Square D Co. v. United Electrical, Radio & MacHine Workers

123 F. Supp. 776, 34 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2627, 1954 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3084
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedJuly 23, 1954
Docket13315
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 123 F. Supp. 776 (Square D Co. v. United Electrical, Radio & MacHine Workers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Square D Co. v. United Electrical, Radio & MacHine Workers, 123 F. Supp. 776, 34 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2627, 1954 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3084 (E.D. Mich. 1954).

Opinion

KOSCINSKI, District Judge.

This suit was filed under the provisions of Title III, Sec. 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, popularly known as the Taft-Hartley Act, Title 29 U.S.C.A. § 185.

Plaintiff is a Michigan Corporation which, according to allegations in its complaint, is engaged in the manufacture and distribution of electrical equipment and parts for similar equipment manufactured and processed by others throughout the country; some of its products are utilized by various departments of the Government, such as the Corps of Engineers and the Atomic Energy Commission, and also by several large aircraft companies producing military aircraft for the Government.

Defendant, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, is an international labor organization and defendant, Local 957, is a local affiliated with and chartered by the international organization. Both organizations are unincorporated voluntary associations. Reference to these two defendants will hereinafter be made as the “International” and the “Local”, respectively.

Of the remaining defendants, Mates is the international representative of the International and Kelly is the business manager of the Local, while the others have been, during the periods of time pertinent here, or still are, stewards and members of the Executive Committee of the Local.

Plaintiff entered into a collective bargaining agreement with the Local on June 2, 1952, said agreement to remain in effect up to and including May 16, 1954. Neither the International nor any of the individual defendants are parties to this contract although some of the *778 individual defendants signed it in their capacity as officers of and on behalf of the Local which could only act through agents and representatives. In the agreement plaintiff recognizes the Local as the sole collective bargaining agency for its hourly paid factory and cafeteria employees, approximately 1,140 in number. Some of the pertinent provisions of the agreement are:

Article XVI establishes grievance procedure for adjustment of grievances, enumerating five steps in such procedure.

Sec. 5 of this Article provides that should any condition arise over grievances, there shall be no suspension, slowdown or stoppage of work, or lock-out, until such grievance procedure has been exhausted.

Sec. 6 of this Article absolves the International, the Local, and officers, agents or representatives of both, from liability to the Company in any action at law for damages arising out of any interruption of the Company’s operations, in violation of the agreement, if such interruption is neither authorized nor supported by them. The Union and its officers, agents and representatives agree to take immediate steps to remedy the condition, including posting of notices.

This Article further provides that should any such violation occur the Union and the Company agree that their exclusive remedy for such violation shall be in accordance with the provisions of this agreement.

The complaint charges that, contrary to their undertakings and agreements finder this contract, and in violation of said agreement, defendants engaged in á deliberate and calculated plan to interfere with, suspend and stop plaintiff’s production, by inducing the breach of said contract by plaintiff’s employees, by ordering strikes, walkouts, suspensions and other stoppages of work; that the individual defendants, jointly and severally, acted to accomplish these unlawful actions and confederated and conspired together and have singly and in concert induced plaintiff’s employees to breach said agreement, by engaging in such concerted actions; that all of the defendants induced the individual employees of plaintiff, singly and in concert, to disobey and oppose the lawful requirements of plaintiff under said contract, as a direct result of which unlawful conduct plaintiff's employees engaged in strikes, walkouts, suspensions and other stoppages of work on October 23, 1953, again on November 2, 1953, and also on February 15,1954; that not only did defendants incite and induce the employees to breach the contract, but they utterly failed to take the necessary steps to remedy and terminate said condition, contrary to the express undertakings contained in said contract and contrary to the duty of said defendants arising under said contract; that plaintiff has performed its obligations under the agreement and made a demand upon defendant unions to cease its unlawful acts, without result; that as a result of said unlawful conduct production in plaintiff’s plant was stopped and resulted in damage to plaintiff to the extent of $210,000, for which it asks judgment.

There is no allegation in the complaint as to citizenship of the individual defendants.

The two unions and some of the individual defendants filed a motion to dismiss this action on the grounds that (1) the complaint fails to state a cause of action; (2) no action may be maintained against the individual defendants under Sec. 301 of the Taft-Hartley Act; (3) the International is not a proper party defendant under the Act since it is not a party to the contract sued upon; (4) plaintiff failed to exhaust grievance and arbitration procedures for settlement of its dispute as provided in the contract and as required by the United States Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq.; (5) under Article XVI, Sec. 6 of the agreement plaintiff is barred from bringing this action; and (6) this court is without jurisdiction, under the Act, to try the issues relating to an alleged conspiracy to breach a contract, set forth in the complaint. In an amendment to the motion defendants ask, in the alterna *779 tive, if the court does not grant the motion to dismiss, that all further proceedings herein be stayed under Rule 12(b) (1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. and Title 9 U.S.C.A. § 3, Arbitration Act, until arbitration of the issues involved in this action shall have been held.

Copies of the agreement between plaintiff and the Local, as well as of the International’s Constitution and By-Laws, are attached to the motion, together with a supporting affidavit.

Plaintiff relies solely upon Sec. 301 of the Taft-Hartley Act for jurisdiction of this court. That statute authorizes suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce, as defined in the Act, or between any such labor organizations, to be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties; it provides that any labor organization which represents employees in an industry affecting commerce may sue or be sued as an entity and in behalf of the employees whom it represents in the courts of the United States; and another provision of the Section is to the effect that any money judgment against a labor organization in a district court of the United States shall be enforceable only against the organization as an entity and against its assets, and shall not be enforceable against any individual member or his assets.

Does the complaint state a cause of action against all of the defendants under Sec.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
123 F. Supp. 776, 34 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2627, 1954 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3084, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/square-d-co-v-united-electrical-radio-machine-workers-mied-1954.