Maoilo v. Klipa

• Decision Date: 11 March 1987
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 85-2124.
• Citation: 655 F. Supp. 1139
• Parties: Vincent A. MAOILO, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Ray KLIPA; Local 1408, United Steel-workers of America; Lynn Williams; United Steelworkers of America; United States Steel Corporation, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

655 F. Supp. 1139

Vincent A. MAOILO, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Ray KLIPA; Local 1408, United Steel-workers of America; Lynn Williams; United Steelworkers of America; United States Steel Corporation, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 85-2124.

United States District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania.

March 11, 1987.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Claudia Davidson, Pittsburgh, Pa., Arthur Z. Schwartz, New York City, for plaintiffs.

Richard J. Brean, Asst. General Counsel, United Steelworkers of America AFL-CIO, CLC, Pittsburgh, Pa., for United Steelworkers.

S.G. Clark, Pittsburgh, Pa., for U.S. Steel Corp.

OPINION

GERALD J. WEBER, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, members of defendant Union Local, seek to set aside the July 7, 1985 vote of the membership approving a special local agreement negotiated to sustain the life of U.S. Steel's National Works. Plaintiffs allege a laundry list of irregularities which, it is argued, cumulatively establish a violation of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), 29 U.S.C. § 411(a)(1) and the Union's duty of fair representation under the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. § 185. Plaintiff also alleges that the International ratified and approved the Local's improper conduct, and that U.S. Steel implemented the new contract despite knowledge of the flaws in its approval. Plaintiffs also seek damages from all defendants.

The parties have now filed cross motions for summary judgment addressing a host of issues. We consider several of these to be dispositive and we address them below.

FACTS

U.S. Steel operates the National Steel Works at McKeesport, PA, and Local 1408 of the USWA is the collective bargaining unit for employees of the plant. At the times relevant here, U.S. Steel and the USWA were parties to a nationwide basic labor agreement (BLA) which covered the National Works.

National's recent history has not been a happy one. U.S. Steel has scaled down operations at the plant in recent years, resulting in sharply declining employment. Heavy losses continued, however, and in early 1985, U.S. Steel demanded concessions from Local 1408, including a further reduction in force and restructuring of the seniority system. The Company threatened the complete shutdown of National works as the consequence of refusal.

Under the pressure of U.S. Steel's ultimatum and a June 28, 1985 deadline imposed by the Company, Local 1408's newly-elected President, Ray Klipa, began negotiations with the Company on a local agreement for the National Works. When the June 28 deadline passed, the Damoclean sword of a shutdown did not fall, but U.S. Steel kept it dangling over the Union's head as negotiations continued.

Naturally the negotiations were of great interest to membership and late in June 1985, several members, including one named-plaintiff, requested a meeting. In accordance with union by-laws requiring a meeting within 10 days of the request, local leadership scheduled the meeting for July 7, 1985.

Notice of the meeting was effected in several ways. The following Notice was posted on plant bulletin boards and handed to employees as they reported for work:

Local Union — 1408

SPECIAL MEETING

SUNDAY — July 7, 1985

TIME — 12:00 NOON TO 4:00 PM

PLACE — LOCAL 1408 UNION HALL

SUBJECT OF DISCUSSION

THE PENDING SENIORITY, MANNING

AGREEMENT, AND MUTUAL PENSIONS FOR

NATIONAL WORKS.

Klipa also granted an interview to a reporter of the McKeesport Daily News, a newspaper of general circulation in the communities surrounding the National Works. The stories appeared in the paper in the week preceding the meeting, one of them on the front page. While the notice posted at the plant did not mention a vote, the newspaper articles indicated that a vote would be taken, and Klipa orally advised members of the vote as he handed out notices at the plant entrance.

It is undisputed that all active employees received notice of the meeting, either by one of the above methods or by word of mouth. However, plaintiffs complain that many laid-off employees, those supposedly with the most to lose under the new agreement, did not receive any notice of the meeting. Plaintiffs also complain that Local Union officials made telephone calls to several employees likely to favor the proposal, urging their attendance and votes in favor.

The meeting was held as scheduled on July 7, 1985 at the union meeting hall. Turn-out was especially heavy and the meeting room was inadequate to hold the crowd. Some members, the number is disputed, had to stand in an adjoining room during the meeting. Plaintiffs allege that these members were unable to hear some or all of the proceedings.

