Scoggins v. Morgan

503 P.2d 509, 11 Or. App. 502
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 17, 1972
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 503 P.2d 509 (Scoggins v. Morgan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scoggins v. Morgan, 503 P.2d 509, 11 Or. App. 502 (Or. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

FORT, J.

This is an appeal by numerous employes from decisions of the Employment Appeals Board which denied them unemployment compensation for the period they were unemployed during the summer and early fall of 1971 as the result of the West Coast dock strike.

The dispute was over the terms for renewal of the labor contract between the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), the employers’ bargaining association.

After several months of negotiations the labor agreement expired on June 30, 1971. On the following day the ILWU called a strike. The strike continued until October 6, when an 80-dav injunction was ordered under the Taft-IIartley Act. This case involves claims by certain workmen for unemployment benefits prior to the issuance of that injunction.

QRS 657.200 (1) provides:

“An individual is disqualified for benefits for *506 any week with respect to which, the administrator finds that his unemployment is due to a labor dispute which is in active progress at the factory, establishment or other premises at which he is or was last employed or at which he claims employment rights by union agreement or otherwise.”

The petitioners in these consolidated cases concede they became unemployed by reason of a labor dispute and therefore are disqualified under ORS 657.200 (1), but argue they are requalified under ORS 657.200 (3), which provides:

“This section does not apply if it is shown to the satisfaction of the administrator that the individual :
“(a) Is not participating in or financing or directly interested in the labor dispute which caused his unemployment; and
“(b) Does not belong to a grade or class of workers of which, immediately before the commencement of the labor dispute, there were members employed at the premises at which the labor dispute occurs, any of whom are participating in or financing or directly interested in the dispute.”

The burden of establishing a prima facie case was on the claimants to show they requalified under ORS 657.200 (3). Cameron v. DeBoard; MacInnes, 230 Or 411, 370 P2d 709 (1962); Baker v. Cameron, 240 Or 354, 401 P2d 691 (1965). The Employment Appeals Board’s findings need only be supported by “substantial evidence.” ORS 183.480 (7) (d); Henzel v. Cameron, 228 Or 452, 463-64, 365 P2d 498 (1961).

The first group of petitioners we shall consider are called “casual” longshoremen. They are one of three classes of longshoremen. The other two classes, “A”- and “B” longshoremen, are members of the ILWU *507 while the “casuals” are not. Under the contract, however, these classifications determine the hiring priorities, the casuals being selected only after all the “A” and “B” men are offered work. Petitioners concede that pay is the same for each of the three classes of longshoremen. Pay of all longshoremen is governed by the contract.

Essentially, the casual longshoremen petitioners argue the Employment Appeals Board erred in finding that they were directly interested in the labor dispute inasmuch as they are not members of the ILWU and in no way participated in the dispute.

Whether the claimants were “directly interested” in the labor dispute is a question of fact, Henzel v. Cameron, supra, 228 Or at 463.

The facts that the casuals are not members of the ILWU and did not participate in the strike are not controlling here. Nor are the facts that the casuals do not enjoy the fringe benefits of union membership and are allowed to work only on a daily basis after all the union “A” and “B” longshoremen have been assigned. However, when casuals are selected to work, the ILWU-PMA agreement provides they are assured the identical working conditions and wage scale on any particular job as the “A” and “B” members. The contract required they be hired under its provisions. *508 This strike involved, inter alia, dispute over such wages and working conditions.

The court stated in Henzel v. Cameron, supra, 228 Or at 465:

“An individual is deemed ‘directly interested’ in a labor dispute when his wages, hours or conditions of work will be affected favorably or adversely by the outcome. * * *”

Since by its provisions all the conditions in ORS 657.200 (3) must co-exist before the disqualification of ORS 657.200 (1) can be avoided, our affirmance as to the Employment Appeals Board’s findings and conclusions regarding the casuals under subsection 3(a) makes unnecessary any determination as to the Employment Appeals Board’s findings and conclusions regarding the casuals under subsection 3(b).

Petitioners concede that the position of the Class “B” or partially registered checkers or clerks is only slightly different from the casual longshoremen. They point, however, to no facts which establish any basis for concluding that under the ILWU-PMA Clerk’s contract the test of Henzel v. Cameron, supra, *509 above quoted, the result here reached by the Employment Appeals Board should be different with respect to Class “B” clerks who are petitioners here. We conclude that the result with respect to them must be the same as that reached for the “casuals.”

Thus, with regard to those petitioners who work as “A” or “B” longshoremen or clerks, it follows that the findings and conclusions of the Employment Appeals Board should be affirmed.

*510 The other petitioners to be considered, “walking bosses,” work in the capacity of foremen for the crews of longshoremen. They belong to Local 92, which is separate from the Longshoremen locals that called the strike, yet they are members of the ILWTJ. The “walking bosses” operated under a separate contract with PMA, yet there is sufficient evidence to support the findings that the custom has been to negotiate their contract only after the longshoremen’s contract is settled and that their wage rate is customarily based on a fixed percentage increment above the basic longshoremen wage rate.

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Bluebook (online)
503 P.2d 509, 11 Or. App. 502, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scoggins-v-morgan-orctapp-1972.