Roywood Corp. v. RADIO BROADCAST TECHNICIANS LOCAL U. NO. 1264
| Decision Date | 16 July 1968 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 4647-67. |
| Citation | 290 F. Supp. 1008 |
| Parties | ROYWOOD CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. RADIO BROADCAST TECHNICIANS LOCAL UNION NO. 1264 OF the INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL-CIO, an unincorporated association, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama |
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Willis C. Darby, Jr., Kilborn, Darby & Kilborn, Thomas E. Twitty, Sr., Inge, Twitty, Duffy & Prince, Mobile, Ala., for plaintiff.
Albert M. Horn, Horn & Zell, Atlanta, Ga., James Wood, Simon & Wood, Mobile, Ala., for defendant.
Roywood Corporation (Roywood) brought this action against Radio Broadcast Technicians Local Union No. 1264 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, (Local 1264) to enforce a liability created by Title 29 Section 187 for an alleged secondary boycott. The only question presented at this time is whether the de-advertising campaign of Local 1264 directed against Roywood and its advertisers is a secondary boycott proscribed by Section 8(b) (4) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(b) (4). Damages, if any, sustained by Roywood are to be determined in further proceedings in this cause.
Roywood and Local 1264 were parties to a collective bargaining agreement which was terminated effective January 31, 1966, by Local 1264 giving notice of termination pursuant to the terms of the contract on November 2, 1965.
Subsequent to November 2, 1965, representatives of Local 1264 and Roywood met and exchanged contract proposals and reached tentative agreements on numerous provisions of a new contract. On February 1, 1966, Roywood submitted Local 1264 a "package proposal" which, among other things, provided for an immediate $10.00 per week wage increase to $135.00 per week and three additional $5.00 per week wage increases effective in 1968, 1969 and 1970, for a total increase of $25.00 per week in the aggregate over five years; up to three weeks vacation pay; two consecutive days off each week; 30 days sick leave each year with full pay; no split shifts; six paid holidays each year; a guarantee of 40 hours pay each week; up to five days leave with full pay in the event of a death in the immediate family; payment of one-half of the premiums for Blue Cross-Blue Shield Hospital insurance; $5,000.00 company paid life insurance policy; and, a guarantee of 52 full weeks pay each year for the full five year term of the proposed contract for every engineer employed by Roywood when the proposed contract was executed. This "package proposal" was accompanied by a letter which offered "to extend our present agreement up to a period of two weeks."
On February 2, 1966, without having given any notice to Roywood, all of the engineers represented by Local 1264 failed to report to work and went on strike. Local 1264 immediately commenced picketing Roywood's studio on Government Street with signs bearing the inscription: "WALA-TV Technicians On Strike Local 1264 IBEW AFL-CIO". The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers did not sanction Local 1264's strike. Wages were not an issue in the strike. Wages offered by Roywood were higher than wages paid by any union radio station in the Mobile, Alabama, area and equal to the wages paid by WKRG-TV, the only other union television station in the broadcast area of WALA-TV.
Representatives of Roywood and Local 1264 met periodically to discuss the terms of a new contract; the last bargaining session was held on February 13, 1967.
Within two weeks after the strike began, Local 1264 commenced a systematic de-advertising campaign against Roywood. J. C. Burns, President of Local 1264, and the chief engineer at radio station WUNI, Mobile, Alabama, was in charge of Local 1264's de-advertising campaign.
Local 1264 ascertained the names of WALA-TV's advertisers by monitoring WALA-TV. An employee and the chief engineer of radio station WUNI monitored WALA-TV while they were on duty at WUNI. Local 1264 obtained the names of prospective advertisers from the telephone directory and from newspapers. Local 1264 contacted advertisers and prospective advertisers in person, by telephone and by letter and requested that advertisers "respect our picket line at WALA-TV and place your advertising with ONLY UNION STATIONS in this area."
