Local Union No. 657 of United Broth. of Carpenters and Joiners of America of Sheboygan County v. Sidell

• Decision Date: 19 May 1977
• Docket Number: No. 76-1819,76-1819
• Citation: 552 F.2d 1250
• Parties: 95 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2047, 81 Lab.Cas. P 13,164 LOCAL UNION NO. 657 OF the UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA OF SHEBOYGAN COUNTY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William SIDELL et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 1250

552 F.2d 1250

95 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2047, 81 Lab.Cas. P 13,164

LOCAL UNION NO. 657 OF the UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA OF SHEBOYGAN COUNTY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William SIDELL et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 76-1819.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Jan. 7, 1977.

Decided April 12, 1977.

Rehearing En Banc Denied May 19, 1977.

David Rabinovitz, Samuel Zelpe, Sheboygan, Wis., for plaintiff-appellant.

Gerry M. Miller, Walter F. Kelly, Milwaukee, Wis., for defendants-appellees.

Before CUMMINGS and TONE, Circuit Judges, and CAMPBELL, Senior District Judge. ^*

CUMMINGS, Circuit Judge.

This complaint was brought under Section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act (29 U.S.C. § 185(a)). The gravamen of the complaint by plaintiff Local 657 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America was that the three defendants, the Brotherhood, its general president William Sidell, and its agent in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, had violated the Brotherhood's constitution by Sidell's August 4, 1975, letter ordering Local 657 to affiliate with the Fox River Valley District Council of the Brotherhood and by seeking to effectuate that order. ¹ Plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment, a preliminary and ultimately a permanent injunction prohibiting defendants from enforcing the affiliation order. Defendants filed both an answer and a motion for summary judgment, urging lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and in any event that they acted within their constitutional authority. Affidavits and exhibits were also filed by the parties.

In 416 F.Supp. 890, the district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment, denied the injunction application and dismissed plaintiff's complaint on the ground that the court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction under Section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act. Before reaching the jurisdictional question, the opinion stated that the reasons for the Brotherhood's decision to require the plaintiff to affiliate with the District Council and its impact upon the plaintiff "are amply delineated in the record." The court found that the Brotherhood's affiliation directive was made pursuant to Section 6A of its constitution. (Mem. op. at p. 891.)

Next the district court's opinion concluded that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction because otherwise it would be required to interfere in the internal affairs of the unions and because the case presented "issues of intra-union autonomy rather than a significant threat to industrial peace" (mem. op. at p. 892). Although we disagree as to lack of jurisdiction, we affirm on the merits. United States v. General Motors Corp., 171 U.S.App.D.C. 27, 518 F.2d 420, 441 (1975).

I. Subject-Matter Jurisdiction.

Section 301(a) provides:

"Suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce as defined in this Act, or between any such labor organizations, may be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties" (29 U.S.C. § 185(a)).

Defendants assert that this case involves an alleged violation of the Brotherhood's constitution rather than any contract violation. This, of course, assumes the proposition that a union constitution cannot be a Section 301(a) "contract." However, the Supreme Court has held that Section 301(a) is to be liberally construed both as a grant of subject-matter jurisdiction ² and as an authorization to develop a body of federal common law to provide the substantive rules for resolving labor disputes. ³ And the "legislative history makes clear that the basic purpose of § 301(a) was not to limit, but to expand, the availability of forums for the enforcement of contracts made by labor organizations." Dowd Box Co. v. Courtney, 368 U.S. 502, 508-509, 82 S.Ct. 519, 523, 7 L.Ed.2d 483.

Defendants concede, as they must, that "contracts" between two labor organizations are generically enforceable through the mechanism of a Section 301(a) suit. Lion Dry Goods, supra, 369 U.S. at 26, 82 S.Ct. 541. Rather, they contest whether a union constitution is a Section 301(a) "contract" and whether a local and its parent international are sufficiently distinct entities to be two separate labor organizations within the meaning of Section 301(a). These analytical lines tend to blend together but we still believe it useful to address them seriatim.

As an initial matter, we should note that the legislative history of Section 301(a) does not answer these questions. The "contracts between labor organizations" clause was added in conference, and the Conference Report merely states that:

"Subsection (a) provides that suits for violation of contracts between labor organizations, as well as between a labor organization and an employer, may be brought in the Federal courts." 2 N.L.R.B., Legislative History of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 at 1535, 1543.

