CF&I STEEL CORPORATION, a Colorado Corporation, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, an unincorporated association, Individually and as representative of its members employed by Plaintiff, et al., Defendants-Appellants.
No. 74-1031.
United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.
Argued Aug. 21, 1974. Decided Dec. 10, 1974.
507 F.2d 170 | 87 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3197 | 75 Lab.Cas. P 10,501
Before HILL and McWILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and TALBOT SMITH, Senior District Judge.
Thomas G. Brown, Denver, Colo., for plaintiff-appellee.
*TALBOT SMITH, Senior District Judge.
The appellee herein is an employer, the CF&I Steel Corporation. It has obtained an injunction forbidding Local 9856 of the United Mine Workers of America, its officers and members (hereinafter the Union) from “engaging in a strike, work stoppage, interruption of work, or picketing at the Allen Mine of the CF&I Steel Company at Weston, Colorado, over disputes arising from employee suspensions, employee discharges, and work assignments, during the remaining life of the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1971.”1 The Union appeals, arguing that the injunction is vague, overbroad, unsupported by the record, and “violative of Federal labor law.”
The Allen mine, where on June 11, 1973, a forty-hour strike began, has suffered a series of labor-management controversies. The June 11 incident involved a group of miners who had left the mine before the end of their shift to attend the funeral of a fellow miner. The employees felt that they were entitled to “portal-to-portal pay,” that is, pay from the time they entered the mine to the time they left. The company, on the other hand, took the position that they were entitled to pay only to the time when they left the “face,” that is, the specific point where they were working within the mine.
The trial court, 372 F.Supp. 846, satisfied that the strike was in violation of the employment contract between the parties and that it presented a case for equitable relief, issued a temporary restraining order2 halting the strike, accompanied by an order to show cause why preliminary injunction should not issue in accordance with the prayer of the complaint. Subsequent thereto, the parties stipulated that the hearing on the preliminary injunction be treated as the trial on the merits insofar as it related to the petition for injunctive relief.
We have found that six of the eight strikes have been in violation of the 1971 or the 1968 Agreement.3 The issue of employee discharge or suspension was involved in three of the six, and disputes having to do with work assignments were involved in two. The issues of portal-to-portal pay, medical services, vacation pay, and hoistmen‘s pay arose once apiece. Because we do not find that these latter four issues are likely to recur, we conclude that no case for equitable relief has been established as to them. However, we do find that additional strikes over employee suspensions, employee discharges, and work assignments are likely to occur unless prohibited by order of this court.
The trial court heard testimony as to each of the eight strikes. As is usual in cases of this kind, there was evidence pro and con as to each, presenting in most instances questions of motivation, justification, fault and the applicability of the contract provisions. The Union specifically briefs and argues the merits of the June 11 strike, asserting in part that CF&I was attempting to modify the basic agreement with respect to portal-to-portal pay and hence the strike was not over a local arbitrable issue. The parties initially attempted to settle the issue through the grievance procedure which, however, had reached an impasse when the strike occurred. Upon this record it is clear that the strike, as the court held, was over an arbitrable grievance and was a violation of the 1971 Agreement. The court, in view of the above conclusions, properly finding irreparable damage unless future strikes as to three types of disputes were enjoined,4 and that CF&I would suffer more from denial of injunctive relief than the Union from its issuance, ordered that “Local Union 9856 of the United Mine Workers of America, the officers and members of Local Union 9856 of the United Mine Workers of America, and all persons acting in concert and participation with them, be and they hereby are restrained and enjoined from engaging in a strike, work stoppage, interruption of work, or picketing at the Allen Mine of the CF&I Steel Company at Weston, Colorado, over disputes arising from employee suspensions, employee discharges, and work assignments, during the remaining life of the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1971.”
The Union further challenges the scope of the injunction granted on the ground that it is too broad, relying on general principles of equity, the case of Boys Markets, Inc. v. Retail Clerks, Local 770, 398 U.S. 235, 90 S.Ct. 1583, 26 L.Ed.2d 199 (1970), and the
The Supreme Court‘s standards for judging the permissible breadth of injunctions are found in NLRB v. Express Publishing Co., 312 U.S. 426, 436-437, 61 S.Ct. 693, 700, 85 L.Ed. 930 (1941).10 It is there held that:
The breadth of the order, like the injunction of a court, must depend upon the circumstances of each case, the purpose being to prevent violations, the threat of which in the future is indicated because of their similarity or relation to those unlawful acts which the Board has found to have been committed by the employer in the past. * * * To justify an order restraining other violations it must appear that they bear some resemblance to that which the employer has committed or that danger of their commission in the future is to be anticipated from the course of his conduct in the past.
Exemplification of these principles is found in NLRB v. Local 282, Teamsters, 428 F.2d 994, 999 (2nd Cir. 1970), wherein the court held:
Since the Express Publishing case the courts have upheld injunctions forbidding acts against unnamed persons so long as, at the time the injunction issued, there was reason to fear that future violations would result from a pattern or plan of illegal activity already instituted. In those cases where injunctions have been found overbroad, it has been held that there was no evidence that the enjoined party had proceeded in the past or would proceed in the future to violate any labor rights other than those of the particular parties named in the decree.
Here it was the conclusion of the trial court, as we have heretofore set forth, after taking testimony as to eight strikes, that six of them were in violation of the 1971 or 1968 wage agreement, that past strikes, so violative, had occurred with respect to work assignments and employee suspensions and discharges, and that such were “likely to occur unless prohibited by order of this court.” Thus, cases relied upon by the Union,11 in which injunctions extending to wrongful acts which had not occurred or were not likely to recur were held overly broad, are not in point as respects the situation before us.
