Williams v. Local No. 19, Sheet Metal Workers International Ass'n

59 F.R.D. 49
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 21, 1973
DocketCiv. A. Nos. 71-784, 70-2103
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 59 F.R.D. 49 (Williams v. Local No. 19, Sheet Metal Workers International Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Local No. 19, Sheet Metal Workers International Ass'n, 59 F.R.D. 49 (E.D. Pa. 1973).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NEWCOMER, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Kenneth J. Williams, and plaintiff, James F. Young, both originally brought suit in this case individually, and the cases were subsequently consolidated for trial. Both plaintiffs have the same attorney.

Plaintiff Williams alleges in his complaint facts sufficient to state a personal cause of action against Local 19, Sheet Metal Workers International Association, A1 Kern, individually and as President of Local 19, the Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association of Philadelphia, and the International Telephone [52]*52and Telegraph Company, Nesbitt Division, under both 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e. Because of plaintiff Williams’ timely resort to administrative remedies on June 2, 1970, he has preserved his personal rights under both § 1981 and § 2000e.

• Plaintiff Young alleges in his complaint facts sufficient to state a personal cause of action against Local 19, A1 Kern, the Contractors Association, Hershman Sheet Metal Works, Inc., and International Telephone and Telegraph Company, 'Nesbitt Division. The vitality of plaintiff Young’s rights against Nesbitt may have been undermined by his acceptance of administratively obtained adjustments of all his complaints against Nesbitt, but no such situation exists with regard to plaintiff Williams’ claims against Nesbitt, or of the personal claims of either plaintiff vis a vis the other defendants previously mentioned.

Since plaintiff Young did not make timely administrative claims, he has lost his rights under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e and is now proceeding only under 42 U.S.C. § 1981.

Neither plaintiff has any direc' claims against the defendant, Joint Apprenticeship Committee of Philadelphia and Vicinity and its members. If the status of the Joint Apprenticeship Committee were wholly distinct from the other defendants, they would not be a proper party to this action. However, the Joint Apprenticeship Committee is merely a combination of representatives of the defendant, Local 19, and the defendant, Contractors Association, which handles programs and policies relating to recruitment and entrance into the sheet metal workers trade within the jurisdiction of Local 19. It was joined by plaintiff Williams when the defendant Union took the position that a class action was inappropriate in the context of this case because the Joint Apprenticeship Committee was not before the Court and would not therefore be bound by the decrees of the Court, were systematic racial discrimination proven. For reasons that will become apparent, this Court is of the opinion that the Joint Apprenticeship Committee is properly joined, and that it is appropriate for this action to proceed as a class action.

Plaintiffs seek to be declared representatives of a class of plaintiffs defined as follows:

“non-caucasian persons who at any time since January 1, 1964, are or have been
(a) members of Local No. 19 Sheet-metal Workers International Association,
(b) former members of Local 19, or
(c) potential members of Local 19 in that:
(i) They have sought admission into Local 19 (as journeymen or apprentices), or
(ii) They have sought training in sheetmetal work in preparation for seeking admission into Local 19, or
(iii) They have sought designation from Local 19 as journeymen sheet-metal workers, or
(iv) They are or have been employed as sheetmetal workers within the geographical jurisdiction of Local 19, or
(v) They have sought employment as sheetmetal workers within the geographical jurisdiction of Local 19.”

Plaintiffs proposed class is defined by its relationship to the Union because the major thrust of plaintiffs’ allegations is that there is racial discrimination against non-whites both in access to Union membership and in job assignment policies for those non-whites who have become union members. The other defendants are either individual representatives of the union, employers charged as active or passive co-conspirators without whose acquiescence and positive assistance the alleged discrimi[53]*53nation could not exist, or representatives thereof. The Court will discuss the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 seriatim as they apply to this case.

(1) Numerosity: The Court is satisfied that the proposed class is so numerous that joinder is impracticable. The Court notes that plaintiffs have defined the proposed class with sufficient specificity that the Court can, with reasonable ease, determine whether any given person falls within or without the class. It is unnecessary to name names as extensively as has been urged by the defendants.

(2) Questions of law or fact common to the class: There are obviously questions of fact common to the class concerning the actions and intentions of the defendant Union. It may become necessary to create sub-classes at some later time with respect to rights against the other defendants, but this does not affect the propriety of the initial determination of class. There are questions of law common to the class under 42 U. S.C. § 1981 and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e.

(3) Typicality: The claims of both plaintiffs are sufficiently typical to support a class action in this case. Both plaintiffs are non-white persons who have made prima facie sufficient claims of injury through a broad base policy of racial discrimination by the defendants manifesting itself, inter alia, in the policies controlling access to membership in and job assignment in the sheet metal workers trade within the jurisdiction of defendant, Local 19. It is true that plaintiffs, though they were once admitted to Local 19, seek to represent non-whites never so admitted. It might be argued that the interests of union members or ex-members are in some way different than those of nonmembers, in that members and ex-members who might win reinstatement might have some self-interest in keeping their brothers out, thereby entrenching their own power within the union as the union’s token non-whites. This view, which would greatly narrow the class in this ease, was rejected by Chief Judge Joseph S. Lord, III, of this District in Mack v. General Electric Company, 329 F.Supp. 72 (1971) in allowing an employee of General Electric to represent employees injured by an alleged general policy of racial discrimination, and also those denied employment as a result of that same policy. We think Mack was correct.

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Bluebook (online)
59 F.R.D. 49, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-local-no-19-sheet-metal-workers-international-assn-paed-1973.