The general term "contract" is meaningless in the abstract unlimited sense since, as Chief Justice Marshall noted long ago, such a huge panoply of relationships can conceivably be comprehended by the word. Trustees of Dartmouth College v Woodward, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 518, 627-628, 4 L.Ed. 629. Writing then without statutory constraint, we start with the premise that " '(c)ontract in labor law is a term the implication of which must be determined from the connection in which it appears.' " Lion Dry Goods, supra, 369 U.S. at 28, 82 S.Ct. at 548. As Judge Sobeloff noted in holding a union constitution to be a Section 301(a) "contract" in Parks v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 314 F.2d 886, 917 (4th Cir. 1963), certiorari denied, 372 U.S. 976, 83 S.Ct. 1111, 10 L.Ed.2d 142, "(t)he Supreme Court itself has recognized that under state law this is the generally accepted characterization of union constitutions," citing International Ass'n of Machinists v. Gonzales, 356 U.S. 617, 618-619, 78 S.Ct. 923, 2 L.Ed.2d 1018. ⁴ The First, Second and Sixth Circuits have followed the Parks' conclusion that a union constitution is a Section 301(a) "contract." Local Union 1219 v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, 493 F.2d 93, 95-96 (1st Cir. 1974); Abrams v. Carrier Corp., 434 F.2d 1234, 1247-1249 (2d Cir. 1970); Trail v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, 542 F.2d 961, 966-968 (6th Cir. 1976).

Defendants cite Hotel and Restaurant Employees Local 400 v. Svacek, 431 F.2d 705, 706 (9th Cir. 1970), for the proposition that a union constitution cannot be used as a "contract for jurisdiction under § 301 in an intra-union problem unrelated to a collective bargaining agreement" (Br. 14 n. 17). But the Ninth Circuit's disagreement was limited to appellant's "contention that the union constitution is a 'contract' authorizing the District Court to entertain a dispute between a local union and a member." Id. Svacek does not truly support defendants because there the union was seeking to impose a $300 fine upon Svacek for crossing a union picket line during a strike. The per curiam opinion distinguished Parks on the ground that the Fourth Circuit case involved "actions between local and international unions and were 'contracts' " within Section 301(a) and were "suits between any such labor organizations." 431 F.2d at 706. Since the Svacek case purports to be in line with Parks, it is not an authority for the proposition that a union constitution is not a "contract" within Section 301(a) in a situation such as the present one. ⁵

The most recent district court case in the Third Circuit also holds that a union constitution is a Section 301(a) contract. Keck v. Employees Independent Association, 387 F.Supp. 241 (E.D.Pa.1974). To use the words of the Sixth Circuit in Trail, supra, 542 F.2d at 968, "(w)e see no reason why (a Section 301(a)) contract might not be expressed in a union constitution, a local union charter, or a combination of both." ⁶

The thrust of defendants' argument is that a local and its national are not separate labor organizations within the meaning of Section 301(a) under the circumstances of this case (see Br. 15-24). "The basic fear engendered by a broad interpretation of Section 301 is that the federal courts will become involved in solely internal union matters." Keck, supra, 387 F.Supp. at 249. Cf. Comment, Applying the "Contracts Between Labor Organizations" Clause of Taft-Hartley Section 301: A Plea for Restraint, 69 Yale L.J. 299, 307-308 (1959). Since there "is, of course, a general national policy against judicial interference in the internal affairs of unions" ⁷, Rota v. Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, 489 F.2d 998, 1003 (7th Cir. 1973), the defendants argue that Section 301(a) jurisdiction should only be asserted in a dispute between a local and parent union, if at all, when the constitutional breach presents a concrete actual threat to industrial peace (Br. 15-19). It is true that actual threats to industrial peace existed in Parks, supra, and that Judge Sobeloff directed his immediate attention to disputes (such as the one in Parks ) which "have traumatic industrial and economic repercussions." 314 F.2d at 916. But in an accompanying footnote, Judge Sobeloff made clear that Section 301(a) was not limited to present threats to industrial peace:

"It has been suggested that a holding of jurisdiction under § 301(a) would tend to promote at least two congressional policies. (1) A major purpose of § 301(a) is to overcome state law jurisdictional difficulties and thereby make unions amenable to suits as entities and to subject their funds to judgments for violations of contracts. See Charles Dowd Box Co. v. Courtney, 368 U.S. 502, 511-513, 82 S.Ct. 519, 7 L.Ed.2d 483 (1962). Section 301(a) jurisdiction in cases...