At the meeting, local union officials made available to members copies of those provisions which had been worked out with the Company. There is no dispute that this was represented as part, but not all of a potential agreement. Due to the large crowd, the supply of copies of the proposed agreement ran out. However, President Klipa opened the meeting by reading each of the provisions aloud. This was followed by an extended and often heated period of discussion, question and answer, and debate.

At some point in the meeting, Anthony Maiolo, a named plaintiff here, made a motion from the floor to table the vote on the proposed agreement until further details could be obtained. President Klipa refused to accept the motion or put it to a vote, but instead proceeded with a membership vote on the proposed agreement.

Plaintiffs allege that the membership vote was flawed in several respects. Plaintiffs contend that improper sign-in procedures and inadequate efforts to ascertain active membership of voters resulted in voting by inactive members. Plaintiffs also complain that a specific class of inactive members, those laid-off over two years, were permitted to vote in violation of union rules.

Plaintiffs contend that the actual process of marking ballots was improper because it was not secret and it exposed members to the intimidation of union officials. Each member came to the front of the room where he was given a ballot to be marked "Yes" or "No". Although this was done in the room in the presence of union officials and other members, defendants contend there was no intimidation and no difficulty in concealing one's vote.

The membership approved the proposal by a 243 to 198 margin. In the days following the meeting, negotiations continued on the details of an agreement including lines of progression and job classification of crafts. Defendants claim that the achievement of an agreement was in doubt until the very date the agreement was signed, July 10, 1987. President Klipa, as Grievance Committee Secretary, and Anthony Klenak as Grievance Committee Chairman executed the agreement on behalf of the Local as authorized by the bylaws.

Following the signing, U.S. Steel began to phase in the new agreement. After a period of cross-training and other adjustments, the seniority restructuring, special retirements and reduction in force were implemented.

I. APPLICATION OF DUTY OF FAIR REPRESENTATION.

Plaintiffs have alleged that the union defendants by their conduct have violated their duty of fair representation, but defendants argue that this duty does not extend to advisory votes such as that taken July 7, 1985.

Defendants cite DeBoles v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 552 F.2d 1005 (3d Cir.1977), but the citation is wholly inapposite. That Court affirmed the duty's application to binding ratification votes but did not deny its application to advisory votes.

Indeed, the DeBoles decision notes that the duty of fair representation attaches to the negotiation, administration and enforcement of the collective bargaining agreement, and cannot logically be absent in ratification votes. The Court also recognized that a union always has the obligation to deal with its members in good faith. It is likewise nonsensical to suggest that a union must negotiate a contract in good faith but may manipulate an advisory vote on the contract with impunity. We therefore conclude that the union owed membership a duty of fair representation in the conduct of the July 7, 1985 vote, whether binding or advisory.

Of course under this obligation the union cannot be liable for negligence or poor judgment, but only for bad faith or arbitrary conduct. Bazarte v. United Transportation Union, 429 F.2d 868, 872 (3d Cir.1970). Because the proof requirements are so uniquely high, such cases are often susceptible to disposition on summary judgment. Liotta v. National Forge Co., 473 F.Supp. 1139 (W.D.Pa.1979); Siskey v. General Teamsters, 419 F.Supp. 48 (W.D.Pa.1976).

Here the circumstances of the various alleged irregularities based on the undisputed facts of record and viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, fail to raise any specter of bad faith or arbitrary conduct.

It is clear from the record that the manner and forms of notice employed by the union were proper and adequate. Union by-laws required notice by "posting or other reasonable means." Here, Local 1408's leadership posted a printed notice on plant bulletin boards, distributed handbills to workers as they reported to work, and arranged for publication of the pertinent information in the area's principal newspaper. All of this was done against a backdrop of lengthy negotiations which had been the subject of much conversation among members for weeks. It is also undisputed that the Local had employed these same means of providing notice for 30 years without complaint. There is no glimmer of bad faith or arbitrary conduct in this record.

Plaintiffs fault Local officials for failing to specify in the notices that a vote would be taken at the meeting. While the posted notices did not refer to a vote, the newspaper articles did, and defendant Klipa orally informed members of the vote as he passed out handbills. Even so, there is no provision in Union by-laws requiring specific notice of a vote and the...