Cosmark v. Struthers Wells Corp.

194 A.2d 325, 412 Pa. 211, 1963 Pa. LEXIS 398, 54 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2333
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 17, 1963
DocketAppeal, 178
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 194 A.2d 325 (Cosmark v. Struthers Wells Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cosmark v. Struthers Wells Corp., 194 A.2d 325, 412 Pa. 211, 1963 Pa. LEXIS 398, 54 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2333 (Pa. 1963).

Opinion

Opinion by

Mb. Justice Benjamin 11. Jones,

Three employees (Employees) of the Struther Wells Corporation (Employer), members in good standing of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers (A.F.L.-C.I.O.) (International) and Local 636 thereof (Local), on their own behalf and as representatives of the employee-class known as “Forge Employees,” instituted an equity action in the Court of Common Pleas of Crawford County against the Employer, the Internationa], the Local and certain International and Local officials.

The complaint averred, inter alia, that: under a collective bargaining agreement between the Employer, the International and the Local, effective from June 15, 1951 to May SI, 1959, the Employees were divided into two separate seniority rosters, namely, Forge Weldment Division and Iron Works Division; at a meeting held on May 2, 1959, a majority of the membership of the Local in attendance ratified a new seniority provision, known as Article II, of a proposed new supplemental collective bargaining agreement which agreement, effective June 1, 1959, executed on September 23, 1959 was adopted by the Employer, the International and the Local: Article II of this new agreement eliminated the system of separate seniority rosters theretofore existing between Forge Employees and Iron Works Employees and provided that employees of the Forge Weldment Division seniority list would, as of May 1, 1959, be placed at the bottom of a consolidated seniority list, while still retaining overall length of service for vacation purposes: the Employer, engaged in the construction and manufacture of boilers and high-pressure vessels in various plants, operated a Forge Division at its Forge shop in Titus-ville, Crawford County, and an Iron Works Division *214 at its Iron Works shop, located close by in Titusville; the Employees were employed in Employer’s Forge Division at the Forge shop in Titusville; in August, 1957, the Employer began to move its machinery and work, which had been performed prior thereto in the Forge shop of the Forge Division, to the Perry Forge shop and the Iron Works shop; in these latter shops, Forge employees were furloughed and additional Iron Works employees were engaged; by April 1959, all operations at the Forge shop had ceased and the machines and orders on which the Forge employees had customarily worked were being serviced at the Iron Works shop and the Perry Forge shop by Iron Works employees, many of whom had less seniority than the Forge Employees under the collective bargaining agreement of 1957; the furloughed Forge employees, who were thus out of work from April, 1959 to the date of filing the complaint in August, 1960, would have been employed during that entire period and many of the other Forge employees would have been employed for a larger period of time but for the action taken by the Employer, the Unions and the named Union officials.

The complaint further alleged that: the Employer’s actions in transferring the work and machinery from the Forge Division shop, culminating in a termination of the work of the operators there on or about April, 1959, with the consequent laying off of the Forge employees who would otherwise have been employed there, constituted a permanent discontinuance of the department, entitling the furloughed employees to severance pay; the Employer’s actions in establishing a consolidated seniority list was arbitrary and discriminatory against the Forge employees and wrongfully deprived them of their rights under the 1957 agreement and, by increasing the representation of the Iron Works employees and weakening the representative strength of *215 the Forge employees, the latter were deprived of their rights as members of a bargaining unit; the International and the Local acted improperly and wrongfully in adopting the consolidated seniority list which was arbitrary and discriminatory as to the Employees and caused them to lose their seniority status; the Unions breached their duty to fairly represent all members of the bargaining unit, including Employees; the Local’s actions, approved by International, were directed by certain named executive officers of the Local who, by reason of hostility, failed to press the Employees’ grievances and treated the Forge employees’ seniority and other rights in bad faith, fraud and discrimination so as to deprive them of their rights; these officers of the Local acted in concert with the Employer to the Employees’ detriment, the Local’s action being approved by the International.

The relief requested was several-fold: (1) reinstatement to positions, classifications, seniorities and related rights, including rights under the 1957 and 1959 collective bargaining agreements; (2) payment of back wages and vacation pay and/or severance pay; (3) payment of costs and counsel fees; (4) injunctive relief restraining all the defendants from (a) retaliation against the Employees and (b) doing any acts in derogation of the Employees’ rights.

Preliminary objections to the complaint were filed which averred, inter alia, that: (1) the matters complained of were exclusively within the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board; (2) that the complaint (a) failed to set forth a cause of action and (b) combined causes of action ex contractu and ex delicto.

The court below sustained the preliminary objections and concluded, inter alia, that the matters complained of were exclusively within the jurisdiction of *216 tlie National Labor Relations Board and not within the jurisdiction of the state court and that the complaint did not set forth a justiciable cause of action. From the order dismissing the complaint this appeal was taken.

In Smith v. Pittsburgh Gage and Supply Company, 412 Pa. 171, 194 A. 2d 181, we reviewed recent rulings of the United States Supreme Court on the scope of the jurisdiction of state courts in cases where the activity complained of is arguably subject to the protections of Section 7 or the prohibitions of Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act. 1 In Smith, we said (p. 174) : “The basic rule delineating jurisdiction in this area of the law was recently reiterated by the United States Supreme Court in Local 100 v. Borden, 373 U.S. 690, 693, 83 S. Ct. 1423, 1425: ‘This Court held in San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 79 S. Ct. 773, that, in the absence of an overriding state interest such as that involved in the maintenance of domestic peace, state courts must defer to the exclusive competence of the National Labor Relations Board in cases in which the activity that is the subject matter of the litigation is arguably subject to the protections of §7 or the prohibitions of §8 of the National Labor Relations Act.’ The rationale of that rule is clear: in its promulgation of rules governing the relations of labor and management as such affect interstate commerce, ‘Congress did not merely lay down a substantive rule of law to be enforced by any

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Bluebook (online)
194 A.2d 325, 412 Pa. 211, 1963 Pa. LEXIS 398, 54 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2333, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cosmark-v-struthers-wells-corp-pa-1963.