Alicea v. Suffield Poultry, Inc.

711 F. Supp. 48, 131 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2457, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4349, 1989 WL 37090
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedApril 17, 1989
DocketCiv. A. No. 85-0461-F
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 711 F. Supp. 48 (Alicea v. Suffield Poultry, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alicea v. Suffield Poultry, Inc., 711 F. Supp. 48, 131 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2457, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4349, 1989 WL 37090 (D. Mass. 1989).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

FREEDMAN, Chief Judge.

This is a case filed by a group of past and present employees of defendant Suf-field Poultry d.b.a. Royal Harvest Foods (hereinafter “Royal Harvest”) against Royal Harvest and their Union, United Food and Commercial Workers’ Union, AFL-CIO, Local No. 1459 (hereinafter “the Union”). The suit against the employer alleges a violation of the governing Collective Bargaining Agreement (hereinafter “CBA”) resulting in Royal Harvest terminating the workers after they staged a wildcat strike for this perceived violation. Plaintiffs’ claims against their Union state that it violated its duty of fair representation by failing to grieve a legitimate dispute precipitating the strike and by encouraging some of the employees to engage in the illegal strike. Defendants moved for summary judgment arguing that there is no factual support behind these accusations and that, as a matter of law, plaintiffs’ complaint fails. This Court referred the motions to a United States magistrate pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) who, on October 17, 1988, issued a comprehensive report recommending that the Court grant defendants’ motions. On November 21, 1988, plaintiffs filed written objections to the Magistrate’s legal conclusions and to some of his factual findings. Because of the particular importance of the factual background, a necessarily lengthy recitation of the facts relevant to the summary judgment motions follows. This account is drawn heavily from the unobjected-to portions of the Magistrate Report but is supplemented in a few areas. Additionally, in setting forth the facts, the Court of course does so in the light most favorable to plaintiffs and indulges all inferences in favor of them for purposes of defendants’ summary judgment motions. See Ismert and Associates, Inc. v. New England Mutual Life Insurance Co., 801 F.2d 536, 537 (1st Cir.1986).

I. FACTS

Royal Harvest is a business engaged in processing chicken meat. The seventeen plaintiffs generally fall into two groups: those responsible for removing bones from slaughtered chickens (called “deboners”), and those responsible for packing the meat. The “deboners” were paid by the pound and the packers were paid by the hour. [50]*50The defendant Union, whieh was the recognized collective bargaining representative of the bargaining unit representing all Royal Harvest employees, entered into a CBA with Royal Harvest on August 1, 1983 which was in effect at all times during the present dispute. A few of the CBA’s provisions are important to the case. They are:

ARTICLE 4 — MANAGEMENT:

... Management rights and prerogatives include, but are not limited to, the exclusive right ... to determine the schedule of work and days of work; ... to determine, control, plan and change over-time work schedules....
ARTICLE 6 — UNION REPRESENTATIVES AND STEWARD:
Section 5. The only person qualified to interpret this Agreement on behalf of the Union shall be the Business Agent of the Union.
ARTICLE 8 — WORK INTERRUPTION —STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS, ETC.:
Section 1. The Union and the employees agree that they will not during the term of this Agreement for any reason including an actual or alleged unfair labor practice within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, assist, authorize, cause, condone, encourage, permit, support, threaten or participate in any strike, walkout, sitdown, slowdown, boycott, picketing, work stoppage, refusal to work or any interference in any form or manner with the operations, business or any of the functions of the Employer.
Section 4. ... The Union and the employees agree that in the event any employee or employees engage or participate in any of the conduct described in Section 1 of this Article, directly, indirectly or by any means whatsoever, including a refusal to cross any picket line on Employer premises, the Employer may discipline or discharge said employee or employees....
ARTICLE 10 — HOURS AND OVERTIME:
Section 7. The provisions of the foregoing Sections of this Article shall not be deemed a guarantee by the Employer that any particular number of hours of work will be available nor in any way limit or restrict the right of the Employer to schedule overtime work, to make changes in the starting time of the hours of work, to assign work to the Employees or to transfer one or more Employees from one department to another or from one job to another, permanently or temporarily, except as specified in Section 6 of this Article.

Agreement Between United Food and Commercial Workers Union and Royal Harvest Foods, Inc., Exhibit A to First Amended Complaint.

Many of Royal Harvest’s employees are Hispanic and do not speak or read English and there is a dispute as to whether some of the plaintiffs ever received a copy of the CBA, although Spanish translations of it were prepared, posted on the employer’s premises and regularly distributed to employees by the Union. Plaintiffs maintain that the Union never explained the grievance process to them and that they were unaware they could file written grievances with the Union or their employer.

In their complaint, plaintiffs contend that starting late in 1984, Royal Harvest management began a policy of forcing them to work beyond their normal working hours without paying overtime which, according to them, violated the terms of the CBA. Employees refusing to work these extra hours were suspended. Royal Harvest maintains that the CBA allowed them to require employees to work beyond their scheduled shifts even if they notified employees of this requirement as late as when they began their shift in the morning.

The defendant Union’s business representative is Tom Clarke who, pursuant to the CBA, is the only person authorized to interpret the CBA for the Union. Clarke’s actions are critical to the parties’ dispute. Through his regular visits to Royal Harvest and his relationship with its employees, he was generally aware that the em[51]*51ployees were unhappy with their employer’s practice of requiring them to work additional hours without scheduling them in advance and that some employees were suspended for refusing to do so. According to plaintiffs, but denied by Clarke, Clarke told them that Royal Harvest’s practice of keeping them beyond the normal shift would be discontinued and disciplined employees would be reimbursed for the lost pay. Regardless of what Clarke did or did not say, the practice was not discontinued and the employees were not reimbursed.

The employees’ discontent peaked on June 5, 1985 when plaintiff Hector Martinez telephoned Clarke and told him that the first shift “deboners” were planning on refusing to work the next morning and asked him to meet them at the plant in the morning before their shifts were scheduled to commence. Early in the morning on June 6, 1985, Clarke met with both the plaintiff “deboners” and Royal Harvest management in an attempt to resolve the problem, but Royal Harvest refused to discuss the issue while under threat of a strike.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
711 F. Supp. 48, 131 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2457, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4349, 1989 WL 37090, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alicea-v-suffield-poultry-inc-mad-1989.