National Labor Relations Board v. Local 138, International Union of Operating Engineers

293 F.2d 187
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJuly 25, 1961
DocketNo. 263, Docket 26562
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 293 F.2d 187 (National Labor Relations Board v. Local 138, International Union of Operating Engineers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Labor Relations Board v. Local 138, International Union of Operating Engineers, 293 F.2d 187 (2d Cir. 1961).

Opinion

FRIENDLY, Circuit Judge.

The National Labor Relations Board petitions for enforcement of its order, 123 N.L.R.B. 1393 (1959), based on findings that Local 138, International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO, violated §§ 8(b) (1) (A) and 8(b) (2) of the Taft-Hartley Act, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 158 (b) (1) (A) and 158(b) (2), and that various employers violated §§ 8(a) (1) and 8(a) (3), 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 158(a) (1) and 158(a) (3), by maintaining a closed shop and an illegal union hiring hall, and by discriminating against certain men so as to discourage activities protected by § 7, 29 U.S.C.A. § 157.

The case grew out of a long-standing feud between rival factions of the Union, an organization of operators of heavy construction equipment — bulldozers, cranes, power shovels and the like— in Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island. Since about 1954 a small number of determined members, perhaps ten of a total membership of some twelve hundred, whom we shall call, without implication, “reformers,” have waged an intensive campaign to overturn Local President William DeKoning, Jr., and other incumbent officers, for what the reformers consider to be gross mismanagement and improper administration of union affairs. They have picketed the headquarters of the Local and of its International in Washington, D. C.; they have appeared before the Ethical Practices [190]*190Committee of the AFL-CIO; they have printed articles in the press and have spoken over the radio. Their activities have engendered a considerable amount of irritation among the rank and file, culminating in the trial of several reformers on charges of bringing the Union into disrepute, and their expulsion from the Union in September, 1956. Moreover, on several occasions other members have refused to work with the reformers, and the latter claim that their reforming efforts have provoked a systematic program of discrimination against them by the Local itself, intended to deny them equal employment opportunities.

Since 1944 the Union has been party to a collective-bargaining agreement with Nassau and Suffolk Contractors’ Association, Inc., which represents some 28 employers in the construction industry. Respondents Hendrickson Bros., Inc., and Frank Marmorale Co. are members of the Association; respondents Eastern Fireproofing Co. and Zara Contracting Co. are not. The agreement was to continue in force for three years, and thereafter for yearly periods unless timely notice of a contrary intention was given. It required the member companies to employ members in good standing of the Union, unless the Union was unable to supply the requested labor within twenty-four hours. In December, 1955, the Board, on charges by reform member Peter Batalias, filed a complaint against the Union and the Association. This resulted in a cease-and-desist order dated June 18, 1957, 118 N.L.R.B. 174, and ultimately in a consent decree in this Court, dated May 12, 1958, condemning the closed-shop clause and any arrangement whereby Union membership or Union clearance was a prerequisite to employment, restraining the Association and its members from interfering in the administration of the Union, and barring the Union and the Association from “in any other manner” interfering with the exercise of rights guaranteed by § 7. The complaint in the present proceeding, also based on charges brought by members of the reform group, is predicated on the alleged continuation of the forbidden practices, with the exception of employer domination, beyond the date the Trial Examiner’s report was filed in the earlier case, on discrimination against the reformers in job referrals, and on allegedly Union-inspired work stoppages resulting in the discharge or transfer of reform members. A final charge, added during the trial, was of discrimination against non-Union workers in the administration of the Union welfare fund.

The Trial Examiner found the respondents had continued the illegal closed-shop provision but recommended that no new order be entered because the situation was covered by the earlier decree. He found neither discrimination in job referrals nor Union responsibility for the work stoppages. Respondent Zara, which has no contract with the Union, was absolved of any wrongdoing. Respondent Eastern, also with no contract, was found to have committed a “technical violation” by yielding to pressure from the Union to remove reformer Miller from his job, but no order was recommended because the Examiner did not believe such action “would effectuate the policies of the Act.” As to respondents Hendrickson and Marmorale, the Examiner concluded that, apart from the illegal contract to which they were bound as Association members but as to which no order was recommended, the General Counsel had failed to sustain his burden of proof.

On exceptions by the General Counsel, the Board drastically modified the Examiner’s findings and conclusions. Noting that the Union had not excepted to the finding that it had continued the illegal closed-shop provision, the Board affirmed this without discussing the evidence. Next the Board affirmed, on the basis of a notification by President De-Koning to the members, the Examiner’s finding that a practice had continued whereby Union membership, Union referral, or a Union permit was required as a condition of employment, and ruled [191]*191that the Union operated an exclusive hiring hall that did not satisfy the standards laid down in Mountain Pacific Chapter, 119 N.L.R.B. 883, 897 (1957). Findings were also made that the Union had violated § 8(b) (1) (A) by threatening the reformers with the loss of job referrals for their anti-organization activities, by denying them a fair share of job referrals for the same reason, and by threatening reformer Wilkens with bodily injury; and had violated both § 8 (b) (1) (A) and § 8(b) (2) by causing the latter’s discharge and, through work stoppages, the discharge and transfer of reformers on several other occasions. Respondents Eastern, Hendrickson, Mar-morale, and Zara were found to have discriminated against the reformers by yielding to the Union’s demands, in violation of §§ 8(a) (1) and 8(a) (3). Finally, the Union was held to have violated the Act by discriminating against permit men in the administration of the welfare fund. The Union was ordered, among other things, to cease and desist from the unfair practices found, to reimburse dues and fees exacted under the illegal contract, to make whole the reformers for any loss of pay suffered by reason of discrimination, and to end discrimination in the welfare fund. The respondent companies were similarly ordered to cease and desist, to join in the reimbursement of dues and repayment of losses, and to offer reinstatement to employees wrongfully discharged.

When the case was argued before us, Local 60, United Bhd. of Carpenters, etc. v. N. L. R. B., 1961, 365 U.S. 651, 81 S.Ct. 875, 6 L.Ed.2d 1, and Local 357, I.B.T., etc. v. N. L. R. B., 1961, 365 U.S. 667, 81 S.Ct. 835, 6 L.Ed.2d 11, were awaiting decision. In the light of those decisions, the Board has withdrawn its request for enforcement of the portions of the order imposing the so-called Brown-Olds remedy of reimbursement of dues exacted during the allegedly illegal contract and condemning the exclusive union hiring hall.

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293 F.2d 187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-labor-relations-board-v-local-138-international-union-of-ca2-1961.