Pаul J. SHERIDAN v. UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL NO. 626, an Unincorporated Association, Appellant.
No. 13701.
United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.
Argued Dec. 22, 1961. Decided July 2, 1962.
To the end that a proper disposition may be made of the proceedings before us and in aid of the appellate jurisdiction of this Court, we have concluded: (a) to vacate the submission in Cause No. 17741 and to remand said cause to the District Court with the suggestion and request that the District Court expeditiously rule upon Formulabs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and du Pont‘s and Hartley‘s motions to dismiss the complaint in intervention. In the event that the party or parties adversely affected by such ruling or rulings shall appeal from such ruling or rulings, such appeal or appeals shall be consolidated with the present appeal in Cause No. 17741 and with the petition in Cause No. 17799, and said Cause No. 17741 and the new appeal or appeals shall be submitted to this Court, without further oral argument on the briefs on file, the present record on appeal supplemented by the record of proceedings had in the District Court upon remand, and supplemental opening, answering and reply briefs on the legal question or questions presented by such new appeal or appeals. If no appeal shall be taken from the ruling or rulings of the District Court on remand, said Cause No. 17741 shall be resubmitted upon the expiration of the time provided for the taking of an appeal; and (b) to vacate the submission of Cause No. 17799, the same to be deemed resubmitted without further oral argument on the present records and briefs upon resubmission of Cause No. 17741.
It is so ordered.
Joseph T. Walsh, Wilmington, Del., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before MCLAUGHLIN, KALODNER and HASTIE, Circuit Judges.
KALODNER, Circuit Judge.
Does the
That issue, of first impression at the appellate level, is presentеd on this appeal from the judgment of the District Court granting money damages to the plaintiff, Paul J. Sheridan, against the defendant, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local No. 626 (“Union“) following his ouster as its business agent.
The facts, as found by the District Court, may be stated as follows:
Plaintiff was elected business agent of Union on June 17, 1959, for a two-year term. One of his duties as business agent was to assign jobs, when available, to unemployed union members. A member could not obtain employment on a job at which Union‘s members were working unless plaintiff issued him a referral slip.
On September 26, 1960, Richard Toy, Union‘s shop steward on a construction project in New Castle County, Delaware, telephoned plaintiff, requesting that several carpenters be assigned to that job. Toy, knowing that Albert Burke, a member of Union, wanted to work at the project, asked that Burke be included among those to be assigned. Plaintiff replied that he would not honor this latter request because Burke had not been out of work long enough. The next day Burke, who knew that Toy had requested plaintiff to assign him to the job, came to the union hall and asked plaintiff for a referral slip. Plaintiff refused, stating that Toy had not asked for Burke and that the job had been filled. Although Burke had been unemployed for two weeks, plaintiff designated one William Lloyd for the job; Lloyd had been out of work only three days. Burke then left and saw Toy, who verified the fact that he had requested plaintiff to assign Burke to the job. Believing that plaintiff had prevented him from securing employment, Burke returned to the union hall, where he “pushed” or “knocked” plaintiff. Later that day plaintiff had Burke arrested, and on October 21, 1960, in the Municipal Court of Wilmington, Delaware, Burke was convicted of having assaulted plaintiff. The District Court found that plaintiff was acting in a “non-official capacity” when he had Burke arrested and prosecuted.
On October 6, 1960, Burke filed charges within Union alleging that plaintiff had violated sections 43L and 56A of the Constitution and Laws of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, the parent brotherhood of which Union is a local affiliate. These sections read:
Section 43L: “No member shall injure another member by undermining such member in prices or wages, nor commit any wilful act by which the reputation of the member is injured or employment jeopardized.”
Section 56A: “* * * A member must exhaust all resources allowed by the Constitution and Laws
of the United Brotherhood before taking a case to the civil courts.”
Plaintiff was tried on these charges before a union trial committee on the evening of November 2, 1960. Burke, in testifying before the committee, made two contentions in support of the section 43L charge; first, that by keeping him off the job plaintiff had “jeopardized” his employment; and second, that by bringing the Municipal Court action plaintiff had injured Burke‘s reputation so that he could not secure a Civil Service or Government job. In support of the charge under section 56A, Burke contended that plaintiff had carried his grievance with him to the Municipal Court before exhausting all the resources within the union provided by the Constitution of the United Brotherhood. The trial committee found plaintiff guilty of violating both sections. Later that same evening at a meeting of Union‘s membership, the members, after receiving a report of the trial committee‘s action, voted to remove рlaintiff from office. The trial judge found that “this penalty was imposed because of the two offenses and not with respect to either of the two offenses separately.” Plaintiff has received no compensation as business agent since his removal on November 2, 1960.
