Gordon v. Laborers' International Union of North America

351 F. Supp. 824, 81 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2614, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11335
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 1, 1972
DocketCiv. 70-520, 72-544
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 351 F. Supp. 824 (Gordon v. Laborers' International Union of North America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gordon v. Laborers' International Union of North America, 351 F. Supp. 824, 81 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2614, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11335 (W.D. Okla. 1972).

Opinion

OPINION

BOHANON, District Judge.

These two civil actions were consolidated for final trial and disposition. No. 70-520 Civ. was instituted on October 20, 1970, by five members of Local 612, Laborers’ International Union of North America, AFL-CIO, against the Local 612, the Oklahoma Laborers’ Dis *826 trict Council, and the Laborers’ International Union of North America and certain named officers of Local 612.

The parties in these two consolidated cases will be referred to hereinafter as follows: Local 612, Laborers’ International Union of North America as the “Local” or “Local 612”; Oklahoma Laborers’ District Council as “Council”; Laborers’ International Union of North America as “International”; Oklahoma Chapter-Builders Division of the Associated General Contractors of America, Inc. as “Chapter”.

Plaintiffs in No. 70-520 Civ. sought an order authorizing the Local to withdraw as a member of the Council and to restore its rights as they existed prior to November 16, 1968, or alternatively, that the Local receive additional delegates to the Council so that it would be represented in direct proportion to its membership.

On May 4, 1972, the Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for leave to amend their complaint. In the amendment plaintiffs alleged that on April 25, 1972, International had improperly imposed a trusteeship upon the Local in violation of Section 302 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 29 U.S.C. § 462. Thereafter on May 8, 1972, after a hearing, the Court entered a preliminary injunction enjoining such trusteeship pending the conduct of a trial on the merits.

In civil action No. 72-544 commenced on August 8, 1972, by the Chapter against the Local, the Chapter sought a declaration under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C. § 185, and the Declaratory Judgments Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201, seeking a declaration of validity of a collective bargaining agreement entered into on March 13, 1972, between the Chapter and the Local. At the time the Chapter’s lawsuit was filed, the first action had been processed, but not to a final conclusion.

International, on August 23, 1972 moved to intervene in the Chapter’s suit (Civil No. 72-544) and to consolidate the two actions.

The Court found that the two cases arose out of a common set of facts and that they raised common questions of law and, therefore, on September 27, 1972, entered an Order consolidating and merging the causes for all purposes including trial and disposition.

A trial was conducted on September 29, 1972, at the conclusion of which the Court suggested the parties submit briefs, and the Court, having considered the briefs and the evidence submitted, as well as all exhibits, finds as follows:

1. International is a labor union consisting of approximately 600,000 members throughout the United States and Canada, and was organized in 1903. Since its organization, International has been governed by a written constitution, (Def. Ex. 2). 1 From the date of its organization, International has consisted of affiliated Locals and Councils. Councils are intermediate bodies made up of delegates representing Locals in accordance with the provisions of a Uniform District Council Constitution, which provides as follows with respect to representation of Local Unions:

Section 4. The representation of Locals affiliated with this Council shall be as follows: Two delegates for 500 members or less; three delegates for 501 to 1,000 members; four delegates for 1,001 to 2,000 members; five delegates for 2,001 to 4,000 members; six delegates for 4,001 to 8,000 members; seven delegates for 8,001 or more members.

Article XIX of the International’s Constitution provides in part as follows: District Councils

Section 1. The General Executive Board, or the General President and General Secretary-Treasurer, shall authorize the issuance of District Council charters in such areas as, in their *827 judgment, the best interests of the International Union, Local Unions and members thereof, demand.
Section 2. Such charters may be issued :
(a) Upon application of a number of affiliated Local Unions in an area when it is deemed advantageous and beneficial to said Local Unions to combine their economic power, effort and strength into a unit which would tend to enhance, promote and conserve their welfare and interest and that of their members; or
(b) When the General Exécutive Board, or the General President and General Secretary-Treasurer, upon examination of conditions as they may exist in a given area, believe that the welfare and interest of a group of Local Unions and their members would be enhanced, promoted and conserved by the issuance of a District Council charter.
Section 3. When a District Council charter is issued, all Local Unions within its territorial and/or craft jurisdiction shall affiliate and remain affiliated with said District Council.

2. On October 7, 1968, an application was filed with the International by seven (7) of its nine (9) Locals in Oklahoma requesting the issuance of a Council charter and the establishment of an Oklahoma Council, (Def. Ex. 13). On October 9, 1969, a Council charter was issued by International establishing the Oklahoma Laborers’ District Council having territorial jurisdiction over the entire State of Oklahoma.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article II, Section 2 of the Uniform District Council Constitution, a Council has power to

negotiate, bargain for and enter into undertakings and agreements with employers, for and in behalf of its affiliated Local Unions and to enforce and police the observance thereof by employees and employers, Local Unions and their members and when, after due deliberation, it believes and deems it necessary, to take such proper and lawful economic action as may be required to accomplish and effectuate the welfare of its affiliated Local Unions and members.

3. For some years in the past, each Local in Oklahoma affiliated with the International engaged in collective bargaining on behalf of its members without any particular regard to the impact of such bargaining upon other Locals within Oklahoma and without any coordination among such Locals regarding wages, fringe benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment.

At the 1966 Convention of International, delegates from affiliated Locals and Councils throughout the United States and Canada adopted uniform collective bargaining goals for all affiliates and the entire membership of International. These included provisions for health and welfare, pension and training coverage under collective bargaining agreements.

4.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
351 F. Supp. 824, 81 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2614, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gordon-v-laborers-international-union-of-north-america-okwd-1972.