A. H. Bull Steamship Co. v. Seafarers' International Union of North America, Atlantic and Gulf District, Afl-Cio

250 F.2d 326, 41 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2121, 1957 U.S. App. LEXIS 4567
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedNovember 21, 1957
Docket123, Docket 24840
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 250 F.2d 326 (A. H. Bull Steamship Co. v. Seafarers' International Union of North America, Atlantic and Gulf District, Afl-Cio) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A. H. Bull Steamship Co. v. Seafarers' International Union of North America, Atlantic and Gulf District, Afl-Cio, 250 F.2d 326, 41 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2121, 1957 U.S. App. LEXIS 4567 (2d Cir. 1957).

Opinion

CLARK, Chief Judge.

A. H. Bull Steamship Co. brought suit below against the defendant Union seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and damages for the defendant’s alleged breach of the collective bargaining agreement between the parties. Bull then moved for a preliminary injunction restraining the Union from continuing the peaceful strike then in progress, which constituted the alleged breach of contract. The trial court heard the motion on affidavits and briefs and entered an injunction pendente lite of substantial scope against continuance of the strike. 1 Its opinion is reported in D.C.E.D.N.Y., 155 F.Supp. 739. This appeal from the order of injunction followed.

The basic facts are not in dispute. Bull is an operator of ships engaged in interstate commerce. The Union represents unlicensed personnel aboard Bull’s ships. The parties entered into a collective bargaining agreement effective October 15, 1956, which runs until September 30, 1958. The agreement provides in part that “[t]here shall be no strikes, lockouts, or stoppages of work” while its provisions are in effect. On June 17, 1957, the Union sought to renegotiate certain wages. These negotiations were unsuccessful and on August 19, 1957, the Union called a strike which still continued when the trial court issued its order. The parties disagree as to the scope of the no-strike clause and whether *328 a strike over wages constitutes a breach, of the agreement. We do not decide this issue because we hold that in any event the trial court exceeded its jurisdiction in issuing the preliminary injunction.

Section 4 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act of March 23,1932, 29 U.S.C. § 104, deprives federal courts of jurisdiction to issue injunctions which prohibit peaceful strikes in cases “involving or growing out of any labor dispute.” No one controverts that this is a peaceful strike. Section 13(c) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 113(c), provides:

“The term ‘labor dispute’ includes any controversy concerning terms or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether or not the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee.”

This case involves an impasse in renegotiation of wages. The Union maintains that the no-strike clause has no application to a strike for this purpose. Bull contends otherwise. But the basic controversy concerns wages — terms or conditions of employment — and thus, under § 13(c), this is a labor dispute. Nothing in the Act makes its provisions inapplicable where, after a labor dispute arises, one party takes action which constitutes a breach of a contract between them. It is immaterial that the strike might be a breach of the Union’s duty under the collective bargaining agreement or that the controversy itself might be determined by reference to it. W. L. Mead, Inc. v. International Broth. of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, 1 Cir., 217 F.2d 6; In re Third Avenue Transit Corp., 2 Cir., 192 F.2d 971; Alcoa S. S. Co. v. McMahon, D.C.S.D.N.Y., 81 F.Supp. 541, affirmed 2 Cir., 173 F.2d 567, certiorari denied 338 U.S. 821, 70 S.Ct. 65, 94 L.Ed. 498. Hence under § 4 of the Act, if still applicable, the trial court would lack jurisdiction to issue its preliminary injunction in the present labor dispute.

So much appears to be common ground between the parties and with the court. The real issue is whether or not there has been a repeal by implication of the Norris-LaGuardia Act. The court found that § 301 of the Taft-Hartley Act of June 23, 1947, 29 U.S.C. § 185, as interpreted in Textile Workers Union of America v. Lincoln Mills of Alabama, 353 U.S. 448, 77 S.Ct. 912, 1 L.Ed.2d 972, authorized it to issue the injunction. The question thus presented is whether or not this later statute repeals the Norris-LaGuardia Act to the extent that federal courts will now have jurisdiction to enjoin a peaceful strike which constitutes a breach of a no-strike clause in a collective bargaining agreement. As Bull itself states, “[t]his Court’s problem is to reconcile these two laws, in the light of the circumstances of this case and of the Supreme Court’s decision of June 3, 1957 in Textile Workers Union [of America] v. Lincoln Mills, 353 U.S. 448 [77 S.Ct. 912, 1 L.Ed.2d 972].” Section 301(a) provides:

“Suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce * * * may be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties.”

Textile Workers Union of America v. Lincoln Mills of Alabama, supra, 353 U.S. 448, 77 S.Ct. 912, does clearly hold that this section is more than procedural and gives substantive rights grounded in a body of federal law which in a proper case may be enforced by equitable relief. There the collective bargaining agreement between the union and the employer included both an arbitration clause and a no-strike clause. After grievance procedures had been exhausted to no avail, the union demanded that the employer arbitrate differences concerning work loads and work assignments. , The *329 employer refused, and the union brought an action under this statute in the federal district court to compel the employer to arbitrate. The district court concluded that it had jurisdiction and ordered the employer to comply with the arbitration provision. The Court of Appeals reversed this determination and the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court held that § 301 “authorizes federal courts to fashion a body of federal law for the enforcement of these collective bargaining agreements and includes within that federal law specific performance of promises to arbitrate grievances under collective bargaining agreements.” 353 U.S. 448, 451, 77 S.Ct. 912, 915.

But this case does not say that § 301 authorizes federal courts to issue injunctions when that remedy is clearly prohibited by the Norris-La Guardia Act. The Court does hold, after an analysis of legislative history, to reach the conclusion just quoted, that the issuance of an order compelling arbitration was not prohibited by the Norris-La Guardia Act.

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Bluebook (online)
250 F.2d 326, 41 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2121, 1957 U.S. App. LEXIS 4567, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/a-h-bull-steamship-co-v-seafarers-international-union-of-north-ca2-1957.