LOCAL IV-302 INT. WOODW. v. MENOMINEE TRIBAL E., 84-C-0686.

• Decision Date: 11 October 1984
• Docket Number: No. 84-C-0686.,84-C-0686.
• Citation: 595 F. Supp. 859
• Parties: LOCAL IV-302 INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, and William M. Waubanascum, Jr., as a member of a class, Plaintiff, v. MENOMINEE TRIBAL ENTERPRISES, A Tribal Enterprise of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Wisconsin

595 F. Supp. 859

LOCAL IV-302 INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, and William M. Waubanascum, Jr., as a member of a class, Plaintiff, v. MENOMINEE TRIBAL ENTERPRISES, A Tribal Enterprise of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, Defendant.

No. 84-C-0686.

United States District Court, E.D. Wisconsin.

October 11, 1984.

Richard J. Stadelman, Aschenbrener, Koenig, Woods, Lamia, Stadelman & Schmid, S.C., Shawano, Wis., for plaintiff.

Joseph F. Preloznik, Preloznik & Associates, S.C., Madison, Wis., for defendant.

ORDER

WARREN, District Judge.

The defendant, Menominee Tribal Enterprises ("MTE"), has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint in the above-captioned case. Defendant offers four arguments in support of its motion: (1) that the plaintiffs have failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; (2) that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction in this action; (3) that this Court lacks personal jurisdiction over the defendant; and (4) that the plaintiffs have failed to exhaust remedies available to them under the Constitution and Bylaws of the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin. Since the Court is persuaded by defendant's first and third arguments, it need not consider the remaining arguments in granting defendant's motion to dismiss.

BACKGROUND

On December 22, 1973, the Menominee Restoration Act, 25 U.S.C. § 903, was signed into law. The purpose of the Act was to restore the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin to the status of a federally recognized Indian tribe. Federal supervision over the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin had been terminated in 1954, and a state corporation called Menominee Enterprises, Inc., was created to oversee management of tribal land and the tribal sawmill.

On April 22, 1975, the Secretary of the Interior approved a transfer plan under which assets previously transferred to Menominee Enterprises, Inc. would be transferred to and assumed by the tribe and the Secretary of the Interior. Included among the transfer plan documents was a document entitled "Management Plan of Menominee Enterprises, a Tribal Enterprise of Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin" (hereinafter "Management Plan"). Section 3 of the Management Plan provides as follows:

The Tribal Enterprise shall be the principle business arm of the tribe. The Tribal Enterprise is authorized to act on behalf of the tribe in regard to the business dealings of the tribe, as set forth in the Management Plan, and is authorized to act on behalf of the tribe under the name of "Menominee Enterprises". The Tribal Enterprise shall manage and operate the subject property in order to conduct the business operations of the tribe. The primary obligation of the Tribal Enterprise shall be to manage and operate the subject property in a businesslike manner which will best promote the interest of the tribe and the tribal members.

As a result of this provision of the Management Plan, Menominee Tribal Enterprises, defendant herein, was established to act on behalf of the tribe in its business dealings or, as the Management Plan states, to be "the principle business arm of the tribe."

For several years plaintiff, Local IV-302 of the International Woodworkers Union of America, had operated under a Collective Bargaining Agreement with defendant, the current agreement dated June 30, 1983. Article II, Section I of that Agreement provides as follows:

All employees covered by this Agreement, shall, as a condition of employment by the Company, become members of the Union on or after the 30th calendar day following the beginning of their employment or the effective date of this Agreement, whichever date is later, and shall continue such Union membership during the term of the Agreement. An employee shall be considered as having maintained membership in good standing if he tenders the periodic dues and initiation fees required by Article XIX of this Agreement.

On September 17, 1981, John R. Lawe petitioned the Menominee Tribal Court for a declaratory judgment holding that Lawe did not have to comply with the terms of this Agreement. In particular, Mr. Lawe sought an order prohibiting MTE from deducting money for union dues from his paycheck and prohibiting MTE from firing him for refusing to pay such dues. The Tribal Court entered a temporary restraining order on October 1, 1981, restraining MTE from deducting said dues from Mr. Lawe's paycheck and from compelling him to join the union. On February 2, 1982, default judgment was granted in favor of the plaintiff.

A similar action was later commenced by two other MTE employees, Alex Askinette and Warren Kakwitch. Local IV-302 International Woodworkers of America filed a motion to intervene, which was granted by Judge Wilmar J. Peters. On January 22, 1982, Judge Peters entered an order for a preliminary injunction enjoining MTE from deducting money for union dues from these plaintiffs' paychecks and prohibiting MTE from compelling the plaintiffs to become members of the union. On February 9, 1983, the Menominee...