THE NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN AND HARTFORD RAILROAD COMPANY
vs.
EDWARD F. JENKINS & others.
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.
Present: QUA, C.J., LUMMUS, RONAN, WILKINS, & WILLIAMS, JJ.
*722 Stephen J. D'Arcy, Jr., for the defendants.
Herbert Burstein of New York, (Edmund J. Moore & William Q. Keenan with him,) for the plaintiff.
RONAN, J.
These are appeals from certain interlocutory decrees and from a final decree granting an injunction restraining the three named individual defendants and the other members of Local Union No. 25 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America from inducing or encouraging any person to refuse to load trailers or threatening or hindering any person or company from delivering trailers for transportation upon the plaintiff's flat cars, from entering the plaintiff's freight yard for said purpose, and from picketing the said yard for the purpose of preventing the loading or unloading of said trailers, and awarding damages to the plaintiff.
Upon the filing of the bill a temporary restraining order was issued ex parte and a preliminary injunction was granted after a hearing following the return of the order of notice. A single justice of this court, to whom the propriety of granting the injunction was reported, refused to set aside the injunction. The suit was then heard on the merits in the Superior Court upon oral evidence and, by agreement of the parties, upon a transcript of the evidence adduced at the hearing upon the return of the order of notice. A final decree followed granting injunctive relief and awarding damages.
The appeal from the final decree is here upon a report of the material facts and a transcript of the evidence, and opens up for our determination questions of law, fact, and discretion. We can find for ourselves facts in addition to those found by the trial judge and facts contrary to those found by him if we are convinced that his findings are plainly wrong. Trade Mutual Liability Ins. Co. v. Peters,
We now proceed to summarize briefly the facts.
*723 The plaintiff is a railroad engaged in the carriage of passengers and the transportation of freight between places within and without the Commonwealth. It began in 1937 to transport trailers on flat cars between Boston and points outside the Commonwealth, principally to and from New York city. Trailers to be shipped from Boston were hauled into the plaintiff's Boston freight yard where they were detached from the tractors, left in the freight yard, and loaded upon the flat cars by employees of the New England Transportation Co. The business of transporting trailers to and from New York has steadily increased. The plaintiff has purchased 200 flat cars especially designed for this service and these, together with the construction of ramps and other necessary structures, represent an investment of more than $3,000,000. The total receipts from this service in 1951 amounted to about $1,000,000 which was less than one per cent of the total receipts derived by the plaintiff from the operation of its entire system.
Local No. 25 is a voluntary trade association or union, and the three named individual defendants occupy the offices ascribed to them in the bill and fairly represent the remaining members of the union. The union has about 9,000 members and is comprised of those who are employed as operators or helpers upon trucks or tractors of motor carriers doing business in Boston and engaged in the transportation of goods within and without the Commonwealth. It has collective bargaining agreements with these motor carriers. These carriers transport freight over the road between Boston and New York, but in recent time they have been making more use of the rail service furnished by the plaintiff. The union has viewed with alarm this increased rail service as it deprived its members of work they otherwise would have had of driving the tractors with the trailers over the highways. In recent years drafts of collective bargaining agreements containing provisions restricting the use of rail transportation were submitted to the motor carriers for execution at the expiration of existing agreements, but the carriers refused to sign and the union agreed *724 to the elimination of these provisions. The agreements were then executed. Agreements with the motor carriers in this form were in existence on the three days in July, 1952, hereinafter mentioned. Notwithstanding the attitude of the motor carriers in refusing to assent to a limitation of this rail transportation, representatives of the union conducted oral, collateral, and informal negotiations of uncertain content and doubtful import with some of the motor carriers seeking to restrict the use by the latter of the rail facilities furnished by the railroad. The union properly does not contend that such dealings resulted in any agreement of binding force and effect upon the motor carriers. They may have been undertaken by these representatives of the union to alleviate the tension within the union created by members who for some time had been insisting that rail transportation of trailers, commonly known in the transportation trade as "piggyback trucking," should be stopped or at least restricted. This subject was not included in the existing bargaining agreements, and we are satisfied that if the union desired a modification of the agreements it did not adopt the course outlined in the agreements to secure a modification. The relations between the motor carriers and the union concerning this mode of transportation had become unsteady and strained, but all parties were seemingly reluctant to force the issue. Finally on the late afternoons of July 11, 12, and 14, 1952, the defendants McCarthy and Norton, business agents of the union, took positions on the street near the entrance to the plaintiff's freight yard, stopped various tractors hauling trailers belonging to motor carriers who had collective bargaining agreements with the union, and ordered them to drive away from the freight yard, which the operators did. Some of the trailers of these motor carriers were already in the freight yard when McCarthy and Norton appeared, and were ready for loading, but they were not loaded because of the orders given by McCarthy and Norton to the employees of New England Transportation Co. These two union representatives were in the freight yard on one of these afternoons for a *725 short period of time carrying out their purpose of preventing the rail transportation of the trailers. Their conduct at no time was disorderly or other than peaceful. Although it did not appear that McCarthy and Norton were acting under any direct or specific instructions from the union, the union seeks to justify their conduct on the ground that they were acting in its behalf in attempting to make more work available for its membership if the rail transportation was prevented or restricted. The motor carriers are not parties to this suit.