The Union argues, also, that the injunction is overbroad under the teachings of Boys Markets, supra. This objection may be analyzed only in the light cast by past controversies and cases. There is a basic conflict presented here, and in like cases, “between the federal labor policy favoring arbitration provisions in collective bargaining agreements and the policy disfavoring injunctive relief against labor unions.”12 The
The impact of Sinclair, however, was found to be detrimental to the best interests of both labor and management, the Boys Markets opinion pointing out that
The Sinclair decision * * * seriously undermined the effectiveness of the arbitration technique as a method peacefully to resolve industrial disputes without resort to strikes, lockouts, and similar devices. * * * We conclude, therefore, that the unavailability of equitable relief in the arbitration context presents a serious impediment to the congressional policy favoring the voluntary establishment of a mechanism for the peaceful resolution of labor disputes, that the core purpose of the Norris-LaGuardia Act is not sacrificed by the limited use of equitable remedies to further this important policy, and consequently that the Norris-LaGuardia Act does not bar the granting of injunctive relief in the circumstances of the instant case.
398 U.S. at 252-253, 90 S.Ct. at 1594.
The Boys Markets opinion resurrected the labor injunction in a narrow field. But in so doing the Supreme Court pointed out that the
We deal only with the situation in which a collective-bargaining contract contains a mandatory grievance adjustment or arbitration procedure. Nor does it follow from what we have said that injunctive relief is appropriate as a matter of course in every case of a strike over an arbitrable grievance. The dissenting opinion in Sinclair suggested the following principles for the guidance of the district courts in determining whether to grant injunctive relief-- principles that we now adopt:
“A district Court entertaining an action under 301 may not grant injunctive relief against concerted activity unless and until it decides that the case is one in which an injunction would be appropriate despite the Norris-LaGuardia Act. When a strike is sought to be enjoined because it is over a grievance which both parties are contractually bound to arbitrate, the District Court may issue no injunctive order until it first holds that the contract does have that effect; and the employer should be ordered to arbitrate, as a condition of his obtaining an injunction against the strike.” * * * 398 U.S. at 253-254, 90 S.Ct. at 1594.
It is clear that the opinion considered also the possibility of remedial action directed toward future conduct in a proper case, the court continuing its quotation of the Sinclair dissent:
“Beyond this, the District Court must, of course, consider whether issuance of an injunction would be warranted under ordinary principles of equity-- whether breaches are occurring and will continue or have been threatened and will be committed; whether they have caused or will cause irreparable injury to the employer; and whether the employer will suffer more from the denial of an injunction than will the union from its issuance.” 370 U.S. at 228, 82 S.Ct. at 1346.
398 U.S. at 254, 90 S.Ct. 1583.
The Union, citing Section 9 of the
The Union urges that, since no injunctive relief was ordered by the trial court with respect to the June 11 incident involving portal-to-portal pay,22 it was “inconsistent” of the court, and error, to issue the injunction sought and ordered as to future conduct. The argument made represents a confusion of thought. Whether an injunction shall issue with respect to any particular stoppage, and the scope thereof, will depend upon an accommodation between the competing policies of
In sum, what we see presented is an unlawful proclivity25 on the part of the Union to pursue a course of conduct in violation of the agreement of the parties and detrimental to the harmony of the relationship and the best interests of both labor and management.26 It may properly be enjoined within the limits found applicable. Given this pattern of conduct the precise number of violations is not critical should future repetition seem likely. We find no violation of the proper scope of injunctive relief upon this record.
The court found that neither the District nor the International levels of the United Mine Workers were involved in the strikes, particularly in view of the stipulation that in all of the strikes except that of May 1, 1969, the International, upon being notified by CF&I of the strikes, instructed the District to instruct the miners to return to work, which action the District took without delay. Upon the record made, the injunction properly ran against Local 9856, its officers and members.
Decree affirmed.
Notes
Article XVII-- SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES
Section (b) Grievance Procedure
Should differences arise between the Mine Workers and the Employer 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 practicable time. (The parties will not be represented by legal counsel at any of the steps below.):
(1) By the aggrieved party and his foreman who shall have authority to settle the complaint. Any grievance which is not filed by the aggrieved party within fifteen calendar days after he reasonably should have known of such grievance shall be considered invalid and not subject to further prosecution under the grievance machinery.
(2) If no agreement is reached, the grievance shall be taken up by the mine committee and the mine management within five calendar days of the conclusion of step 1. A standard grievance form shall be completed and jointly signed by the parties to the grievance. Such a form will be agreed upon by the parties.
(3) If no agreement is reached, the grievance shall be taken up by the UMW district representative and a designated representative of the Employer within ten calendar days of the conclusion of step 2.
(4) If no agreement is reached, the grievance shall be taken up by the Board within ten calendar days of the conclusion of step 3 or in discharge cases within five calendar days of notice of appeal. The Board shall consist of four members, two of whom shall be designated by the Union and two by the Employer. Neither the Union‘s representatives on the Board nor the Employer‘s representatives on the Board shall be the same persons who participated in steps 1, 2, or 3 of this procedure.
(5) Should the Board fail to agree the matter shall, within ten calendar days after decision by the Board, be referred to an umpire who shall expeditiously and without delay decide said case. The decision of the umpire shall be final. Expenses and fees incident to the services of an umpire shall be paid equally by the Employer or Employers affected and by the Union.
Article XX-- MAINTAIN INTEGRITY OF CONTRACT
The United Mine Workers of America and the Employers agree and affirm that they will maintain the integrity of this contract and that all disputes and claims which are not settled by agreement shall be settled by the machinery provided in the “Settlement of Disputes” article of this agreement unless national in character in which event the parties shall settle such disputes by free collective bargaining as heretofore practiced in the industry, it being the purpose of this provision to provide for the settlement of all such disputes and claims through the machinery in this contract and by collective bargaining without recourse to the courts.