Local 514, Transport Workers of America v. Keating, No. CIV-01-633-S.

• Decision Date: 05 June 2002
• Docket Number: No. CIV-01-633-S.
• Citation: 212 F.Supp.2d 1319
• Parties: LOCAL 514, TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA; et al., Plaintiffs, v. Frank KEATING, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, Defendant, and Oklahomans for Jobs and Justice, Inc., Kent Duvall, Michelle McKenzie, and Stephen Weese, Defendants-Intervenors.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri

Page 1319

212 F.Supp.2d 1319

LOCAL 514, TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA; et al., Plaintiffs, v. Frank KEATING, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, Defendant, and Oklahomans for Jobs and Justice, Inc., Kent Duvall, Michelle McKenzie, and Stephen Weese, Defendants-Intervenors.

No. CIV-01-633-S.

United States District Court, E.D. Oklahoma.

June 5, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

James E. Frasier, Steven R. Hickman, Tulsa, Eddie Harper, Gene Stipe, McAlester, Gerald B. Ellis, James C. Thomas, Tulsa, OK, Laurence E. Gold, Washington, DC, for plaintiffs.

Stefan K. Doughty, Office of the Attorney General, D. Kent Meyers, Mary H. Tolbert, Crowe & Dunlevy, John N. Hermes, Dee A. Replogle, Oklahoma City, OK, R. Marc Nuttle, Norman, OK, for the defendants.

ORDER

SEAY, Chief Judge.

Plaintiffs¹ bring this action against Defendant Frank Keating, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, challenging the constitutionality of Oklahoma's newly-enacted right-to-work law. It is Plaintiffs' position that Oklahoma's right-to-work law should be declared invalid because it is substantially preempted under the Supremacy Clause of Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution² and, further, because it violates several provisions of the Oklahoma Constitution. The parties³ have agreed to submit this matter to the court for resolution on their respective motions for summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, the court finds that Plaintiffs' federal constitutional attack against Oklahoma's right-to-work law has no merit and must be rejected. In addition, the court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state constitutional complaints asserted by Plaintiffs.

Background

The formation of Oklahoma's right-to-work law began in April of 2001, when the Senate and House of Representatives of the First Session of the 48th Oklahoma Legislature approved Senate Joint Resolution No. 1, which directed the Oklahoma Secretary of State "to refer to the people for their approval or rejection" a proposed amendment to Article XXIII of the Oklahoma Constitution. Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint, ¶ 15. A special election was subsequently arranged by the Secretary of State for the sole purpose of voting on the proposed amendment, denominated as State Question No. 695 ("SQ 695"). On September 25, 2001, the people of Oklahoma approved SQ 695 by a vote of 447,072 to 378,465, a margin of 54% to 46%. SQ 695, which amended the Oklahoma Constitution by adding Article 23, § 1A, became effective on September 28, 2001.

As set forth in Article 23, § 1A, Oklahoma's right-to-work law provides:

A. As used in this section, "labor organization" means any organization of any kind, or agency or employee representation committee or union, that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning wages, rates of pay, hours of work, other conditions of employment, or other forms of compensation.

B. No person shall be required, as a condition of employment or continuation of employment, to:

1. Resign or refrain from voluntary membership in, voluntary affiliation with, or voluntary support of a labor organization;

2. Become or remain a member of a labor organization;

3. Pay any dues, fees, assessments, or other charges of any kind or amount to a labor organization;

4. Pay to any charity or other third party, in lieu of such payments, any amount equivalent to or pro rata portion of dues, fees, assessments, or other charges regularly required of members of a labor organization; or

5. Be recommended, approved, referred, or cleared by or through a labor organization.

C. It shall be unlawful to deduct from the wages, earnings, or compensation of an employee any union dues, fees, assessments, or other charges to be held for, transferred to, or paid over to a labor organization unless the employee has first authorized such deduction.

D. The provisions of this section shall apply to all employment contracts entered into after the renewal date of this section and shall apply to any renewal or extension of any existing contract.

E. Any person who directly or indirectly violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

A review of Oklahoma's right-to-work law reveals that its core provisions can be found in subsections (B)(1)-(4), which prohibit agency and union shops. Other subsidiary provisions of the law are designed to prohibit specific practices which tend to promote union security. Article 23, § 1A(B)(5)(prohibiting the use of exclusive hiring halls); Article 23, § 1A(C)(prohibiting employer from deducting union dues, fees, assessments, and other charges from employee's wages, earnings, or compensation without first obtaining employee's consent).

