176 Pa. Super. 162 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1954
Opinion by
These are appeals by the employer, Fort Pitt Manufacturing Company, from two decisions of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review which sustained the validity of claims filed by two groups of employes for unemployment benefits for the period between June 5, the date of termination of a strike at the company’s plant, and July 1, 1952, the date the plant resumed full operations. It has been agreed between counsel that the appeals be consolidated for disposition in this opinion and that our decision shall determine the eligibility of all other claimants for benefits. Claimants, John Chappelow and Ruth A. Gecy, have been permitted to intervene as additional appel-lees in the company’s appeal.
The facts stipulated under Rule 41 of this Court are summarized as follows: The Fort Pitt Manufacturing Company, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is engaged in the manufacture of bedding and automotive products. Approximately 47% of the company’s production consisted of automotive products for the International Harvester Company and two divisions of General Motors Corporation. These customer corporations furnished the company with machine tools and dies for the manufacture of their automotive prod-
The fundamental issue presented by these appeals is whether claimants are entitled to unemployment compensation benefits for a period, following the conclusion of a strike, during which the employer is unable to resume normal operations. ' .
Section 402(d). of the Unemployment Compensation Law as last amended by the Act of May 23, 1949, P. L. 1738, 43 PS §802, provides that:
“An employe shall be ineligible for compensation for any week
“(d) In which his unemployment is due to a stoppage of work, which, exists because of a labor dispute (other than-a lockout)- at the factory, establishment
Under Section 402(d) the disqualification is not limited to the time a claimant was on strike but includes the time after the strike reasonably required to restore the employer’s plant to normal operation. Polinchak Unemployment Compensation Case, 175 Pa. Superior Ct. 181, 103 A. 2d 273. Also pertinent here is the statement in Bako Unemployment Compensation Case, 171 Pa. Superior Ct. 222, 90 A. 2d 309, cited with approval in the Polinchak case, supra, where Judge Reno, speaking for this Court, said: “The rationale of the second Lavely case is applicable also during the time reasonably required to put the plant in normal operation after the strike ends. What is a reasonable period will always ‘depend upon the kind of work and the circumstances in which it is conducted.’ In a department store, for instance, resumption of employment might follow the strike’s termination in the course of a few hours. Perhaps a textile mill would require a longer time. In an industry, such as Bethlehem Steel, operating several departments which are dependent for power upon a central plant, with equipment to be repaired, machinery cleaned, and other preparatory steps to be taken, a longer time must necessarily be allowed. Possibly, the duration of the strike becomes a relevant factor; At all events, the Board will consider all the circumstances and override the management only when it finds that it failed to exercise honest judgment. It follows that, however willing employes may be to return to work immediately after the termination of the strike, the continuing stoppage of work must be held to be due to the original labor dispute.”
In sustaining the validity of the claims involved in these appeals on the premise that-ineligibility for bene
Moreover, in determining what constitutes a reasonable period to restore the plant to normal operations we must consider the kind of work and the circumstances in which it is conducted. Thus we find International Harvester Company and two divisions of General Motors Corporation taking 47% of the company’s production on the basis of requirements contracts covering specialized automotive parts made to the customer’s specifications and manufactured by the use of machine tools and dies owned by the customers and furnished to the company for its use in fulfilling the contracts in accordance with shipping schedules planned to meet the customer’s needs. Therefore, when the Board finds that “as a result of the labor dispute, the automotive customers of the employer concern removed their dies and purchasing schedules from the
On the basis of the stipulated facts and what we conceive to be the proper interpretation of the law applicable thereto, the unemployment in June, 1952 of the claimant-appellees and the other employes repre
Decisions in both cases reversed.