Anderson v. UNITED PAPERWORKERS INTERN. U., AFL-CIO

484 F. Supp. 76, 103 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2803, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9087
District Court, D. Minnesota·Decided January 17, 1980·No. Civ. 5-76-2·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

ORDER

MILES W. LORD, District Judge.

This matter came before the Court on defendant’s motion for judgment NOV or, in the alternative, for a new trial. At the hearing on March 22, 1979, this Court requested additional memoranda, and took the matter under advisement. The parties have submitted those additional moving papers, and the Court, having reviewed the entire file and all relevant memoranda, is prepared to rule.

I. FACTS

This matter was tried before a 12 member jury from January 15 through January 26, 1979. The jury returned a verdict of $37,302.80 and additionally determined that $15,750.00 in punitive damages be awarded in favor of the plaintiffs. During the trial on the merits, conflicting testimony was introduced and appropriately weighed by the jury. For the purpose of disposing of this matter, the Court finds the following as the operative facts in the case:

WK Manufacturing Company, Inc. (hereinafter the “Company”) was engaged in the manufacture of accessory parts for automobiles and operated a plant in Mt. Clements, Michigan, as well as in Duluth, Minnesota.

In 1960, the employees of the Company designated the predecessor organization of the United Paperworkers’ International Union, AFL-CIO (hereinafter the “International Union”) as its collective bargaining representative in an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board pursuant to Section 9 of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C. §§ 151-68 (1976). Following that election, the employees became members of Local 776 of the International Union, a local which also took into membership the employees of Superwood Corporation, in Duluth, Minnesota.

Carl Gear served as representative of the International Union in the geographic region which included the Company’s Duluth plant. Among his principal duties were the negotiation, administration, and enforcement of the successive collective bargaining agreements entered into by the International Union and the Company during the period 1960 to the date of the Duluth plant closing in April, 1975. Mr. Gear performed similar services and functions, and had responsibility for other local unions covered by collective bargaining agreements with various employers within his assigned geographical region. Union member employees of the Company elected two representatives to serve as stewards who participated in the negotiations of successive collective bargaining agreements, and who were responsible for the first stage of the grievance procedure provided by the collective bargaining agreements. Stewards were elected by majority vote of the WK union member employees, from time to time, and possessed no special qualifications or expertise in union-management negotiation skills or collective bargaining negotiation techniques. Also participating in the negotiations process was the president of Local 776, a Superwood employee, whose function in the negotiations procedure was to forward agenda matters received from the WK union member employees, to Carl Gear, the International Union representative. 1

*79 Testimony was introduced establishing that Carl Gear was the only contact these plaintiffs had with the International Union during their employment by the Company, and that from the point of view of the plaintiffs, Carl Gear was the International Union. It is undisputed that Carl Gear was acting as the authorized agent of the International Union in his dealings with the WK employee members of Local 776 and his dealings with the Company.

The spokesman for union member employees at the negotiations for successive collective bargaining agreements was Carl Gear. Neither the elected stewards nor the local union presidents directly negotiated the terms, provisions or conditions of the proposed agreements with Company representatives. While each of the local union presidents testified that he was generally familiar with the contract provisions, each stated that he was more concerned and more familiar with the Superwood contracts and that Carl Gear was the key negotiator. Under the leadership of Carl Gear, as International Union representative, union member employees of the Company approved by secret ballot various collective bargaining agreements between the years 1960 and 1974.

A severance pay provision appeared for the first time in the 1963 Union-Company contract. It provided for severance pay in the event that the employees lost their jobs due to the Duluth plant ceasing operations. This provision was continued in successive agreements, unchanged, until amended in 1968 to provide severance pay for loss of employment due to automation in addition to plant closing. In 1974, the severance pay provision was further amended to place a “cap” on the maximum amount of credited service entitled to accrual as severance pay for any employee. These successive severance pay provisions were incorporated into the respective collective bargaining agreements.

The various collective bargaining agreements, and particularly the agreement covering the contract period 1974 — 1977, also provided for paid vacations in accordance with a formula based on years service and hours worked in a given contract year. In addition, the 1974-77 collective bargaining agreement provided for one floating holiday to each company employee covered by the agreement, as a separate and distinct benefit.

On February 5,1975, the Company filed a Petition for arrangement proceedings under Chapter XI of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. § 701 et seq. (1976), and thereafter neither scheduled the vacation and holiday pay earned by plaintiffs as wages entitled to priority on Schedule A — 1, nor identified the collective bargaining agreement then in force as an executory contract.

The union member employees’ rights to vacation pay, holiday pay, and severance pay were secured to them by the collective bargaining agreement then in force, and prior agreements dating back to 1963. Despite repeated assurances by Carl Gear over the years, and particularly during the negotiations of the 1972-1974 contract and the 1974 — 77 contract that severance pay would be paid to those so entitled, plaintiffs were not paid.

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Anderson v. UNITED PAPERWORKERS INTERN. U., AFL-CIO, 484 F. Supp. 76, 103 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2803, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9087 (mnd 1980).

484 F. Supp. 76 (Anderson v. UNITED PAPERWORKERS INTERN. U., AFL-CIO) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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