Sheeran v. American Commercial Lines, Inc.

683 F.2d 970, 110 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3168
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit·Decided July 12, 1982·No. No. 80-5290·Published·Cited by 25 cases

Opinion

PHILLIPS, Senior Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from an order granting a preliminary injunction pursuant to § 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 160(j).

These proceedings grew out of charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board by Seafarers International Union (SIU or Union) that the appellants have engaged in numerous unfair labor practices.

Between February 20 and May 6, 1980, the General Counsel of the Board issued by the Regional Director two complaints and notices of hearing against appellants and an order consolidating the two cases, charging violations of §§ 8(a)(1), (2), (3), and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act. The charges included: interference with employees’ union activities; discrimination against SIU members in hiring; encouragement of employees to file decertification petitions or to join another Union; and unilateral repudiation of the Union hiring hall and Union representative access provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.

After receiving permission from the Board, the Regional Director brought this action in district court and sought a preliminary injunction pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 160(j) to preserve the status quo during the pendency of the proceedings before the Board. Following an evidentiary hearing, Chief District Judge Charles M. Allen granted some, but not all, of the relief sought by the Board and entered an order granting the following preliminary injunction on July 25, 1980:

PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
This action, having come on to be heard on the motion of petitioners for a preliminary injunction pursuant to Section 10(j) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, as amended, and the case, having been tried before the Court without a jury, and the Court, having entered its findings of fact, conclusions of law and memorandum opinion, and being fully advised in the premises,
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that pending the final disposition of the matters before the National Labor Relations Board, the respondents, American Commercial Lines, Inc., Inland Tugs Company, American Commercial Barge Line Company, and [973]*973Mac Towing, Inc., their officers, captains, agents, supervisors, employees, attorneys or representatives be and they are hereby enjoined from interfering with employees when they try to process grievances and enforce contract provisions, or in a lawful manner express support for the union, and are hereby enjoined from refusing to permit duly designated union representatives to board respondents’ vessels and are enjoined from refusing to use the union hiring halls as the exclusive source for new hires into the units described in Paragraph 13 of the petition.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the motion to dismiss filed by American Commercial Lines, Inc. be and it is hereby overruled.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that this case shall remain upon the docket of this Court, and upon the final disposition by the Board of the matters pending before it, the petitioner shall cause this proceeding to be dismissed.

The respondents filed a notice of appeal from the order granting the preliminary injunction. After the filing of the notice of appeal, the injunction was stayed by a series of stipulations of the parties. Later, the district court denied appellants’ renewed motion to dismiss the injunction, but stayed the injunction pending approval by the Board of a finalized settlement stipulation, upon the condition that the appellants voluntarily abide by the terms of the injunction. The General Counsel of the Board did not approve the proposed settlement stipulation. The petitioner-appellee thereupon filed a motion in the district court to revoke the stay. Appellants responded with a motion “to dismiss or in the alternative suspend or modify and/or stay” the injunction. These two motions are still pending before the district court.

We affirm the order of the district court granting the temporary injunction except as to American Commercial Lines, Inc. and Mac Towing, Inc., but remand the case for consideration of the motions now pending before the district court, and for further consideration of the motion of appellants to place time limits on the injunction (in accordance with Part IX of this opinion).

I

The case is before this court on the appeal of American Commercial Lines, Inc. (ACL), American Commercial Barge Line Company (ACBL), Inland Tugs Co. (ITC) and Mac Towing, Inc. (Mac Towing). The four appellants sometimes are referred to collectively in this opinion as the “employer.”

ACL is an intermediate holding company which owns all the stock of the other appellants. The parent corporation provides financial and administrative services to the other appellants. ACBL is the lead company of ACL’s Inland Waterways Division Barging Group, and is engaged in providing towing services on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and their tributaries. ACBL operates, through ITC and Mac Towing, approximately 58 motor vessels. ACBL provides management for and controls the day-today labor relations of ITC and Mac Towing, as well as its own.

SIU has had two long standing collective bargaining agreements covering the employees assigned to vessels used by ITC and its predecessors.1 One of the agreements covered deckhands, cooks and other “unlicensed” personnel; the other covered the engineers. At the time ACL purchased the assets of Mac Towing in August 1979, however, Mae Towing had an existing collective bargaining arrangement with another Union, the Inland Rivermen’s Association (IRA), which was to be effective until 1982. After the purchase of Mac Towing, the obligations of its collective bargaining [974]*974agreement with IRA were voluntarily assumed by the Employer.2

There were two collective bargaining agreements between SIU and each of appellants except Mac Towing. They provided, inter alia, that the employer would hire only through the SIU hiring hall except in certain situations in which the SIU could not provide enough available and qualified members to satisfy ITC’s needs; and that ITC would provide “access to the property and vessels of the Company for the purposes of contacting the employees.”

The basic dispute in this case centers upon these two provisions of the collective bargaining agreement. In granting the preliminary injunction, the district judge found that there was “reasonable cause to believe” that an unfair labor practice had been committed because the respondents had violated these two provisions of the agreement.

Two incidents and the consequences arising therefrom precipitated the asserted breaches of the agreement. One incident grew out of an action by the Board. In an August 1979 decision, Seafarers' International Union, Atlantic, Gulf, Lakes and Inland Waterways District, AFL-CIO (American Barge Line Co. et al.), 244 NLRB 99 (1979), the Board found that certain provisions of SIU Shipping Rules which provided for hiring hall referrals on the basis of seniority violated the National Labor Relations Act.

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

Sheeran v. American Commercial Lines, Inc., 683 F.2d 970, 110 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3168 (6th Cir. 1982).

683 F.2d 970 (Sheeran v. American Commercial Lines, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Calatrello v. Rite Aid of Ohio, Inc.
823 F. Supp. 2d 690 (N.D. Ohio, 2011)
Lund v. CASE FARMS PROCESSING, INC.
794 F. Supp. 2d 809 (N.D. Ohio, 2011)
Planned Parenthood Cincinnati Region v. Bob Taft
444 F.3d 502 (Sixth Circuit, 2006)
Planned Parenthood v. Taft
Sixth Circuit, 2006
Lusk v. Foxmeyer Health Corp.
129 F.3d 773 (Fifth Circuit, 1997)
Pye v. Teamsters
First Circuit, 1995
No. 91-6141
965 F.2d 1401 (Sixth Circuit, 1992)
Kobell v. United Paperworkers International Union
965 F.2d 1401 (Sixth Circuit, 1992)
Schaub v. Brewery Products, Inc.
715 F. Supp. 829 (E.D. Michigan, 1989)
Gottfried v. Frankel
818 F.2d 485 (Sixth Circuit, 1987)
Board of Education v. Prince George's County Educators' Ass'n
522 A.2d 931 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1987)
Bd. of Educ. v. PG CO. EDUCATORS'ASS'N
522 A.2d 931 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1987)
Dunn v. Pilgrim Industries, Inc.
624 F. Supp. 987 (E.D. Texas, 1985)