Woodford v. Com., Unemployment Compensation Bd. of Review

• Decision Date: 08 November 1979
• Citation: 407 A.2d 916,47 Pa.Cmwlth. 232
• Court: Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court
• Parties: Michael WOODFORD, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent. John J. SODUL, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent. Marian GONDEK, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent. Joseph MAGURCZEK, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent. George SWEENEY, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent. Francis SOCHA, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent.

Page 916

407 A.2d 916

47 Pa.Cmwlth. 232

Michael WOODFORD, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent.

John J. SODUL, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent.

Marian GONDEK, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent.

Joseph MAGURCZEK, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent.

George SWEENEY, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent.

Francis SOCHA, Petitioner, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

BOARD OF REVIEW, Respondent.

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Oct. 2, 1979.

Decided Nov. 8, 1979.

[47 Pa.Cmwlth. 233] Richard P. Hunter, Jr., Philadelphia, for petitioners.

Richard Wagner, Gen. Counsel, GuruJodha Singh Khalsa, Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, Harrisburg, for respondent.

Before BOWMAN, President Judge, and CRUMLISH, Jr., WILKINSON, ROGERS, BLATT, DiSALLE and MacPHAIL, JJ.

OPINION

WILKINSON, Judge.

Petitioner (claimant) is a member of the International Brotherhood of Firemen, Oilers, Powerhouse Operators, and Maintenance Men, Local 473, AFL-CIO, the collective bargaining agent for the operators at Bunge Corporation. ¹ The membership of that union had been working under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement between the union and the corporation, which agreement was set to expire on February 15, 1977. Prior to that date, negotiations had taken place regarding a new agreement, but none had been reached. On February 15, 1977, the union members voted to strike and instituted a work stoppage. Pickets were set up the following day, and claimant stopped working.

Claimant appeals to this Court after having been declared ineligible for benefits by the referee and the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review (Board) because his unemployment resulted from a work stoppage due to a labor dispute as contemplated by Section 402(d) of the Unemployment Compensation Law (Law), Act of December 5, 1936, Second Ex.Sess., P.L. (1937) 2897, As amended, 43 P.S. § 802(d). ² The referee and Board concluded that the work stoppage was not caused by an employer lockout, as alleged by claimant, but rather by a strike initiated by the claimant's union. Because the claimant was a member of the union and an active participant in the strike, he did not fall within the relieving provisions found in Section 402(d) and was therefore ineligible for benefits. We affirm.

The claimant alleges that certain actions of the employer initially changed the status quo and that the employer must therefore bear responsibility for the work stoppage. This Court has held that in cases where a work stoppage takes the form of a strike which is alleged by employees to be a constructive lockout the burden is upon the employees to demonstrate their willingness to maintain the status quo and their employer's unwillingness to do so. Burkes v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review,--- Pa.Cmwlth. ---, 402 A.2d 731 (1979). The test in determining the status quo is whether the employees have offered to continue working pending negotiations for a reasonable time under pre-existing conditions and whether the employer has permitted this work to continue. Vrotney Unemployment Compensation Case, 400 Pa. 440, 163 A.2d 91 (1960). Claimant alleges that the employer made entry to the place of employment difficult and deliberately created a lack of work, which claimant alleges constituted a lockout. However, there is ample evidence in the record to refute claimant's allegations and...