Tucker v. Bieber
| Citation | 900 F.2d 973 |
| Decision Date | 13 April 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-1721,89-1721 |
| Parties | 134 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2016, 115 Lab.Cas. P 10,004 Jerry TUCKER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Owen BIEBER, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) |
Barbara Harvey, Detroit, Mich., John F. Colwell, and Joseph A. Yablonski (argued), Yablonski, Both & Edelman, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellant.
M. Jay Whitman (argued), United Auto Workers, Detroit, Mich., for defendants-appellees.
Before JONES and MILBURN, Circuit Judges, and BELL, District Judge. *
Plaintiff-appellant Jerry Tucker was discharged from his appointed position on the staff of defendant-appellee United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America ("UAW") on May 12, 1986, four days after he announced his candidacy for Director of UAW Region 5 and a seat on the union's International Executive Board. Defendant-appellee UAW President Owen Bieber ordered Tucker's discharge based upon the union's "ninety-day rule," which requires appointed staff personnel to announce their candidacies and take unpaid leaves of absence at least ninety days before scheduled union elections. Tucker appeals the summary judgment granted by the district court in favor of the defendants on the ground that his discharge did not violate the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, 29 U.S.C. Secs. 401-531, or other federal labor law provisions. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM.
Tucker initiated this action by filing a complaint on September 30, 1986, seeking reinstatement, back pay and damages. His complaint alleged five separate grounds for recovery; viz., Count I alleged violation of Title I of the LMRDA, Counts II and III alleged his termination violated the UAW Constitution and his contract rights as a union employee, and Counts IV and V asserted common law tort claims.
Shortly before Tucker filed this action, United States Secretary of Labor William Brock filed several actions in the district court challenging the validity of the UAW Region 5 election held in June 1986 and Tucker's termination. The secretary alleged that both the improprieties in the election and the ninety-day rule violated various sections of the LMRDA. Tucker intervened in the Secretary's actions, but maintained his private action against Bieber and the UAW separately. See Brock v. International Union, UAW, 682 F.Supp. 1415, 1420-21 (E.D.Mich.1988).
On March 30, 1988, the district court determined that the Region 5 election had violated the LMRDA and ordered a rerun election. Brock, 682 F.Supp. at 1428-33. 1 Although Tucker and the Secretary both urged the district court to declare the ninety-day rule invalid, it found that the rule was "a reasonable restriction on candidacy if ... the restriction is contained in the UAW's Constitution or bylaws." Id. Brock, 682 F.Supp. at 1426. The district court then dismissed the challenge to the rule as moot because of the relief it granted on other claims. 2
Tucker and the defendants in this case filed cross-motions for summary judgment in February and March of 1987. In an opinion issued January 19, 1989, the district court denied Tucker's motion and entered summary judgment on Counts I, II and III in favor of the defendants. The district court then dismissed Counts IV and V--the common law tort claims--for lack of federal jurisdiction.
On January 26, 1989, Tucker moved the district court to alter and vacate the judgment based upon the United States Supreme Court decision in Sheet Metal Workers' Int'l Ass'n v. Lynn, 488 U.S. 347, 109 S.Ct. 639, 102 L.Ed.2d 700 (1989), which was issued one day before the district court entered summary judgment in favor of the defendants. On May 18, 1989, the district court denied Tucker's motion to alter or amend.
Tucker joined the UAW in 1960. In 1984, Region 5 Director Ken Worley appointed Tucker to the position of assistant regional director. 3 The position of assistant regional director is the senior political appointment within the UAW's staff system.
In 1985, some UAW members who were dissatisfied with their union's leadership organized a coalition known as "New Directions." In May 1986, members of the New Directions movement urged Tucker to challenge Worley for the Region 5 directorship at the UAW international convention, which was scheduled to be held in June 1986. 4
Tucker announced his candidacy for the regional directorship on May 8, 1986, less than one month before the convention. Tucker asked Worley for a leave of absence, but his request was denied. Instead, on Bieber's order, Tucker was discharged from his staff position on May 13, 1986. The stated reason for Tucker's termination was his violation of the ninety-day rule. Tucker was one of four UAW staff members to challenge for regional directorships in the 1986 election. He was the only one of the four to violate the ninety-day rule, and he was the only one terminated from his appointed position.
