Bethlehem Mines Corp. v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMER.

340 F. Supp. 829, 80 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2116, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14516
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 24, 1972
DocketCiv. A. 71-1109
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 340 F. Supp. 829 (Bethlehem Mines Corp. v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMER.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bethlehem Mines Corp. v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMER., 340 F. Supp. 829, 80 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2116, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14516 (W.D. Pa. 1972).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER

WEBER, District Judge.

From the testimony produced at the hearing, upon notice to the defendants, for a temporary restraining order on November 24, 1971, and the further testimony produced on the hearing for motion for preliminary injunction on December 15, 1971, the court makes the following findings:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff is a West Virginia corporation licensed to do business in Pennsylvania, and is an employer engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 152(2) and (7).

2. Defendant Unions are labor organizations representing employees in an industry affecting commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended.

3. Defendant Local Union No. 1386 of the United Mine Workers of America, District #2, is a local union represent *831 ing the employees of plaintiff at plaintiff’s Mine No. 31.

4. Defendant Local Union No. 850 of the United Mine Workers of America, District #2, is a local union representing the employees of plaintiff at plaintiff’s Mine No. 32. Although named originally as a defendant, the evidence did not establish liability on the part of Local 850 for failure to return to work.

5. Defendant Local Union No. 1368 of the United Mine Workers of America, District #2, is a local union representing the employees of plaintiff at plaintiff’s Mine No. 33.

6. Defendant Local Union No. 6359 of the United Mine Workers of America, District #2, is a local union representing the employees of plaintiff at plaintiff’s Mine No. 38.

7. Defendant Local Union No. 6394 of the United Mine Workers of America, District #2, is a local union representing the employees of plaintiff at plaintiff’s Mine No. 73.

8. Defendant Local Union No. 6411 of the United Mine Workers of America, District #2, is a local union representing the employees of plaintiff at plaintiff’s Mine No. 77.

9. Plaintiff and defendants are parties to a labor contract entitled the “National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1971”, which continues in full force and effect through November 12, 1974, unless extended by the parties, and which was and is in full force and effect at all times here concerned.

10. Said labor agreement contains a mandatory grievance procedure culminating in compulsory arbitration.

11. Said labor agreement contains an agreement not to strike implied from its provision for settlement of all disputes under the machinery provided in the contract.

12. The individual defendants are officers and agents of the defendant Local Unions.

13. On or about October 1, 1971, defendants and their members employed at plaintiff’s Cambria Division, consisting of Mine Nos. 31, 32, 33, 38, 73, and 77, and two Preparation Plants, went on strike when the “National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1968” expired. Bargaining between the United Mine Workers of America and the mine operators continued until a new wage agreement, the “National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1971”, was signed effective November 12,1971.

14. Notwithstanding ratification of the 1971 Agreement by the duly authorized representatives of the defendant United Mine Workers of America, defendants and their members employed at plaintiff’s Cambria Division failed and refused to report for work as scheduled at 12:01 o’clock, A.M. on November 15, 1971, and since that time work was available, and they continued to refuse to report for work as scheduled, thereby preventing plaintiff from resuming mining operations until November 25, 1971, except for defendant Local #850 at Mine 32 which voted to return to work but was ordered by plaintiff not to work because facilities were not available.

15. The 1971 Agreement required that work resume after November 12, 1971, and also provides an Addendum as follows:

“The increase in wages and benefits provided herein shall become effective on the earliest possible date after the necessary clearances required under the Economic Stabilization Program of the Federal Government under Executive Order 11625 are obtained in form satisfactory to the parties.”

On Friday, November 19, 1971, the necessary clearances required, concerning the so-called economic provisions, under the Economic Stabilization Act were granted for the first year of the 1971 Agreement, retroactive to November 14, 1971 (the day the “Freeze” ended and “Phase 2” began).

16. By Monday, November 22, 1971, miners across the country had returned to work as directed by President Boyle. The defendants above identified refused *832 to halt their work stoppage, setting forth disagreement with the provisions of the new contract, relating to staggered starting and quitting times and the absence of a provision declaring Saturday work optional.

17. Disagreements as to staggered starting and quitting times and optional Saturday work had been the cause of prior work stoppage between these parties under the 1968 contract and had been the subject of prior injunctive proceedings in this court resulting in injunction against work stoppage and orders to arbitrate.

18. No attempt had been made to implement the grievance procedure provided in the 1971 contract prior to this work stoppage.

19. The prior arbitration on this matter of dispute had not been finally determined by arbitration at the time of the work stoppage involved in this proceeding.

20. Suit was entered in the Federal Court of the Western District of Pennsylvania by plaintiff on November 24, 1971.

21. Upon notice to defendants and their counsel, a hearing was held, testimony was taken, and a Temporary Restraining Order was entered by the court on November 24, 1972, to continue in effect until a further hearing on plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction.

22. Following the issuance of the Temporary Restraining Order, the local union members returned to work.

23. A hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction was held on December 15, 1972 at which all testimony was concluded, and the Temporary Restraining Order was continued in effect as a Preliminary Injunction until further order of this court.

24. This work stoppage was the forty-sixth (46th) strike at plaintiff’s Cambria Division since the 1968 collective bargaining agreement became effective, all of which constituted attempts to settle grievances without resort to the contractual grievance procedures.

25. As a result of such work stoppages and forced shutdowns, plaintiff has lost in excess of 1,032,390 tons of coal.

26. It is impossible for plaintiff to make up for lost tonnage, as it is working at full capacity — three shifts, six days per week — as permitted by contract and maintenance considerations.

27.

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340 F. Supp. 829, 80 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2116, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bethlehem-mines-corp-v-united-mine-workers-of-amer-pawd-1972.