Pignotti v. LOCAL# 3 SHEET METAL WORKERS'INT. ASS'N

• Decision Date: 20 April 1973
• Docket Number: No. 72-1411.,72-1411.
• Citation: 477 F.2d 825
• Parties: Anthony G. PIGNOTTI, as an Individual Member of Local #3 Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, Appellee, v. LOCAL #3 SHEET METAL WORKERS' INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION et al., Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

477 F.2d 825 (1973)

Anthony G. PIGNOTTI, as an Individual Member of Local #3 Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, Appellee, v. LOCAL #3 SHEET METAL WORKERS' INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION et al., Appellants.

No. 72-1411.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted February 12, 1973.

Decided April 20, 1973.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Donald Fisher, Toledo, Ohio, for appellants.

Edward F. Fogarty, Omaha, Neb., for appellee.

Before GIBSON and ROSS, Circuit Judges, and BENSON,^* District Judge.

GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

This case concerns the merits and the applicability of §§ 411 and 501 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 29 U.S.C. §§ 501 and 411,¹ (commonly referred to as the Landrum-Griffin Act) to an internal dispute between certain union members and certain of the officers of a Local and International Union. The District Court of Nebraska, Judge Robert Denney, granted relief in an opinion reported in 343 F.Supp. 236 (D.Neb.1972).

Plaintiff Anthony Pignotti is suing as an individual member of Local Union Number 3, Sheet Metal Workers' International Association. There are six defendants; Local No. 3, Sheet-Metal Workers' International Association (Local No. 3); Sheet Metal Workers' International Association (International Association); Lester Foreman, Business Agent for Local No. 3; Walter Brader, President of Local No. 3; Edward J. Carlough, General President of the International Association; and David Todd, International Representative of the International Association and trustee of Local No. 3 under a trusteeship imposed by the International Association. The Omaha-Council Bluffs Sheet Metal Contractor Association and the Sheet Metal Workers' National Pension Fund (National Fund) were named defendants in the complaint but have been subsequently dismissed.

Under the collective bargaining agreement entered into on July 26, 1969, and running to May 31, 1972, the Contractor Association agreed that upon 30 days notice by Local No. 3, its members would begin deducting a designated amount from wages and pay that amount into a pension fund. A Pension Committee was appointed by Local No. 3 to study the various alternative pension arrangements. The committee met at various times from February 19, 1970, until December 18, 1970. The original members of the committee were Robert Wild, James Pignotti, the brother of the plaintiff, James Newberger, and Robert Holtz. At a later date Robert Wild left the committee and was replaced by defendant Walter Brader (president of the Local) who appointed himself to the committee. The committee contacted a number of major insurance companies and received proposals from at least two of them. In addition the committee heard proposals from a savings and loan association and from the National Fund.

The committee submitted a final report in January 1971. The members of the committee were not in agreement. Three pension plans, including the National Plan were sent by mail to the membership of Local No. 3 accompanied by letters of position by each of three of the four members of the pension committee. (James Pignotti for some reason was not included). A special meeting was called for March 25, 1971, "to vote for or against a pension plan," and if approved, "the amount of money to be contributed and the month contributions will begin." The motion put by defendant Lester Foreman, however, was to adopt the National Plan. On a standing vote the motion was defeated, 66 for to 93 against.

At the next regular meeting, April 1, 1971, a motion was made to have a special order of business at the next regular meeting to vote on the question "to have or not to have a pension plan." That motion carried. In the interim on April 20, 1971, a petition was presented in proper form to President Brader requesting a special membership meeting to vote by secret ballot whether "to commence contributing 20¢ to the National Plan on June 2, 1971." Brader stated that he did not honor the petition at that time because of the special order of business which would vote on the plan at the next regular meeting.

That meeting was held on May 6. The motion was orally submitted to the members whether to have any plan. The vote was taken by secret ballot with the voters writing either yes or no on a blank piece of paper. There were 58 "no" votes and 43 "yes" votes. After this motion had been disposed of a motion was made by James Pignotti "to postpone indefinitely the pension plan and reference thereto (Rule 23)."² The vote on this motion by show of hands was announced by Walter Brader as 24 "for" and 29 "against." A division of the house was called for and the vote taken again with the result of 60 "for" and 30 "against" the motion. Thus the motion passed.

