall to the warehouse, with a third, additional, man who had not been ordered by JPA. All three men reported for work at approximately 8:00 A.M. At that time, Keith Messer, terminal superintendent of the Blount Island warehouse for JPA, informed one of the three men (the header who had been ordered) that the two men who had been ordered could work, but that the third man who was not ordered could not. A discussion ensued; and at approximately 9:30 A.M., the president of the Union, Landon Williams, arrived at the Blount Island warehouse and stated that the three men sent from the Union hiring hall were available for work. Mr. Williams told Allen Cunningham, Director of the Marine Division for JPA, to go ahead and put the additional, third man on the payroll and that they (presumably Williams and Cunningham and perhaps representatively the Union and JPA) would talk about it later. Mr. Cunningham refused and stated that the three men could not work, but only the two who had been ordered. Mr. Williams then replied that there would be no receiving or shipping from that warehouse unless all three men were employed. Thereupon, the three employees and Mr. Williams left the premises of JPA's Blount Island warehouse. As a result, there was no receiving or shipping from the JPA...