Peabody Coal Co. v. Local Union No. 1670, United Mine Workers

416 F. Supp. 485, 93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2532, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14570
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 17, 1976
DocketCiv. No. 753308
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 416 F. Supp. 485 (Peabody Coal Co. v. Local Union No. 1670, United Mine Workers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peabody Coal Co. v. Local Union No. 1670, United Mine Workers, 416 F. Supp. 485, 93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2532, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14570 (illinoised 1976).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

FOREMAN, District Judge.

This cause came on to be heard on May 27,1976 on the Application of plaintiff for a permanent injunction on the Complaint and Supplemental Complaint filed herein and plaintiff having filed a Second Supplemental Complaint herein; that by paragraph 6 of a Stipulation and Agreement filed herein on May 27, 1976, plaintiff and defendant agreed that the Court would take this case subject to additional evidence to be submitted in the event of a strike or work stoppage subsequent to May 17, 1976 and that in the event of a strike or work stoppage at plaintiff’s River King Underground Mine by Local 1670 and its members over an arbitrable issue of any kind, the Court may in its discretion enter a permanent pattern injunction as prayed in the Complaint and Supplemental Complaint herein and the plaintiff having filed a Second Supplemental Complaint herein, and the Court having heard the evidence on the Second Supplemental Complaint on June 16, 1976 and consolidated the trial on the Second Supplemental Complaint with the trial of the action for permanent injunction previously heard in part on May 27, 1976 on all issues, and the Court having heard the evidence on the Second Supplemental Complaint on June 16, 1976 and all parties having appeared with counsel and the Court being fully advised in the premises makes herewith its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law as follows:

I

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff is a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware and is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Labor-Management Relations Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C., Sections 152(2) and (7).

2. Defendant Local Union No. 1670, United Mine Workers of America (“Local 1670”) is an unincorporated labor organization duly chartered by International Union, United Mine Workers of America and represents employees in industries affecting commerce within the meaning of § 2(5) and § 2(7) of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C.A. 152(5) and (7)’

3. On or about December 5, 1974, plaintiff and International Union, United Mine Workers of America (“International Union”) representing the local union defendant above named and each individual member thereof executed and bound themselves to a collective bargaining agreement (“Con[487]*487tract”) entitled “National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1974”, which at all times herein mentioned was and is in full force and effect, and binding as to the parties.

4. Defendant Local 1670 and each of its members authorized International Union to bargain for and on their behalf and they are bound by the terms of the Contract, be they beneficial or burdensome.

5. The Contract contains an Article for the Settlement of Disputes (Article XXIII) (“Grievance Procedure”) which applies to all “differences between the Mine Workers and Employers as to the meaning and application of the provisions of this Agreement or should differences arise about matters not specifically mentioned in this Agreement, or should any local trouble of any kind arise at the mine an earnest effort shall be made to settle such differences at the earliest possible time; ” that such Contract provides for a four step grievance procedure with the right to appeal to an Arbitration Review Board; that the final step of the grievance procedure is submission of the matter to a panel umpire; that his decision “shall be final”; with a right to appeal to the Arbitration Review Board which may make whatever changes are necessary to assure that the final decision correctly resolves all contractual issues.

6. The Contract contains a provision for the Settlement of Health and Safety Disputes (Article III Section (p)) that it provides that when a dispute arises at the mine involving health and safety an immediate, earnest and sincere effort shall be made to resolve the matter through the steps therein set forth and that the final step in such procedure is submission to a panel arbitrator pursuant to the Settlement of Disputes Procedure (Article XXIII Section (c) paragraph 4)) which is the same procedure set forth in the Settlement of Disputes Procedure and the decision of the panel umpire is final and subject to review by the Arbitration Review Board as set forth in paragraph 5 of the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law herein.

7. That the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1968 contained an Article on Settlement of Local and District Disputes which was identical to the Article contained in the present Contract, except that the procedure for discharge cases was changed in the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1971 by providing for a notice in contemplation of discharge and a hearing within a five day period and that if the matter was not resolved at that time it proceeded to the fourth step of the grievance procedure and then to final and binding arbitration.

8. That the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1971 contained a provision for the Settlement of Health and Safety Disputes in which the decision of a panel selected by the parties was binding on the parties involved in the dispute.

9. That the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1974 contains a Discharge Procedure (Article XXIV) providing for expedited arbitration of a discharge by a panel arbitrator’s decision which is final or for handling the discharge through the Settlement of Disputes Procedure (Article XXIII) and in each instance the decision of the panel arbitrator is final subject to review as set forth in paragraph 5 hereof.

10. Plaintiff operates a mine known as the River King Underground Mine in St. Clair County, Illinois, which is within the jurisdiction of this court. Defendant Local 1670 represents plaintiff’s hourly employees at said mine.

11. On June 3, 1976, at approximately 5:15 a.m., Dennis Eggemeyer, a buggy runner, was asked to take roof bolt wrenches to a roof bolt drill in that section of the River King Underground Mine; that at approximately 5:25 a.m., Dennis Eggemeyer claimed that he was ill and asked for a ride out of the mine; that face boss, Carl Wheatley, and Vern Edwards, the Mine Manager, arranged to take him out of the mine because he claimed to be ill; that Dennis Eggemeyer asked for a mine committeeman; that Vern Edwards did not call a mine committeemen because he was tak[488]*488ing Dennis Eggemeyer out of the mine and because he did not intend to discipline Dennis Eggemeyer; that subsequently the Union, defendant, claimed that face boss, Carl Wheatley and Vern Edwards, the Mine Manager, had harassed Dennis Eggemeyer, and that the Mine Manager, Vern Edwards, questioned Dennis Eggemeyer about being sick on his way out of the mine.

12. Commencing at 12:01 a.m. on June 4, 1976, defendant, Local Union 1670, commenced a work stoppage over the claim that Carl Wheatley, the face boss, and Vern Edwards, the Mine Manager, had harassed Dennis Eggemeyer in taking him out of the mine; that Vern Edwards, the Mine Manager, had questioned him about being ill when they were leaving the mine; that Dennis Eggemeyer had not been given a mine committeeman; that Charles Moake, the Mine Superintendent, talked to Dennis Eggemeyer in the bathhouse and that Dennis Eggemeyer did not ask for a mine committeeman at that time and that at the time the strike and work stoppage commenced, plaintiff had not taken any disciplinary action against Dennis Eggemeyer.

13.

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416 F. Supp. 485, 93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2532, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14570, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peabody-coal-co-v-local-union-no-1670-united-mine-workers-illinoised-1976.