President Brader wrote to the International Association to inquire whether the procedure followed at this meeting was proper. He was answered by Lonnie Gaither, assistant to General President Carlough, and advised that the motion to postpone indefinitely was out of order because no main motion was pending at the time of the motion³ and that the vote by a division of the house was not proper because he had already declared the vote on the question before the vote by division of the house was called for under Rule 27 of the Ritual.

Brader then decided to honor the petition for the special meeting which had been presented to him on April 20. The announcement of the meeting was by post card and read:

"The purpose of this meeting will be to vote by secret ballot for Sheet Metal Workers No. 3 to commence contributing 20¢ to the Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Plan on June 2, 1971."

After this meeting was called to order but before a vote could be taken on the pension plan, Jess Steward raised a point of order challenging consideration of the pension plan on the grounds that "the issue was defeated at the last regular meeting, and this meeting constitutes a motion to reconsider and this is out of order." President Brader overruled the point of order. The chair was challenged and the challenge upheld by a vote of 51-50. A motion to adjourn was made, a point of order raised against the adjournment and overruled by the chair, and the motion to adjourn passed. No vote on the pension plan was taken at this meeting. A protest against the adjournment was made to General President Carlough by a member present at the meeting. Brader also wrote to Carlough and asked if the International Association could exercise its powers to call a special meeting to vote on the pension plan.

On June 11, 1971, the representative of the International Association, Eugene Edwards, notified the officers of Local No. 3 that he was calling a special membership meeting of the Local for June 21. On June 15, written notice of this meeting was mailed to the entire membership. The meeting took place and 151 members signed in. There were 77 votes for participation in the National Plan, 71 against participation and 3 votes were not counted as incorrectly marked. On June 29 President Brader gave notice to the Contractor Association that the plan was to be put into effect as of August 1.

A petition was then circulated by the anti-pension group and on July 15 it was presented to Brader. It was signed, as required, by more than 10 per cent of the membership of Local No. 3 and called for a special meeting "for the purpose of voting down the pension contributing plan previously passed on June 21, 1971." Receiving no response to this petition, a complaint was filed on July 26, 1971, in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska asking the Court to require a special meeting of Local No. 3. This suit was dismissed by the Court on August 31, 1971, for failure to state a claim.

A special membership meeting was called for October 22, 1971, pursuant to the petition. The members voted by secret ballot. The vote was 175 against retaining the National Plan and 119 in favor of the Plan.

On October 20, Brader sent a telegram to the Contractor Association requesting a meeting about the pension plan. No response was received to this communication. A second telegram was sent on November 17 and the Contractors responded agreeing to the meeting. The meeting was held on December 2. The Contractor Association agreed to reopen the contract to delete the pension plan but stated that they would require the Union to accept three conditions.⁴ Local No. 3 requested an opinion from its attorney on the contractors' conditions and he submitted an opinion letter on January 3, 1972, in which he advised against agreeing to these conditions.

On January 4, 1972, Local No. 3 was placed under a trusteeship by General President Carlough. David Todd, an International Representative, was trustee. On March 23, 1972, the General Executive Council ratified and approved this action. There was no opposition to the trusteeship presented to the Council. David Todd has indicated that he will continue the Local's participation in the pension plan.

The foregoing is a chronology of the events which led this dispute to the United States District Court. From these facts and the other findings of fact that Court found:

". . . defendants, Carlough, Brader and Foreman, early in 1971 set out to obtain the participation of Local #3 in the National Plan, whether the majority of the Union wanted the Plan or not * * * that the purpose of the trusteeship was to prevent any further action of the members toward implementing the vote to discontinue the Plan." Pignotti v. Local No. 3 Sheet Metal Workers Int. Ass\'n, 343 F.Supp. 236, 242-243 (D.Neb.1972).

The Court further found that these activities constituted violation of both § 411 and § 501 and ordered relief as follows:

(1) The defendants are jointly and severally liable for damages in the amount deducted from the wages of the members of Local No. 3 since August 2, 1971, and paid to the Sheet Metal Workers' National Pension Fund.⁵

(2) De...