In their eleven-count amended complaint, Plaintiffs seek permanent declaratory and injunctive relief rendering the provisions of Article 23, § 1A void. With respect to their Supremacy Clause arguments, Plaintiffs contend several sections of Article 23, § 1A are preempted by the following federal labor statutes: the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA"), 29 U.S.C. § 151 et seq.; the Labor Management Relations Act ("LMRA"), 29 U.S.C. § 141 et seq., the Railway Labor Act ("RLA"), 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq.; the Civil Service Reform Act ("CSRA"), 5 U.S.C. § 7101 et seq.; and the Postal Reorganization Act ("PRA"), 39 U.S.C. § 1201 et seq. The specific preemption-based claims as set forth in the amended complaint are as follows: Section 1A(C) and Section 1A(E) are preempted under the Supremacy Clause and the NLRA/LMRA (Count I); Section 1A(C) and Section 1(A)(E) are preempted under the Supremacy Clause and the RLA (Count II); Section 1A(C) and Section 1A(E) are preempted under the Supremacy Clause and the PRA (Count III); Section 1A(C) and Section 1A(E) are preempted under the Supremacy Clause and the CSRA (Count IV); Section 1A(B)(5) and Section 1A(E) are preempted under the Supremacy Clause and the NLRA/LMRA (Count V); Section 1A(B)(1)-(4) and Section 1A(e) are preempted under the Supremacy Clause and the RLA (Count VI); Section 1A(B)(1)-(4) and Section 1A(E) are preempted under the Supremacy Clause and the CSRA (Count VII); Article 23, § 1A is contrary to federal law that operates exclusively on federal enclaves, including the NLRA/LMRA, RLA, CSRA, and PRA, and therefore violates Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the United States Constitution (Count VIII); and the complete or partial invalidation of Article 23, § 1A renders it invalid in its entirety because, under Oklahoma law, it is not severable.⁴

Construction and Scope of Oklahoma's Right-To-Work Law

Oklahoma's right-to-work law is the decision of the majority of those voting on the long-standing issue of whether membership in a labor organization should be a prerequisite to employment. Union security provisions in collective bargaining agreements act as the catalyst for this discussion and they bring to the forefront "a conflict between two firmly-held American beliefs; The belief that a worker should not be required to support an organization which he may oppose, and the belief that a worker should not be a `free rider' who takes advantage of benefits secured by a union without contributing his share of its support." Higgins v. Cardinal Mfg. Co., 188 Kan. 11, 360 P.2d 456, 460, cert. denied, 368 U.S. 829, 82 S.Ct. 51, 7 L.Ed.2d 32 (1961). Federal law has evolved to the point where this conflict has been resolved against compulsory unionism. "Closed shop" agreements, whereby membership in a union is required for employment, are illegal under the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 158(a)(3) and (b)(2). See National Labor Relations Board v. Local Union No. 55, 218 F.2d 226, 232 (10th Cir. 1954)("closed shop" agreement is an illegal union-security agreement); Graphics Communications Intern. Union, Local 121-C v. Southern Coupon, Inc., 852 F.Supp. 970, 975 (M.D.Ala.1993)("maintenance of membership" or "closed shop" security agreements are illegal and unenforceable). Less stringent forms of union security agreements, however, are still authorized under section 158(a)(3) of the LMRA. So-called "union shops", where the employee is required to join the contracting union within a certain period after hire, and "agency shops", where the employee is not required to join the union but must pay union dues in exchange for the representation received from the union are allowed under federal law. 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3). Thus, section 158(a)(3) strikes a balance — it abolishes the "closed shop," but it also authorizes certain union security agreements to combat the reality that many employees will attempt to share in the benefits of collective bargaining agreements without paying their share to the union which bargained on their behalf. National Labor Relations Board v. General Motors Corporation, 373 U.S. 734, 740-41, 83 S.Ct. 1453, 10 L.Ed.2d 670 (1963).

Against this backdrop of authorized union security agreements, states' right-to-work laws have been sanctioned by Congress through the enactment of section 164(b) of the LMRA. Congress yielded to the states the authority to prohibit union security agreements by providing:

Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as authorizing the execution or application of agreements requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment in any State or Territory in which such execution or application is prohibited by State or Territorial law.

29 U.S.C. § 164(b). As the plain language of section 164(b) indicates, states are permitted to enact right-to-work laws which are at odds with federal laws authorizing union security agreements. While it is undeniable that a conflict could develop between state right-to-work laws prohibiting union security agreements and federal laws authorizing such agreements, "it is a conflict sanctioned by Congress with directions to give the right of way to state laws barring the execution and enforcement of...