Local 1264 picketed adjacent to and across the street from many local advertisers that did not heed Local 1264's "request". The inscription on a typical advertiser picket sign was:
Local 1264 distributed handbills at the entrances of establishments that advertised on WALA-TV. On some occasions, Local 1264 handbilled and picketed an establishment simultaneously. A typical handbill carried this message:
QUALITY RAMBLER IGNORES PICKET LINES AT WALA-TV PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE PRODUCTS SOLD IN THIS STORE WHICH ARE ADVERTISED OVER WALA-TV. IBEW, LOCAL 1264, AFL-CIO
Local 1264 distributed unfair lists at shopping centers and at various other places in and about Mobile. A typical unfair list stated:
"ATTENTION"
The following merchants listed below, COMPLETELY IGNORE AFL-CIO PICKET LINES at WALA-TV. (Channel 10) (Names of several firms and products)
The entire WALA-TV technical staff has been out on strike since February 2, 1966 * * * The station is now being operated by imported strike breakers * * * Can you SEE the difference * * *?
Local 1264 caused 8½ × 13¼ placards and 14 × 22½ placards to be printed for use in connection with its de-advertising campaign. The placards contained identical wording:
(Name of Product, Service or Advertiser) IGNORES PICKET LINES of Local 1264, IBEW, AFL-CIO And Continues to Advertise Over the STRUCK FACILITIES of WALA-TV, Mobile, Alabama
A postal card attached to the placard and addressed to the advertiser bore this inscription:
THE PLACARD FROM WHICH THIS POSTAL CARD WAS DETACHED WAS POSTED IN OUR UNION HALL THIS DAY. IT WILL REMAIN POSTED UNTIL WE ARE INSTRUCTED BY LOCAL 1264 OF MOBILE TO REMOVE SAME.
along with places for the name and address of the posting union. The following instruction also appeared on an attachment to the placard: "PLEASE POST IN A CONSPICUOUS PLACE". The postal cards on the two placards were identical in size.
Local 1264 inserted the name of a product, service or advertiser in the space provided on a large placard and mailed the placard to the advertiser. Local 1264 inserted the name of a product, service or advertiser on small placards, addressed the postal card attached to the small placard to the advertiser and forwarded small placards to various unions throughout the United States with instructions for the unions to mail the pre-addressed postal cards to the advertiser. The advertiser subsequently received postal cards announcing that the placard displaying the advertiser's name or the name of the advertiser's product or service was posted in particular union halls.
Pursuant to a petition for an election filed by Roywood, the National Labor Relations Board directed, and on May 19, 1967, held an election among "all engineering department employees" of television station WALA-TV to determine if Roywood's engineering department employees desired to be represented by Local 1264 for the purpose of collective bargaining. All eligible voters voted against representation by Local 1264.
Prior to the election, Local 1264 decided to change the wording on the picket sign at WALA-TV's studio after the election and to continue its de-advertising campaign against Roywood and its advertisers. Local 1264 ceased picketing Roywood's studio with an "on strike" picket sign on May 22, 1967. After about a week, Local 1264 resumed picketing Roywood's studio with a sign bearing the following inscription:
WALA-TV NON-UNION THIS SIGN IS NOT DIRECTED TO THE EMPLOYEES OF WALA-TV or THE EMPLOYEES OF ANY OTHER EMPLOYER DOING BUSINESS WITH WALA-TV. IS DIRECTED SOLELY TO THE PUBLIC. I.B.E.W. LOCAL 1264 AFL-CIO
Local 1264 continued to refer to its strike against Roywood and Local 1264's grievances in its letters to advertisers and to unions and in articles prepared by Local 1264 for newspaper publication.
Placards mailed to advertisers and to unions after the election carried the inscription:
(Name of Product, Service or Advertiser) IGNORES PICKET LINES ESTABLISHED AT WALA-TV MOBILE, ALABAMA BY LOCAL 1264, IBEW, AFL-CIO DETACH THIS CARD AND MAIL TO ADDRESSEE
No change was made in the postal card. None of the "struck facilities" placards were recalled after the election. A "do not patronize list" published in the Labor Union News after the election did not identify the primary employer, Roywood, but only named the advertisers.
When the placard campaign against an advertiser was not successful, Local 1264 sought to bring pressure on the advertiser's distributors who were located outside of the broadcast area of WALA-TV. On August 7, 1967, J. L. Elkins, Vice President of Local 1264 and an employee of WKRG-TV, Mobile, Alabama, wrote to Carter Distributing Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee, a distributor of Miller's beer:
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