Thеse 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, Warehouse-men 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.
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 cаrriers 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
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 сars 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, 101 N. L. R. B. 1159,
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 еt 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. 84 N. L. R. B. 360, the board held that it would not entertain a charge by a railroad that a union had been guilty of an unfair labor practice in the nature of a secondary boycott, pointing out that L. M. R. A., in (2) and (3) of Title 29, § 152, provides that the term “employer” should not include “any person subject to the Railway Labor Act” and that the term “employee” should not include any individual “employed by an employer subject to the Rаilway Labor Act.” When the case came before the Circuit Court of Appeals, International Rice Milling Co. Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 183 Fed. (2d) 21, 25, it was stated that railroads were not excepted from protection under
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 beеn 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
All parties agree that therе 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
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 wоrk 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
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)
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 circumstancеs notice to the head of the police department was not necessary for the
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
See National Labor Relations Board v. Washington-Oregon Shingle Weavers' District Council, 211 Fed. (2d) 149.
“The term ‘unlawful secondary boycott’ means any strike, slowdown, boycott, or conсerted 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 boycоtt 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.”