Tucker's termination did not affect his eligibility to run for the regional directorship, but it deprived him of the credentials necessary to gain access to the convention floor. In the election, Worley defeated Tucker by a margin of less than one vote, 324.577 to 324.415. 5 Tucker challenged the election in a letter to Bieber on June 5, 1986. On June 6, 1986, the convention credentials committee considered Tucker's complaint, rejected it, and certified Worley's election victory.
Tucker then filed a complaint with the Secretary of Labor about the election. After an investigation, the Secretary initiated the actions against the UAW discussed above which led the district court to overturn the 1986 convention election. A rerun election was held in September 1988, and Tucker defeated Worley to become Region 5 director.
Like Tucker, Gary Brandt, an appointed UAW staff member in Region 2, challenged his regional director in the 1986 election. Unlike Tucker, Brandt complied with the ninety-day rule, but then withdrew from the race. The Region 2 director was reelected, and Brandt was transferred from Cleveland to Detroit, pursuant to that portion of the ninety-day rule that requires unsuccessful challengers to accept a transfer after the election. Brandt challenged the rule on the grounds that (1) it impermissibly burdened challengers by requiring them to forego ninety days' wages before the election and accept a transfer if they lost, and (2) the rule was invalid because it was never formally incorporated into the UAW Constitution. Brandt challenged the rule administratively, and his appeal eventually reached the Public Review Board ("PRB"), an independent panel that decides disputes arising from the UAW's Constitution.
In a decision issued August 28, 1987, the PRB upheld the rule as a properly adopted, reasonable regulation of the UAW's appointed staff members. Brandt v. UAW, PRB Case No. 787 (August 28, 1987) ("Brandt I "). The PRB agreed to reconsider Brandt's appeal and allow Tucker to appear as an amicus. The PRB reaffirmed its prior decision, deciding that the rule was not invalid for failure to be incorporated into the union's constitution when the evidence showed it was a well-known, uniform union standard. Brandt v. UAW, PRB Case No. 787 II (April 22, 1988) ("Brandt II ").
In this case, the district court found that the PRB's ruling on the ninety-day rule was fair and reasonable and adopted it. The district court also found that Title I did not give Tucker a legal entitlement to an appointed position on the union staff, and his termination did not affect his membership rights. The district court concluded that the ninety-day rule "provided a legitimate basis for Tucker's discharge and was not a deliberate attempt to stifle dissent within the Union."
Turning to Tucker's other claims, the district court found that section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185, does not confer jurisdiction upon federal courts over actions brought by individual union members for a union's alleged violations of its constitution. See Trail v. International Bhd. of Teamsters, 542 F.2d 961, 968 (6th Cir.1976). The district court chose to exercise pendent jurisdiction over Counts II and III, and found that the union did not breach its constitution or Tucker's employment rights.
The principal issues on appeal are whether the district court erred in deciding (1) that the ninety-day rule did not violate the LMRDA, and (2) that the UAW did not violate its constitution or the conditions of Tucker's employment in discharging him.
In this appeal of a district court's grant of summary judgment on the defendants' cross-motions for summary judgment, our role is identical to that of the district court. Hand v. Central Transport, Inc., 779 F.2d 8, 10 (6th Cir.1985) (per curiam). Our review of the district court's decision in this case is de novo since only questions of law are involved in this appeal. Pinney Dock and Transport Co. v. Penn Cent. Corp., 838 F.2d 1445, 1472 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 196, 102 L.Ed.2d 166 (1988).
In this appeal, Tucker also challenges the Public Review Board's decision upholding the ninety-day rule. We recently held that "[c]ourts are reluctant to substitute their judgment for that of union officials in the interpretation of the union's constitution, and will interfere only where the official's interpretation is not fair or reasonable." Millwright Local No. 1079 v. United Bhd. of Carpenters and Joiners, 878 F.2d 960, 962, (6th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 407, 107 L.Ed.2d 373 (1989) (quoting Vestal v. Hoffa, 451 F.2d 706, 709 (6th Cir.1971), cert. denied, 406 U.S. 934, 92 S.Ct. 1768, 32 L.Ed.2d 135 (1972)).
"Title I of the LMRDA and specifically section 101, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 411, is the 'Bill of Rights' for...
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