Alpert v. Excavating & Building Material Chauffeurs & Helpers Local Union No. 379

184 F. Supp. 558, 46 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2319, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3896
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedMay 26, 1960
DocketCiv. A. No. 60-287
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 184 F. Supp. 558 (Alpert v. Excavating & Building Material Chauffeurs & Helpers Local Union No. 379) 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
Alpert v. Excavating & Building Material Chauffeurs & Helpers Local Union No. 379, 184 F. Supp. 558, 46 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2319, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3896 (D. Mass. 1960).

Opinion

WYZANSKI, District Judge.

The NLRB’s regional director petitions for an injunction pursuant to § 10(1) of the amended NLR Act. 61 Stat. 149, 73 Stat. 544, 29 U.S.C.A. § 160(1). He claims that there is reasonable cause to believe that respondents have engaged in two different types of so-called secondary conduct proscribed by § 8(b) (4) of the Act as amended by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. Act of Sept. 14, 1959. Pub.L. 86-257, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(b)(4). The two types of conduct may conveniently be called prohibited inducements [covered by § 8(b)(4)(i), 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(b) (4)(i)L and prohibited threats [covered by § 8(b) (4) (ii), 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(b) (4) (ii) ]. The crucial statutory provisions follow.

[560]*560“It shall be an unfair labor practice for a labor organization or its agents— * * *
“(4) (i) to engage in, or to induce or encourage any individual employed by any person engaged in commerce or in an industry affecting commerce to engage in, a strike or a refusal in the course of his employment to use, manufacture, process, transport, or otherwise handle or work on any goods, articles, materials, or commodities or to perform any services; or (ii) to threaten, coerce, or restrain any person engaged in commerce or in an industry affecting commerce, where in either case an object thereof is—
* * * * * •*
“(B) forcing or requiring any person to cease using, selling, handling, transporting, or otherwise dealing in the products of any other producer, processor, or manufacturer, or to cease doing business with any other person, or forcing or requiring any other employer to recognize or bargain with a labor organization as the representative of his employees unless such labor organization has been certified as the representative of such employees under the provisions of section 9 * *

This case presents the problem whether in their effort to require Consalvo Trucking Inc. to recognize and bargain with Local 379, respondents exerted unlawful pressure upon other persons concerned with two entirely different projects, one for the construction of the East Boston Tunnel and the other for the construction of the Boston Common Garage.

The material facts and conclusions of law can best be stated separately with respect to respondents’ activities at the two different sites.

Consalvo Trucking Inc. is a corporation purchasing and trucking fill dirt. The parties have conceded that its activities affect commerce.

Consalvo has no contract with Local 379. Some of Consalvo’s employees are suspended members of Local 379 to whom Consalvo pays less than union rates. From November 1959 until at least April 1960, Local 379 has vainly sought to get Consalvo to execute a union contract. To induce Consalvo to sign an agreement, Local 379 resorted to economic pressure first at the East Boston Tunnel job and then at the Boston Common Garage job.

Perini Corporation has a general contract to construct the East Boston Tunnel. Perini and other members of an employer association are parties to a collective bargaining contract with Local 379 and other locals of the Teamsters’ Union. The contract provides, in Articles III and IX, for union membership and union wages. In Article XIV, paragraph 2 it provides that “If an individual employer shall sub-contract work as herein defined, provisions shall be made in such sub-contract for the observance by said sub-contractor of the terms of this agreement.”

Perini made a sub-contract with Con-salvo to use its trucks and drivers to remove dirt from the tunnel project.

To remonstrate against alleged violation of the agreement between Perini and Local 379, Garvey, the local’s business agent, waited upon Dunne on Friday, April 15, 1960. Dunne was the superintendent at the North End of the tunnel site. He had authority to hire and fire, to hear grievances, and to handle routine operational problems arising out of sub-contracts. Dunne had the right to consult Perini’s vice-president, Richardson, before acting. But Dunne had adequate authority without such consultation to terminate Perini’s contract with Consalvo.

Garvey did not threaten Dunne. He merely called to Dunne’s attention the fact that Consalvo was using suspended union members and not observing union conditions. Dunne sent for a Consalvo representative to confer with representatives of Local 379. Thereafter, on Monday, April 18, Garvey told Dunne that Consalvo had still not executed a union [561]*561contract. On Wednesday, April 20, Dunne used Consalvo. On Thursday, after consultation with vice-president Richardson, Dunne terminated Con-salvo’s sub-contract. In so doing, Dunne acted in response not to any coercion but solely to his view of what was called for by Perini’s contract and Perini’s operating policies.

As a matter of law, there is no reasonable basis for concluding that in connection with the East Boston Tunnel project any of the respondents violated either of the quoted sub-sections of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959.

There is not the slightest basis for finding that any respondent attempted “to threaten, coerce, or restrain” in violation of § 8(b) (4) (ii).

Nor is there any basis for finding that any respondent violated § 8(b) (4) (i). No doubt, Garvey, acting for Local 379, did “induce” an “individual” to wit Dunne to discontinue the Consalvo contract. But there are two reasons why this inducement was not a violation of § 8(b) (4) (i) of the Act.

First, the letter of § 8(b) (4) (i) is inapplicable. When Garvey encouraged Dunne to terminate the subcontract, Garvey was not, in the precise language of § 8(b) (4) (i), inducing Dunne not to use, handle, or work on goods, or not to perform services. Only in a colloquial sense can it be said that Dunne or Perini was using Consalvo’s trucks. Strictly speaking, Perini had a sub-contract with Consalvo for the latter to use his trucks or other trucks in carting dirt. Unlike § 8(b) (4) (ii) (B), § 8(b)(4) (i) has not within its scope conduct which has merely the object of persuading another to cease doing business. Section 8(b) (4) (i) is concerned with appeals addressed to those who perform services manually or clerically, or who manually use goods, or who have minor supervisory functions. It does not cover appeals to those who on behalf of their employer have power lawfully to terminate, cease, or otherwise control business relations with th'e so-called primary employer.

Second, quite apart from the letter of the statute, other considerations indicate that Congress had no intention of preventing a union or its representatives from addressing non-coercive pleas to employers or to individuals who had authority on behalf of the employer to make and terminate contracts. In labor legislation Congress has always been mindful that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects freedom of speech. See N. L. R. B. v. Virginia Electric & Power Co., 314 U.S. 469, 62 S.Ct. 344, 86 L.Ed. 348. Thus Congress in the Taft-Hartley Act, 61 Stat. 142, added to the National Labor Relations Act § 8(c), 29 U.S.C.A. § 158 (c) which provides that:

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184 F. Supp. 558, 46 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2319, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3896, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alpert-v-excavating-building-material-chauffeurs-helpers-local-union-mad-1960.