The New England Transportation Co., a corporation, hereinafter called New England, is "a subsidiary" of the railroad. Nothing more definite of its relationship to the railroad appears. Trailers are left in the freight yard by the motor carriers and are loaded upon the flat cars by employees of New England and are fastened to the cars by employees of the mechanical department of the railroad. The reverse process is used on inbound trailers. The employees of New England are members of the union. New England has a collective bargaining agreement with the union, but it has no contract with the motor carriers.
INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.
The parties in the present suit from the outset have recognized that the crucial question is the jurisdiction of the Superior Court to grant injunctive relief. Shortly before the bill of complaint was filed in the instant case, the United States District Court had dismissed, after an ex parte hearing, a bill filed by the railroad. The last amendment to the bill filed in the Superior Court was based upon In re Washington-Oregon Shingle Weavers' District Council,
One of the principal contentions of the union is that the subject matter of this suit comes within the exclusive jurisdiction of the national labor relations act of 1935, U.S.C. (1946 ed.) Title 29, § 151 et seq., as amended by the labor management relations act of 1947, U.S.C. (1946 ed.) Sup. V, Title 29, § 141 et seq., the Taft-Hartley act so called, hereinafter referred to as L.M.R.A. The union upon the facts found urges that it has engaged in a secondary boycott against the railroad in violation of § 158 (b) (4) (A) of said Title 29. The railroad was a neutral employer and so was New England. The union argues that L.M.R.A. has preempted the field and that there is no room for the operation of the laws of the Commonwealth to enjoin this secondary boycott. Bethlehem Steel Co. v. New York State Labor Relations Board,
In the next place, a bill of complaint brought for an injunction and based on a violation of § 158 (b) (4) (A) cannot be maintained by the railroad in its own behalf. It is settled that neither a Federal nor a State court has jurisdiction to restrain the commission of an unfair labor practice affecting commerce in proceedings begun in court by the injured party. Amazon Cotton Mill Co. v. Textile Workers Union of America, 167 Fed. (2d) 183. Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway & Motor Coach Employees of America v. Dixie Motor Coach Corp. 170 Fed. (2d) 902. Schatte v. International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees & Moving Picture Machine Operators of United States & Canada, 182 Fed. (2d) 158. Studio Carpenters Local Union No. 946 v. Loew's, Inc. 182 Fed. (2d) 168, certiorari denied
We are not, however, prepared to agree with the union that the only means open to the railroad to secure injunctive relief was through a charge filed by the railroad with the national labor relations board and by subsequent proceedings by the board. In International Rice Milling Co. Inc.
