138 Misc. 512 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1930
Plaintiff is engaged in the business of cleaning windows, walls, etc., in various stores and buildings in the city of New York, and at the time of the commencement of this action was under contract with over twenty-five firms and corporations to perform such labor. Plaintiff has been in the business of window cleaning for the past twenty-four years, and its method of dealing with its customers is as follows: Plaintiff secures from owners and agents of various buildings, stores and offices in the city of New York contracts for cleaning the windows of said buildings for a definite sum of money, and, almost without exception for a definite period of time. Plaintiff thereupon furnishes the labor and tools with which said services are performed, and claims that
At the time of the commencement of this action plaintiff applied to this court for a preliminary injunction.restraining the defendant from interfering with the plaintiff and its customers, but this court at Special Term denied the application for an injunction pendente Hie. On appeal from such order denying the injunction the said order was reversed and an injunction granted by the Appellate Division (226 App. Div. 734) restraining the defendants, their agents, servants, attorneys and confederates, and all persons acting in aid or in conjunction with them, during the pendency of this action, from attempting in any manner to induce the plaintiff’s customers to violate their contracts with the plaintiff and/or to discontinue the services of the plaintiff, and from picketing and aiding in the picketing of the premises managed, owned, operated or occupied by plaintiff’s customers, or from carrying placards in the neighborhood of the places of business of the plaintiff’s customers. On the trial the affidavits on which
The evidence on the trial established the fact that this effort on the part of the defendants to compel plaintiff to unionize its business had the sanction of the union and that during all the time the picketing was in progress, and before the commencement of this action, at several meetings of the union, the activities of these pickets, where they were stationed before the places of business of the customers of the plaintiff, and their progress were reported at said meetings of the union and were duly ratified and approved. The evidence also established the fact that there were numerous occasions when violence was brought to bear as an argument by members of the union under the guidance and instruction of an officer and a walking delegate; that as a result of such violence several arrests were caused, three of the union members were held for Special Sessions and found guilty in said court, resulting in a suspended sentence for two of them, and a fine for the third.
Aside from the acts of violence the real question at issue is, should the defendants be permitted to picket the premises owned and managed not by the plaintiff, but by its customers, and to picket in such a manner that on the. face of it the object and effect
The evidence on the trial of this case, as heretofore stated, establishes the existence of an illegal boycott and knowledge thereof on the part of the union, and, therefore, I must find that the plaintiff has established the allegations of its complaint and is entitled to judgment granting a permanent injunction similar in terms to that granted by the Appellate Division herein. Submit findings on notice.