Bey v. Muldoon

223 F. Supp. 489, 54 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2642, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10510
District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania·Decided November 21, 1963·No. 30789·Published·Cited by 23 cases

Opinion

JOSEPH S. LORD, III, District Judge.

This ease is now before the court after hearing on plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction to restrain the transfer of money from a trust fund established pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement between defendants In *490 ternational Longshoremen’s Association, Local 1291 (ILA), and the Philadelphia Marine Trade Association (PMTA). PMTA is an association of companies, including stevedoring companies, rendering marine services in the Port of Philadelphia. It acts as the collective bargaining agent for its members with the ILA. ILA is the collective bargaining agent for all deep-sea longshoremen who engage in the loading and discharging of oceangoing vessels in the Port of Philadelphia. Plaintiffs are longshoremen who are members of the ILA and who formerly were engaged fairly regularly at the Pennsylvania Sugar Division pier in the unloading of raw sugar for Jarka Corporation, a stevedoring company and a member of PMTA.

On December 23, 1959, PMTA and ILA entered into a collective bargaining agreement (hereafter called the Agreement) which contained the following provision [§ 13(d)]: “* * * Should a system of royalties be determined between the parties hereto as an appropriate method of compensating longshoremen who may lose their job opportunities as a result of technological advancements, then the amount of such royalty shall be predicated upon the royalties paid for the same or a similar device in the Port of New York. * * * ”

Shortly after the Agreement was entered into, Pennsylvania Sugar notified PMTA of a proposed change in method of unloading sugar. Under the new system which was later put into effect, the number of men regularly employed was reduced from 133 to less than 60.

PMTA and ILA then entered into negotiations under § 13(d) with respect to Pennsylvania Sugar’s change in method. On February 26, 1960, an agreement (hereafter called Supplemental Agreement) was reached whereby the “PMTAILA, Local 1291, Royalty Fund” was established, with contributions to be made toy the employers at a rate of twenty-eight cents per 2240 pounds of sugar unloaded.

Pursuant to the Supplemental Agreement, funds were paid by Jarka into a bank account which was accompanied by a letter from the attorneys of both the PMTA and ILA instructing the bank to hold the funds until submission of a trust agreement.

This action was instituted on January 22, 1962, by plaintiffs, “sugarworkers”, claiming that they alone were entitled to the fund both as a matter of law and as a factual matter, — that they were the sole intended beneficiaries of the agreements between PMTA and ILA. At that time, no trust agreement had yet been entered into by the parties.

Defendants moved to dismiss. We denied the motion on June 26, 1962, 217 F. Supp. 401 (E.D.Pa., 1962), holding that plaintiffs had stated a valid cause of action under § 302 of the Labor-Management Relations Act, there being no trust agreement in existence which complied with § 302(c) (5).

Thereafter, on July 19, 1962, an “Agreement and Declaration of Trust” (hereafter called Trust Agreement) was entered into between PMTA and ILA and defendants again moved to dismiss, now contending that the Trust Agreement complied with § 302(c) (5). Plaintiffs, in the meantime, amended their complaint to state an additional cause of action under § 301 of the Act, contending that their asserted contractual right to the fund could be enforced under this section. Smith v. Evening News Association, 371 U.S. 195, 83 S.Ct. 267, 9 L. Ed.2d 246 (1962). This court agreed that there was at least an alleged contractual right, and since a factual question was involved which could not be decided on a motion to dismiss, the motion was denied. We found it unnecessary to decide at that time whether the Trust Agreement was in compliance with the Act: 217 F.Supp. 404 (E.D.Pa., 1963).

The Trust Agreement as finally drafted provides that the purposes to which the fund could be put might include either supplemental unemployment benefits to those longshoremen credited with 9,-000 hours during the thirteen preceding years, and/or contributions to an exist *491 ing welfare fund to maintain eligibility for longshoremen who lost eligibility due to insufficient work, and/or contributions to an existing pension fund, again to maintain eligibility, and/or “such other benefits * * * as are actuarially feasible.” The specific program was to be adopted by the trustees but before becoming effective it had to be submitted to the parties to the agreement, the PMTA and ILA, for their approval. Thereafter, the trustees adopted a resolution (hereafter called the Resolution) providing for payments from the Royalty Fund to the Welfare Fund and to the Pension Fund.

I. THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT AND THE SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT

Initially, plaintiffs contend that they as sugarworkers were the sole intended beneficiaries of the collective bargaining contract and supplementary agreement. The intent of the parties, they say, was to benefit the specific “sugarworkers” laid off as a result of changes in sugar cargo handling methods, whereas the Trust Agreement would dilute plaintiffs’ rights by extending benefits to all longshoremen in the unit.

The proof has failed to sustain plaintiffs’ contention. The testimony makes it clear that § 13(d) was not incorporated into the Agreement with only sugarworkers in mind. Underlying its adoption was the fact that there had been a tremendous loss of job opportunities in New York because of technical advances that had nothing to do with sugar, such as containerization and side-port loaders.

Robert G. Kelly, Esquire, counsel for PMTA and also a defendant, testified (N.T. pp. 195, 196):

“ * * * what the ILA was concerned about and what the New York Shipping Association had recognized was the tremendous loss of job opportunities through containerization, side-port loaders, and matters such as that. For example, a container can come into a port, loaded somewhere in the outlands, and be lifted on the ship in a very simple mechanical operation. In addition, the Grace Line had put in a sideloader that conveyed and stowed cargo with one man operating a machine where twenty-one had previously been used. These were the things that everybody was concerned about. * * * And I can assure you that we wereji’t thinking about sugar; we were thinking about containerization, side-port loaders, and other methods of automation. * * * ”

There is no doubt that § 13(d) was analogized to the New York situation, for it provides “that the amount of the royalty shall be in proportion to the royalty paid in New York as the reduction in the number of men employed bears to the reduction in the number of men employed in the Port of New York.”

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

Bey v. Muldoon, 223 F. Supp. 489, 54 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2642, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10510 (E.D. Pa. 1963).

223 F. Supp. 489 (Bey v. Muldoon) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Harbor Insurance v. Lewis
562 F. Supp. 800 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1983)
Loc. 50 Health Ben. Fund. v. Loc. 3 Welf. Fund
561 F. Supp. 205 (E.D. New York, 1983)
Eannarino v. Eannarino
439 A.2d 760 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)
Rockey v. Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust
595 P.2d 557 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1979)
Culinary Workers & Bartenders Union v. Gateway Cafe, Inc.
588 P.2d 1334 (Washington Supreme Court, 1979)
Mosley v. National Maritime Union Pension & Welfare Plan
438 F. Supp. 413 (E.D. New York, 1977)
Guay v. Masters, Mates & Pilots Pension Plan
432 F. Supp. 135 (S.D. New York, 1977)
Schlecht v. Walsh
540 P.2d 1011 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1975)
Toensing v. Brown
374 F. Supp. 191 (N.D. California, 1974)
Christensen v. New York Times Co.
478 F.2d 374 (Second Circuit, 1973)
Crawford v. Cianciulli
357 F. Supp. 357 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1973)
Lewis v. Seanor Coal Company
382 F.2d 437 (Third Circuit, 1967)