Textile Workers Union of America v. Cone Mills Corp.

• Decision Date: 17 November 1960
• Docket Number: No. C-63-G-58.,C-63-G-58.
• Citation: 188 F. Supp. 728
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of North Carolina
• Parties: TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. CONE MILLS CORPORATION, Defendant.

188 F. Supp. 728

TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. CONE MILLS CORPORATION, Defendant.

No. C-63-G-58.

United States District Court M. D. North Carolina, Greensboro Division.

November 17, 1960.

Robert S. Cahoon, Greensboro, N. C., for plaintiff.

McLendon, Brim, Holderness & Brooks, Greensboro, N. C., for defendant.

EDWIN M. STANLEY, District Judge.

This is a proceeding to enforce an arbitration award, rendered on September 11, 1957, sustaining grievances made by the plaintiff on behalf of several hundred of its employees.

When the matter was initially before the court, it was concluded that the court was without jurisdiction to grant the relief prayed for in the complaint, and that the action should be dismissed for that reason. Textile Workers Union of America v. Cone Mills Corp., D.C.M.D. N.C.1958, 166 F.Supp. 654. Questions relating to the validity of the award were not reached or discussed, since it was concluded that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case.

Upon review, the Court of Appeals disagreed on the question of jurisdiction, and the decision of this court was reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings. Textile Workers Union of America v. Cone Mills Corp., 4 Cir., 1959, 268 F.2d 920. The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. Cone Mills Corp. v. Textile Workers Union of America, 361 U.S. 886, 80 S.Ct. 157, 4 L.Ed.2d 121.

Upon remand, the parties stipulated that the case would be submitted, and the rights of the parties determined, by the court as a matter of law, from the pleadings, exhibits attached thereto, and the stipulations. The stipulations provided that in the event the award of the arbitrators should be affirmed, the amount the defendant should pay to each of the employees involved would be determined by stipulation of the parties or, upon their failure to agree, the court should designate a referee to determine said amounts.

Facts

From the pleadings, exhibits and stipulations, the following facts are found:

1. In November, 1956, the plaintiff, an unincorporated labor organization, entered into written collective bargaining agreements with the defendant, a North Carolina corporation, covering three of the defendant's textile plants in Greensboro and Reidsville, North Carolina.

2. Each of the collective bargaining agreements provided, in pertinent parts, the following:

"Section II—Management

"It is recognized and agreed that the management of the Mill and the direction of the working forces is vested in the Company. Among the rights and responsibilities which shall continue to be vested in the Company, but not intended as a wholly inclusive list of them, shall be: The right to increase or decrease operations; to remove or install machinery; to determine schedules of production, to remove the plants to another location, or close or liquidate the plant; to increase or change production equipment; to introduce new or improved production methods and facilities; to regulate the quality and quantity of production; to relieve employees from duty because of lack of work; to employ, lay-off, re-employ, and transfer employees; to demote, discipline or discharge employees; to determine the qualifications for and make the selection of its managerial and supervisory forces; to determine the qualifications for and to select and hire new employees; and to contract work in its discretion. Except as the exercise of any of the foregoing rights of management is expressly and specifically limited by direct provisions of this Agreement, the Company has the unqualified right to place any or all of such rights into effect without notice to, or negotiation with, the Union."

"Section III—Adjustments of Grievances

"Grievances, disagreements, or disputes arising out of the operation or interpretation of this Agreement, including instances where it is contended that an employee or group of employees was disciplined or discharged without proper cause, or concerning wages (other than general increases or decreases in the rate structure, pensions, insurance, vacations, holidays, premium payments or any other monetary benefits), hours of employment, or other conditions of employment, shall be handled and settled in the following manner:"

* * * * * *

"(d) If the matter is not satisfactorily settled by a conference as mentioned in Clause C above, the issue(s) may * * * be submitted to arbitration as provided in Section IV of this Agreement; provided, however, that only grievances, disagreements, complaints or disputes arising out of the operation or interpretation of this contract shall be subject to arbitration * * *. Matters or subjects not specifically incorporated in the terms of this Contract shall not be subject to arbitration, nor shall arbitration be provided for disputes involving those monetary benefits mentioned in the Preamble of this Section (III)."