On January 4, 1961, plaintiff instituted this suit, seeking both reinstatement as business agent and recovery of back wages and employment benefits since his removal from office.3
Section 101(a) (4) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act provides that “no labor organization shall limit the right of any member thereof to institute an action in any court * * *.”4 Section 609 provides that “it shall be unlawful for any labor organization * * * to fine, suspend, expel, or otherwise discipline any of its members for exercising any right to which he is entitled
On this appeal Union contends, as it did in the court below, that the District Court lacked “jurisdiction” of the subject matter for these reasons: (1) The Act does not apply to a union-employee or officer relationship with the union; and (2) Plaintiff failed to exhaust intra-union appellate procedures before starting the instant suit.8
This opinion will relate only to the first of the two points stated, viz., the sweep of the Act with respect to union members who are employees or officers of their union: that of Judge Hastie will deal with the second point, relating to exhaustion of intra-union remedies.
In support of its first point, Union urges that Title I of the Act, which contains the right-to-sue provision (Section 101(a) (4)), protects the rights of union members as members and not as officers or employees of unions; that Union “had the right to discharge the Plaintiff for any reason which to its members appeared sufficient and that the Act conferred no jurisdiction on the District Court to inquire into the * * * reason for Plaintiff‘s removal from office“; and that “no employer must account to a Federal Court under any provision of the Act for discharging an employee.” Plaintiff, on the other hand, contends that while “as a general proposition” it is true that the Act does not protect officers or employees of unions, jurisdiction nevertheless does exist here inasmuch as the disciplinary sanction of removal from office was imposed on him for his conduct as a member.
Plaintiff claims that he was exercising a right protected by Section 101(a) (4) when he had Burke prosecuted, and that Union disciplined him in violation of Section 609 by removing him from office for his having exercised this right. Union does not controvert the proposition that Section 101(a) (4) protects plaintiff‘s right to institute criminal proceedings against Burke. Our inquiry on this score is therefore narrowed to the question whether the removal of plaintiff from office was a form of “discipline” as that term is used in Section 609. As earlier noted, the Section declares it unlawful for a labor organization to “fine, suspend, expel, or otherwise discipline any of its members” for exercising a right protected by the Act. The word “disсipline” is not defined in the statute. This term appears to have been selected as a catchall to cover various sanctions other than fine, suspension, and expulsion. But to say that a word is a catchall does not “define what it catches“. Flora v. United States, 362 U.S. 145, 149 (1960), 80 S.Ct. 630, 4 L.Ed.2d 623 (1960).
The language of the Section affords no support for the view that the term “discipline” encompasses removal from office. The three disciplinary sanctions that are specifically enumerated in that section — fine, suspension, and expulsion — manifest an intention by Congress to protect members qua members. Removal from office, on the other hand, is a sanction that can be directed only against the limited group of members who happen to be officers. We see no violation of Section 609 in plaintiff‘s removal from his office.
Neither does Section 101(a) (4), the right-to-sue provision, support plaintiff‘s claim that the Act protects his status as an officer. Section 101(a) (4) is part of Title I of the Act. This title, captioned “Bill of Rights of Members of Labor Organizations“,9 and particularly Section 101, are designed to protect the rights of union members. The rights are repeatedly described as the rights of “any member” or “every member“. No mention is made of rights of union officers or employees. It is of particular interest to note that the right-to-sue provision of the bill that was originally passed by the Senate provided that a labor organization shall not limit “the right of any member or officer thereof to institute an action in any court. * * *” (emphasis added).10 The corresponding provision of the bill that was subsequently passed by the House did not contain the word “officer“.11 In commenting on this difference between the Senate and House bills, a document prepared by Senator Goldwater‘s staff and inserted at his request in the Congressional Record states that “the Senate bill extends protection of the right to sue expressly to union officers.” 105 Cong. Rec. 16487 (1959). The Conference Committee adopted the House version,12 and accordingly Section 101(a) (4) as
To be contrasted with the Title I rights are the provisions in Title IV relating to union elections. There, in dealing with candidaсy for union office, the statute refers to the “right of any candidate“, the right of “every bona fide candidate“, and the obligations of a union to “any bona fide candidate“.13 Thus when Congress wanted to grant protection to a specific category of union members, appropriate language was used in the statute.