We next inquire whether our courts lack jurisdiction to grant an injunction by reason of U.S.C. (1946 ed.) Title 45, § 151 et seq., the railway labor act. It is the duty of the court to decide its jurisdiction when the question appears on the record even though the point has not been raised by the parties. Jones v. Jones,
The history and purpose of this act are fully set forth in General Committee of Adjustment of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad,
But does the instant suit come within this broad sweep of *730 the railway labor act? Neither the railroad nor New England was a party to any controversy between the union and the motor carriers. There was no dispute between New England and its employees as to wages, hours, or working conditions. It is plain that pressure was brought upon the employees of New England solely for the purpose of preventing the transportation of the trailers by the railroad or, in other words, to compel the railroad to cease doing business with the motor carriers. This was the maintenance of a secondary boycott against the railroad a weapon long banned in industrial struggles. New England Cement Gun Co. v. McGivern,
All parties agree that there was no dispute between the railroad and the union, and the case was presented and tried upon that basis. The Union has no concern in the labor policy of the railroad and does not seek to change that policy but is attempting to eliminate or restrict competition by the railroad. The railroad itself has no contract with the union. It has no contract with the motor carriers. It merely accepts the trailers as they are offered for shipment in accordance with its obligations as a common carrier and at the rates established by the interstate commerce commission. A railroad not a participant in a dispute between a union and a shipper has frequently been granted an injunction against striking employees at a plant restraining them from interfering with the movement of freight cars to and from the employer's premises. Likewise, a railroad has been held liable for failure to furnish and remove cars as required by an employer whose employees were conducting a strike against him. Illinois Central Railroad v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, Union Local 568, 90 *731 Fed. Sup. 640. Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Local Union No. 432 of International Woodworkers of America, 104 Fed. Sup. 748. Erie Railroad v. Local 1286, International Longshoremen's Association, 117 Fed. Sup. 157. See also Northwestern Pacific Railroad v. Lumber & Sawmill Workers' Union, 31 Cal. (2d) 441; Burlington Transportation Co. v. Hathaway,
The union seeks to justify its interference with the business of the railroad on the ground that the transportation by rail deprives its members of work which they otherwise would obtain. A union has the right to refuse to work for an employer unless he gives them all of his work which its members are competent to perform, Pickett v. Walsh,
The final question on this branch of the case is whether our courts had jurisdiction to grant an injunction. The union contends that this suit comes within G.L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 149, § 20C, inserted by St. 1935, c. 407, § 1, as amended by St. 1950, c. 452, §§ 1, 2, and further that no injunction could be granted as the conditions precedent prescribed by *733 G.L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 214, § 9A, inserted by St. 1935, c. 407, § 4, as amended by St. 1950, c. 452, § 3, for its issuance were not found by the trial judge.
It is true that the judge found that the suit did not involve a labor dispute as defined by said § 20C, as amended, but it is true that he also found that, if there was a labor dispute, "the union was guilty of an unlawful secondary boycott." We have already said that the finding of the maintenance of a boycott was not plainly wrong and therefore must stand. The finding also complies with the term "unlawful secondary boycott" as defined by said § 20C (f)[1a] and is not removed from its sweep because it has also been found that the transportation of the trailers for motor carriers who had bargaining agreements with the union was not the greater part of the current business of the railroad and that the loading of the trailers would not have been done by the motor carriers if there had been no dispute between them and the union.
The trial judge also made the specific findings required by said § 9A, as amended, before entering the final decree. The only contention of the union in this respect is that there was no proof that notice of the suit had been given to "the chief of the police of the city of Boston" by serving him with a copy of the bill of complaint as alleged in the amended bill which averred, and the answer admitted, that there was no violence or breach of the peace. The short answer to this contention is that in the circumstances notice to the head of the police department was not necessary for the *734 entry of the final decree. The point is settled by Davis Brothers Fisheries Co. Inc. v. Pimentel,
DAMAGES.
A person injured in his business or property by an unlawful secondary boycott may ordinarily bring an action at law for damages. His right to damages, for instance, is not foreclosed by L.M.R.A. for it is there expressly provided that he has such a right to damages sustained by a secondary boycott, U.S.C. (1946 ed.) Sup. V, Title 29, § 185 (b), and it has been held that the enforcement of that right is not dependent on any prior determination of the national labor relations board. International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union v. Juneau Spruce Corp.
The final decree without any further specification ordered "the respondents" to pay $4,727. This is a class suit in which all the members of the union were represented by the individuals named in the bill, Thorn v. Foy,
CONCLUSION.
The interlocutory decrees granting the temporary restraining order and the preliminary injunction must be affirmed in view of the order which we now make affirming the final decree covering such matters. The denial of the motion to dissolve the temporary restraining order, the denial of the requests for rulings, and the overruling of the demurrer to the bill subsequently amended and other miscellaneous matters need not be specifically discussed for various reasons. Boston v. Dolan,
So ordered.
NOTES
Notes
[1] See National Labor Relations Board v. Washington-Oregon Shingle Weavers' District Council, 211 Fed. (2d) 149.
[1a] "The term `unlawful secondary boycott' means any strike, slowdown, boycott, or concerted cessation of work or withholding of patronage or services, arising out of a labor dispute, where an object thereof is to force or require any person not otherwise engaged in such labor dispute to cease using, selling, handling, transporting, or dealing in the products of any other producer, processor, or manufacturer, or to cease doing business with any other person; provided, however, that a secondary boycott may lawfully be directed at a person the greater part of whose current business over a representative period is processing, selling, handling, transporting or otherwise dealing in the goods of an employer primarily interested in a lawful labor dispute or who, by any agreement, understanding or arrangement with such employer, is requiring his own employees to perform work or services which would be done by the employees of such employer in the absence of a labor dispute."
