Larson v. All-American Transport, Inc., ALL-AMERICAN

• Decision Date: 17 January 1969
• Docket Number: ALL-AMERICAN,No. 10433,10433
• Parties: , 70 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2675, 59 Lab.Cas. P 13,214 Delbert LARSON et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v.TRANSPORT, INC., a corporation, and Local Union 749, an affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Defendants and Respondents, and Henry R. Arends et al., Intervenors and Respondents.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

Page 603

164 N.W.2d 603

83 S.D. 622, 70 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2675,

59 Lab.Cas. P 13,214

Delbert LARSON et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. ALL-AMERICAN TRANSPORT, INC., a corporation, and Local Union 749, an affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America Defendants and Respondents and Henry R. Arends et al., Intervenors and Respondents.

No. 10433.

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

Jan. 17, 1969.

C. L. Anderson, Sioux Falls, for plaintiffs and appellants.

May, Boe & Johnson, Sioux Falls, for defendant and respondent All-American Transport, Inc.

Smith & Rosene, Jefferson, for defendant and respondent Local Union 749.

Robert L. O'Connor, Sioux Falls, for intervenors and respondents.

RENTTO, Judge.

This litigation is concerned with the seniority rights of the plaintiffs and the intervenors. They are employees of the defendant All-American Transport, Inc., which is engaged in the trucking business and was formerly operated under the name of Wilson Storage and Transfer Company. The employees are all members of the defendant Local Union 749 which is an affiliate of the defendant International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America. The trial court upheld the position of the intervenors. From its judgment to this effect the plaintiffs appeal.

The Central States Area Over-The-Road-Motor Freight Agreement covering drivers employed by private, common and contract carriers, was negotiated by the International for the unions involved with a number of trucking firms in the designated area, including the defendant carrier. The members of Local 749 on April 24, 1961 voted to accept this as their collective bargaining contract. One of its provisions, Art. 5, § 1, provided that:

'Terminal seniority, as measured by length of service at such terminal, shall prevail, excepting in those instances where the Employers, the Unions involved and the Central States Drivers Council agree to the contrary.'

This gave to the employees here involved terminal seniority measured by the length of service at their respective terminals.

Early in 1962 the employer, with the approval of the Union, changed its operation by merging several terminals. As a result of this the seven employees who are plaintiffs herein were moved from outside terminals to the Sioux Falls terminal. The Central States Area contract provided in Art. 5, § 6(b) 2, that in such circumstances the transferred employees would go to the bottom of the seniority board and have the right of job selection only in accordance with their seniority at such terminal, but for layoff purposes, and other contract benefits they would exercise company seniority.

Apparently at this juncture there was discussion and a difference of opinion among the employees as to the seniority of the transferred employees. The employer advised them of its intention to strictly comply with the terms of the applicable contract provision, Art. 5, § 6(b) 2, and that it interpreted such provision to require that the transferred employees be placed at the bottom of the seniority list then existing at its Sioux Falls terminal.

On the complaint of some of these transferred employees a meeting between the employer and various union representatives was held in St. Paul, Minnesota, on August 28, 1962. This group effected a change in the contract to provide for company rather than terminal seniority for the transferred employees. Such change was later approved by the Central States Area Committee Drivers Council as no dispute was apparent from the face of the agreement presented to it.

The twenty-two employees who appear in this litigation as intervenors were unhappy with this result. By it they lost seniority. To protect themselves they commenced an action in the Circuit Court, Second Judicial Circuit, asking that the seniority rights they had before the change made by the St. Paul meeting be restored to them. Such action by agreement of the parties was stayed while they sought relief through the grievance procedures of their Over-The-Road agreement. Their grievance, in which their union representative joined, was grounded on the claim that their interests were not fairly presented at the St. Paul meeting by the union representative. The hearing on this grievance resulted in a restoration of their seniority rights by the Central States Joint Committee, which result was adhered to upon rehearing. The effect of this was to set aside the change made at the St. Paul meeting.

After the St. Paul change was nullified by the grievance procedure, the employees who had been transferred into Sioux Falls brought this action for a writ of mandamus against the employer and the union seeking restoration of the seniority rights given them by the St. Paul agreement. The other employees were not made parties. Both defendants sought dismissal of the action claiming it did not state facts sufficient to...