International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union v. Hawaiian Pineapple Co.

226 F.2d 875, 37 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2056
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedOctober 25, 1955
DocketNo. 13673
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 226 F.2d 875 (International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union v. Hawaiian Pineapple Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union v. Hawaiian Pineapple Co., 226 F.2d 875, 37 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2056 (9th Cir. 1955).

Opinion

CHAMBERS, Circuit Judge.

The issues here arise out of an industrial conflict. The principal situs of the events under suit was at the Columbia River port of the City of The Dalles, Oregon.

■ Below, the plaintiff was- Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Ltd., (hereafter “Pineapple”), a corporation organized under the laws of the Territory of Hawaii. Principal defendants were the International Longshoremen’s & Ware-housemen’s Union (hereafter “International”), Local 8 of the International Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s Union (the Portland, Oregon, local, hereafter “Local”), and various individual longshoremen, members of Local or officers or agents of International.

The events in suit happened mainly between September 24, 1949, and October 27, 1949.

Trial was by jury. A verdict was rendered in favor of Pineapple against International and Local for $201,274.27. The jury about-faced and rendered a verdict in favor of the individual defendants and against Pineapple.

Background information should be reported. In thef summer of 1949 International’s local unions in the Territory of Hawaii were engaged in strikes and picketing against others than Pineapple. Transportation to and from the islands had dwindled to a trickle. Pineapple [877]*877had pineapple in Hawaii and it had California fresh fruits about ready for the cannery of a subsidiary at San Jose, California. At the California cannery each year canned Hawaiian pineapple would be uncanned, then would be combined with mainland fruits and recanned to produce canned fruit salad. It is to be noted that the process involved canning fruits other than pineapple only once.

Common carriers, tied up in the Islands, were unavailable to move Pineapple’s pineapple to California. Therefore, Pineapple decided to move as its own self-carrier some of its cases of pineapple packed in No. 10 cans. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Isleways, Ltd., it chartered an ocean-going barge, arranged for an ocean-going tug to tow the barge to the mouth of the Columbia River and a river tugboat to take the barge to The Dalles, the river port selected as the water destination.1 The Dalles is a small port and not noted for coastal traffic. Prior to September, 1949, it seems to have escaped any serious attention from International or Local. The port obviously was selected by Pineapple because of the absence there of International and its locals.

Pineapple arranged for the services of a boom crane of the Goodat Company. This company was willing to sell its service to unload Pineapple’s pineapple, but after a day or two of Pineapple’s unloading troubles, Goodat had all of Pineapple’s problems it wanted and sold the crane to Pineapple on a “do-it-yourself” basis.

Pineapple planned to transport the pineapple from The Dalles to San Jose by the trucks of various trucking companies and also by rail freight out over the Union Pacific, which serves The Dalles.

Below is a list of some of the troubles that developed for Pineapple in trying to unload the barge at The Dalles:

1. Before the arrival of the barge at The Dalles on September 24, 1949, Matt Meehan, a representative of International in the area, tried to dissuade the officials of the Port of The Dalles from letting Pineapple use the port and facilities.

2. On September 25, members of Local from Portland came to The Dalles in private cars and formed a picket line outside the dock of the Port of The Dalles. This line was maintained for some days.

3. Longshoremen met California teamsters in their trucks at a distance of several miles from The Dalles and tried to dissuade them from coming to The Dalles to pick up cargo. Four trucks, however, on September 28, 1949, came on through to the docks. Extra local police were on duty, but the longshoremen reacted violently to the arrival of the trucks. They broke through the police guard, ran to the dock. In the ensuing riot, the truck drivers were threatened and two were beaten. (The trucks went back to California empty.) The Goodat crane was attacked, but no serious damage was done to it. Unsuccessfully the mob tried to cut the barge loose. Over 400 cases of pineapple were tossed into the Columbia River.2

4. After the riot the picket line dispersed, at least for a time, but bevies of longshoremen from Portland continued for several days to walk the streets of the little town.

5. The tug languished at the dock until October 19, when Pineapple started to move the cargo via Union Pacific. [878]*878Freight cars were moved on to the dock, a picket line immediately formed again. Another stalemate followed. Eventually, the cargo did move to San Jose beginning on October 26. At the time the strife ceased, an announcement was made that the Port of The Dalles had made some sort of concession to the longshoremen, but no contract was entered into between the port and Local, if such the port could. The concession was principally higher wages for the longshoremen who, we take it, remained non-union.

Earnestly, Pineapple appeals from the judgment which permitted the individuals to escape liability and International and Local cross-appeal, seeking relief here from the judgment against them. For reasons hereafter stated, the judgment rendered below will be affirmed as to all parties before this court.

Section 303 of the 1947 Labor-Management Relations Act is found as 29 U. S.C.A. § 187. So far as pertinent, it reads as follows:

“§ 187. Boycotts and other unlawful combinations; right to sue; jurisdiction; limitations; damages
“(a) It shall be unlawful, for the purposes of this section only, in an industry or activity affecting commerce, for any labor organization to engage in, or to induce or encourage the employees of any employer to engage in, a strike or a concerted refusal in the course of their employment to use, manufacture, process, transport, or otherwise handle or work on any goods, articles, materials, or commodities or to perform any services, where an object thereof is—
“(1) forcing or requiring any employer or self-employed person to join any labor or employer organization or any employer or other person to cease using, selling, handling, transporting, or otherwise dealing in the products of any other producer, processor, or manufacturer, or to cease doing business with any other person;
******
“(4) forcing or requiring any employer to assign particular work to employees in a particular labor organization or in a particular trade, craft, or class rather than to employees in another labor organization or in another trade, craft, or class unless such employer is failing to conform to an order or certification of the National Labor Relations Board determining the bargaining representative for employees performing such work. Nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed to make unlawful a refusal by any person to enter upon the premises of any employer (other than his own employer), if the employees of such employer are engaged in a strike ratified or approved by a representative of such employees whom such employer is required to recognize under subchap-ter II of this chapter.

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Bluebook (online)
226 F.2d 875, 37 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2056, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-longshoremens-warehousemens-union-v-hawaiian-pineapple-ca9-1955.