City of San Diego v. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE

8 Cal. App. 3d 308, 87 Cal. Rptr. 258
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 28, 1970
Docket9952
StatusPublished

This text of 8 Cal. App. 3d 308 (City of San Diego v. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of San Diego v. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, 8 Cal. App. 3d 308, 87 Cal. Rptr. 258 (Cal. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

8 Cal.App.3d 308 (1970)
87 Cal. Rptr. 258

CITY OF SAN DIEGO, Plaintiff and Appellant,
v.
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 127, et al., Defendants and Respondents.

Docket No. 9952.

Court of Appeals of California, Fourth District, Division One.

May 28, 1970.

*309 COUNSEL

John W. Witt, City Attorney, C.M. Fitzpatrick, Chief Deputy City Attorney, and Stuart H. Swett and R. Thomas Harris, Deputy City Attorneys, for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Bodle, Fogel, Julber & Reinhardt, Loren R. Rothschild, George E. Bodle, Daniel Fogel, Stephen Reinhardt and James H. Webster for Defendants and Respondents.

OPINION

COUGHLIN, J.

Plaintiff, City of San Diego, appeals from that part of an order denying its application for a temporary injunction restraining defendants, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 127, and others, from engaging in a strike or work stoppage.

The complaint in the case alleges 200 employees of the Utilities Department and 600 employees of the Public Works Department of the City are members of defendant Union. The total number of employees of its Utilities Department is 600 and of its Public Works Department is 1,200. Other city employees are not involved. Declarations filed in support of a temporary injunction allege the Utilities Department is responsible for providing water and sewage disposal services to the inhabitants of San Diego; the Public Works Department is responsible for the maintenance of streets, parks, public buildings, electrical systems, communications systems, parking meters and automotive equipment, for beach cleaning, erosion control *310 and for the collection and disposal of refuse; and in the event the union employees engage in a strike or work stoppage there would be a serious disruption in water distribution and sewage disposal services, accumulation of refuse and interference with the traffic signal and safety lighting systems, all of which would result in a serious hazard to the health, safety and welfare of the City.

The City asserts the issue on appeal is whether public employees have the right to strike. The Union meets this issue and asserts the additional issue whether denial of the temporary injunction was a proper exercise of the court's discretion.

The court denied an injunction upon the ground public employees lawfully may strike.

(1) In Almond v. County of Sacramento, 276 Cal. App.2d 32, 36 [80 Cal. Rptr. 518] (hearing by Supreme Court denied), one of the issues presented was whether a public employee may strike and the court, after reviewing some of the cases pertinent to the issue, stated: "Further review of cases is needless. The ruling that, absent an authorizing statute, a public employee has no right either to bargain collectively or to strike is well settled. It is settled by decisions of the Supreme Court itself and by that court's denial of hearings in courts of appeal decisions. This court (and we imply neither agreement nor disagreement) is bound by the rule."

In California the cases on the subject have involved either the right of public employees to bargain collectively or, granted statutory authority for such, the right to strike, which is a coercive practice to compel acceptance of collective bargaining demands. All support the rule as stated in Almond v. County of Sacramento, supra, 276 Cal. App.2d 32. The first case upon the subject in this state was Nutter v. City of Santa Monica (1946) 74 Cal. App.2d 292 [168 P.2d 741], which reversed a ruling of the trial court mandating collective bargaining. A hearing by the Supreme Court was denied. Subsequent statements of the rule occurred in City of Los Angeles v. Los Angeles etc. Council (1949) 94 Cal. App.2d 36, 40, 46-47 [210 P.2d 305], affirming an order enjoining a strike by public employees (hearing by the Supreme Court denied), State v. Brotherhood of R.R. Trainmen (1951) 37 Cal.2d 412, 416 [232 P.2d 857], Newmarker v. Regents of Univ. of California (1958) 160 Cal. App.2d 640, 646 [325 P.2d 558], Los Angeles Met. Transit Authority v. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen *311 (1960) 54 Cal.2d 684, 687 [8 Cal. Rptr. 1, 355 P.2d 905], Pranger v. Break (1960) 186 Cal. App.2d 551, 556 [9 Cal. Rptr. 293] (hearing by Supreme Court denied), and Berkeley Teachers Assn. v. Board of Education (1967) 254 Cal. App.2d 660, 671 [62 Cal. Rptr. 515] (hearing by Supreme Court denied).

This California common law rule is the generally accepted common law rule in many jurisdictions. (International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 321 v. Water Works Board, 276 Ala. 462 [163 So.2d 619, 620]; Fellows v. La Tronica, 151 Colo. 300 [377 P.2d 547, 550]; Norwalk Teachers' Assn. v. Board of Education, 138 Conn. 269 [83 A.2d 482, 31 A.L.R.2d 1133]; Miami Water Works Local No. 654 v. City of Miami, 157 Fla. 445 [26 So.2d 194, 165 A.L.R. 967]; Anderson Federation of Teachers v. School City of Anderson, ___ Ind. ___ [251 N.E.2d 15, 17]; Wichita Public Schools Emp. Union, Local No. 513 v. Smith, 194 Kan. 2 [397 P.2d 357, 359-360]; Board of Education v. Redding, 32 Ill.2d 567 [207 N.E.2d 427, 430]; State Board of Regents v. United Packing House etc. Workers (Iowa) 175 N.W.2d 110, 112; Mugford v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, 185 Md. 266 [44 A.2d 745, 162 A.L.R. 1101]; Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, Local 59 v. Obermeyer, 275 Minn. 347 [147 N.W.2d 358, 366]; City of Springfield v. Clouse, 356 Mo. 1239 [206 S.W.2d 539, 543, 546]; City of Manchester v. Manchester Teachers Guild, 100 N.H. 507 [131 A.2d 59]; Delaware River & Bay Authority v. International Organization etc. Pilots, 45 N.J. 138 [211 A.2d 789]; Railway Mail Assn. v. Corsi, 293 N.Y. 315 [56 N.E.2d 721] (affirmed 326 U.S. 88 [89 L.Ed. 2072, 65 S.Ct. 1483]); City of New York v. De Lury, 23 N.Y.2d 175, 182 [295 N.Y.S.2d 901, 906, 243 N.E.2d 128]; City of Minot v. General Drivers & Helpers Union No. 74 (N.D.) 142 N.W.2d 612, 618; City of Cleveland v. Division 268 of Amalgamated Assn., 57 Ohio L.Abs. 173 [41 Ohio Ops. 236, 90 N.E.2d 711, 714]; International Brotherhood etc. Workers v. Grand River Dam Authority (Okla.) 292 P.2d 1018; City of Pawtucket v. Pawtucket Teachers' Alliance, 87 R.I. 364 [141 A.2d 624]; City of Alcoa v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 203 Tenn. 12 [308 S.W.2d 476]; South Atlantic etc. Longshoremen's Assn. v. Harris County etc. Navigation Dist. (Tex.Civ.App.) 358 S.W.2d 658; Port of Seattle v. International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union, 52 Wn.2d 317 [324 P.2d 1099]; see also United States v. United Mine Workers of America, 330 U.S. 258

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8 Cal. App. 3d 308, 87 Cal. Rptr. 258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-san-diego-v-american-federation-of-state-calctapp-1970.