* * * * * *

"Section IV—Arbitration

"If a satisfactory adjustment is not reached by the other procedure herein, then, and in that event, the issue(s) as above defined may be submitted to arbitration by either party * * *."

* * * * * *

"In all cases, the board of arbitration shall find the facts and render its decision based thereon. The board of arbitration shall have no power to alter, add to, or amend the provisions of this contract in any respect."

* * * * * *

"Section V—Strikes and Lockouts

"(a) Except as permitted by Section X, the Union will not strike or engage in any effort to interfere with the orderly and efficient operation of the Company's plants through a slowdown or any other method, and the Company will not engage in any lockout. * * *"

"Section VIII—Hours of Work, Overtime Pay, Reporting Pay, and Holidays"

* * * * * *

"Nothing herein above shall be construed as guaranteeing any hours, days or weeks of work for the employees, but rather is intended to set forth the time when work commences for the purpose of computing an employee's hours of work."

* * * * * *

"(d) Holidays. Christmas Day shall be observed as a holiday with full pay * * *."

"The following days shall be observed as holidays without pay: New Year's Day, Easter Monday, July Fourth, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving Day.

"If any of these designated holidays fall on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be observed as the holiday. The Company agrees that one and one-half times the regular rate of pay shall be paid for time worked on any of these holidays. * * *"

"Section XII—Vacations with Pay

"Between June 1 and September 1, 1957, the Company agrees to give a one-week vacation with pay to all employees who shall have worked for the Company during the twelve-month period ending June 1, 1957, and who are on the payroll when the vacation period starts."

"Section XVII—Coverage and Separability"

"* * * the Company and the Union, for the life of this Agreement, each voluntarily and unqualifiedly waives the right, and each agrees that the other shall not be obligated, to bargain collectively with respect to any subject or matter not specifically referred to or covered in this Agreement, even though such subjects or matters may not have been within the knowledge or contemplation of either or both of the parties at the time that they negotiated or signed this Agreement."

3. The employees of the Company at the three plants involved, namely, White Oak, Proximity, and Edna, were granted a week's vacation with pay in July, 1956.

4. On December 7, 1956, there was posted at the Company's Edna plant a written notice that, "in observance of the Christmas Holidays," the plant would stop work Friday night, December 21, 1956, and would resume operations on Tuesday, January 1, 1957. On December 10, 1956, the Company's Proximity and White Oak plants posted written notices that the plants would close down on Friday, December 21, 1956, "for the Christmas-New Year's vacation period," and that operations would resume on Tuesday, January 1, 1957. The three plants were closed for Christmas week as noticed. Since the paid vacations for the employees prescribed in the agreements had already taken place, they received no compensation during the week in question, except they were paid for Christmas Day as provided for by Section VIII(d) of the collective bargaining agreements.

5. During the early part of January, 1957, the employees at the three plants filed with the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina claims for unemployment compensation benefits for the week they did not work. Compensation was refused by the Commission under Section 96-13 of the North Carolina Employment Security Act, which provides that no person shall be considered available for work for any week, not to exceed two weeks, in any calendar year in which the Commission finds that his unemployment is due to a vacation. The decision of the Commission was affirmed by the North Carolina Supreme Court on January 10, 1958. In re Southern, 1958, 247 N.C. 544, 101 S.E.2d 327. A complete history of the proceedings before the Commission may be found in the opinion of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

6. On January 4, 1957, the Union filed grievances with the White Oak plant claiming that the Company had violated the collective bargaining agreements "by laying the employees off from Dec. 21, 1956 till 1-2-57 and calling it a vacation without pay." On January 9, 1957, the Union filed similar grievances with the Proximity and Edna plants.

7. The foregoing three grievances were heard together before an arbitration panel on January 23, 1957. Evidence was introduced by the parties at the hearing, including the grievance forms, the collective bargaining agreements between the Union and the Company, the denial of compensation by the Employment Security Commission, and the history of past practices of the Company in observing vacations and holidays at the three plants.

8. On September 11, 1957, a majority of the arbitration panel sustained the grievances made by the Union, and ruled that the...