Lucas v. Kenny, 63 C 506.

• Decision Date: 09 August 1963
• Docket Number: No. 63 C 506.,63 C 506.
• Citation: 220 F. Supp. 188
• Parties: James LUCAS, Plaintiff, v. Ted KENNY, President, District Council of Carpenters, and John Lucas and Thomas Rust, Business Agent and Financial Secretary, Respectively, of Local 1693, Millwrights Machinery and Erectors Union, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

220 F. Supp. 188

James LUCAS, Plaintiff, v. Ted KENNY, President, District Council of Carpenters, and John Lucas and Thomas Rust, Business Agent and Financial Secretary, Respectively, of Local 1693, Millwrights Machinery and Erectors Union, Defendants.

No. 63 C 506.

United States District Court N. D. Illinois, E. D.

August 9, 1963.

Phillip R. Davis, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff.

Hugh J. McCarthy, John J. Enright, Chicago, Ill., for defendant Ted Kenny.

William T. Kirby, Chicago, Ill., for defendants John Lucas and Thomas Rust.

WILL, District Judge.

Plaintiff James Lucas brings this action against defendants Kenny, John Lucas, and Rust as individuals and against Kenny in his capacity as President of the District Council of Carpenters and against Lucas and Rust as Business Manager and Financial Secretary, respectively, of Local 1693, Millwrights Machinery and Erectors Union, seeking to recover the sum of $12,288.48, an amount alleged to be due to him as a result of defendants' failure to assign jobs to plaintiff in 1961, 1962 and 1963. Plaintiff alleges that defendants had an obligation to secure work for him and that work was obtained for out-of-state workers despite the availability of unemployed local members, including plaintiff, in violation of the rules and regulations of the union. The defendants move to dismiss the complaint, arguing, among other theories which need not be considered here, that this Court lacks jurisdiction in this matter.

Plaintiff asserts that jurisdiction lies in this court under Section 102 of Title 1 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 29 U.S.C. §§ 412. This section establishes the Federal District Court as the proper forum for "any person whose rights secured by the provisions of this subchapter have been infringed by any violation of this subchapter." The rights referred to are specifically stated in what is known as the Bill of Rights section of the Act, Section 411: to vote in elections, to nominate candidates, to participate in deliberation of issues, freedom of speech and assembly, to participate in the determination of dues, initiation fees and assessments, to due process in actions resulting in fine, suspension, expulsion, or other discipline, and to receive copies of the collective bargaining agreement. Thus, the Bill of Rights guarantees to union members certain basic rights relating to the internal affairs of the union. Tomko v. Hilbert, 288 F.2d 625 (3 Cir. 1961).

The complaint herein charges the defendants with violating their obligation to secure and assign work to the plaintiff, a subject unrelated to the guarantees provided in the Bill of Rights and the areas of union democracy with which it is concerned. Instead, the acts complained of allege a failure on the part of the union and its officers to live up to promises made in the collective bargaining agreement.

In Allen v. Armored Car Chauffeurs Union etc., 185 F.Supp. 492 (D.C....