Alpert v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 90

163 F. Supp. 774, 42 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2425, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4038
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedJuly 7, 1958
DocketCiv. No. 7324
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 163 F. Supp. 774 (Alpert v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 90) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alpert v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 90, 163 F. Supp. 774, 42 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2425, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4038 (D. Conn. 1958).

Opinion

ANDERSON, District Judge.

This is a petition for a temporary injunction pursuant to Section 10 (Z) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C.A. § 160 (l) which in substance alleges that the respondent induced and encouraged the employees of M. B. Foster Electric Co., who as electrical subcontractor was engaged in carrying out a contract with Yale University for the construction of an addition to the University’s Dunham Electrical Laboratory at New Haven, Connecticut, to engage in a concerted refusal to handle work and materials and to perform the services which the Foster Co. was supposed to fulfill under its subcontract, with the object of forcing Yale Univer[776]*776sity and M. B. Foster Co. to take away from the employees of the Southern New England Telephone Co. the function of pulling or running telephone wire and cable through conduits in connection with the installation of telephone service at the Laboratory and with the further object of forcing those employers to assign the work to the members of respondent, Local 90.

A hearing was held on an order to show cause.

Findings of Fact:

: 1. Petitioner is Regional Director of the First Region of the National Labor Relations Board, an agency of the United States, and filed the petition herein for and on behalf of the Board.

2. Respondent International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 90, AFL-CIO (herein called the Electrical Workers), an unincorporated association, is a labor organization within the meaning of Sections 2(5), 8(b) and 10 (Z) of the Act, has its principal office in and is engaged within this judicial district in promoting and protecting the interests of its employees members and in transacting business.

3. At all times material herein, respondent Bernard Gilbride has been business agent of respondent Electrical Workers, and respondent Philip E. Reilly has been its recording secretary. On May 21, 1958 the respondent Reilly assumed the function of acting union steward for the Electrical Workers at the Dunham Laboratory job which was ratified ánd confirmed by the Electrical Workers. Early on May 22, 1958 Reilly was expressly appointed acting union steward on this job by Electrical Workers. Each is and has been its agent within the meaning of Sections 2(13), 8(b) and 10 (Z) of the Act.

4. The Southern New England Telephone Company (herein called the Telephone Company) is a Connecticut corporation whose principal office is located at New Haven, Connecticut. It is a public utility engaged in the transmission of telephonic communications and in furnishing communications services both intra-state and in interstate commerce.

5. On or about May 23, 1958, the Telephone Company pursuant to the provisions of the Act, filed a charge with the Board alleging that respondents have engaged in, and were then engaging in, unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8(b), sub-section (4) (D) of the Act.

6. Said charge was referred to petitioner as Regional Director of the First Region of the Board for investigation, and was investigated by petitioner and under his supervision.

7. During all of the times with which this case is concerned Yale University, through contracts already entered into, has been erecting a new addition to its Dunham Electrical Laboratory, at New Haven, Connecticut.

8. In connection with the construction of the laboratory, Yale contracted with the Telephone Company to install telephone equipment for faculty members occupying offices in the partially completed addition, some of whom are engaged in research work on government contracts.

9. During all of this period the installation employees of the Telephone Company have been members of or represented by an independent labor organization, that is, one not affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

10. On or about May 21, 1958 the Telephone Company assigned the work of installing such telephone equipment to its installation employees who are members of or represented by their local union and such employees commenced work on the premises under construction.

11. For many years, respondent Electrical Workers and its affiliated local unions have contended that the work of pulling telephone wire and cable through conduits is under the exclusive jurisdiction of and should be performed only by employees who are members of or represented by respondent Electrical Workers or its affiliated local unions.

[777]*77712. At no time with which this case is concerned has respondent Electrical Workers been certified by the Board as the collective bargaining representative of employees of the Telephone Company in performing any of the work of installing telephone lines or equipment in the Dunham laboratory addition.

13. During this period M. B. Foster Electric Company (herein called the Foster Company), was engaged as electrical subcontractor on the construction of the Laboratory addition; and the Foster Company, in carrying out its work under the subcontract, employed electricians who are members of or represented by respondent Electrical Workers.

14. It is a principle of conduct of respondent Electrical Workers that its members will not work on a job with non-union workers or with members of unions not affiliated with AFL-CIO; nor will its members work on a job where members of such another union are performing work which the Electrical Workers consider is within the exclusive province of work customarily performed by members of the Electrical Workers.

15. The petitioner has reasonable cause to believe that the respondent Electrical Workers, when it learned that the employees of the Telephone Company were pulling or running telephone wire and cable through conduits at the addition to the Dunham Laboratory, persuaded and encouraged its members who were employees of the Foster Company at the Laboratory job to stop their work at the Laboratory; and that the respondent Electrical Workers advised the Foster Company and Yale University that these workers were stopping and did stop their work at the Dunham Laboratory and would continue to stay away from their work so long as the Telephone Company employees were assigned the work of pulling or running wire and cable through conduits on that job.

16. The petitioner has reasonable cause further to believe that, after all of the employees of the Foster Company who were members of the Electrical Workers had stopped .their work and left the job at Dunham Laboratory, Yale University, as- a result of the pressure thus brought upon it, was forced to arrange with the Telephone Compány to withdraw its employees from the premises at the Dunham Laboratory and discontinue their work there, which was done, so that telephone connections could not be made; and that thereafter the employees of the Foster Company who were members of the Electrical Workers at the direction of the respondents returned to work.

17.

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Bluebook (online)
163 F. Supp. 774, 42 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2425, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4038, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alpert-v-international-brotherhood-of-electrical-workers-local-no-90-ctd-1958.