Several district court cases, although distinguishable on their facts from the case at bar, also support the view that plaintiff‘s status as business agent is not protected by the Act. Strauss v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 179 F.Supp. 297 (E.D.Pa.1959), was a case involving a union employee who had been discharged from his position as business agent. In denying reinstatement, Judge Clary there stated:
“* * * [Title I] deals with the union-member relationship and in no way supports jurisdiction of a suit involving the employer (union)-employee (business agent) relationship which is the essence of the present suit. Such a case turns more properly on the common law of employment contracts, or employment ‘status’ as a property right, matters which are outside the scope of Title I.” 179 F.Supp. at 300.
In Jackson v. Martin Co., 180 F.Supp. 475 (D.Md.1960), where an elected union committeeman who had been removed from his position by the union‘s executive board sought to be restored to office, Chief Judge Thomsen denied relief, stating:
“* * * Title I of the Act deals with the union-member relationship, not with the union-officer or union-employee relationships.” 180 F.Supp. at 480.
See also Mamula v. Local 1211 United Steelworkers, 202 F.Supp. 348 (W.D.Pa.1962); Kelly v. Streho, 42 CCH Lab. Cas. 24,127 (E.D.Mich.1961); Bennett v. Hoisting and Portable Engineers, Local 701, 207 F.Supp. 362 (D.Ore.1960).
Thus, neither under the “Bill of Rights” provisions of Title I, nor under Section 609, proscribing disciplinary sanctions against union members, is plaintiff‘s status as business agent protected by the Act. It is the union-member relationship, not the union-officer or union-employee relationship, that is protected.
Plaintiff does not wholly disagree with the proposition that the pertinent provisions of the Act deal with the rights of members qua members. It is his position, however, that inasmuch as he was acting in his capacity as an individual member rather than as business agent when he had Burke arrested, the “penalty” of removal from office was unlawful,14 just as it would have been unlawful for Union to expel him from membership for his having had Burke arrested. What plaintiff overlooks, however, is the fact that an officer‘s conduct, whether in his individual or official capacity, affects the confidence reposed in him by the union membership, and his effectiveness as an officer.
Thus, a meaningful distinction cannot be drawn on the basis of the capacity in which plaintiff was acting when he had Burke arrested. The facts of the instant case illustrate quite clearly the invalidity
“* * * [T]he duties of Business Agent involve the assigning of men to various construction projects and in such assignment the Business Agent is given wide discretion to determine the qualifications of the 1300 members of the Local 626 for particular jobs. The Business Agent is also given broad discretion in selecting job stewards and foremen for union projects. If a successor is elected to hold the office of Business Agent, even temporary, the members of Local 626 will regard this successor as a person of considerable authority and will no longer look upon Sheridan as a person of authority and responsibility in the Union.”
The District Court, although holding that plaintiff‘s removal was illegal, nevertheless said:
“An untenable situation would be created if plaintiff were restored tо office and the union membership were subjected to his decision in matters of importance when it did not want him. Internal bickerings and disagreements would almost certainly occur.” 194 F.Supp. at 669.
Yet if we accepted plaintiff‘s contention, we would be holding that the Act made it unlawful for Union to rid itself of the “untenable situation” and “internal bickerings” that would result if “the union membership were subjected to [plaintiff‘s] decision in matters of importance when it did not want him.”
There remains this to be said. Plaintiff was removed from his office as business agent by the vote of the membership of Union. The most precious and critical ingredient of the democratic process is the right to select those who govern us and those who administer our affairs. The overriding purpose of the
The judgment of the District Court will be reversed.
HASTIE, Circuit Judge (concurring in result).
I vote to reverse the judgment below, but for a reason different from those stated by Judge KALODNER.
In my view the right asserted by the plaintiff in this case under Section 102 of the
In greater detail, Sheridan‘s own local had removed him from the salaried office of business agent. Section 56(a) of the union constitution requires that “a member must exhaust all resources allowed by the Constitution and Laws of the United Brotherhood before taking a case to the civil courts“. The formalized union grievance procedure gave a discharged business agent in Sheridan‘s position the right of successive appeals to the General President and the National Executive Board. Failure to exhaust these intra-union remedies was asserted as a defense to this action.
The record showed and the court below found that his local removed Sheridan from the office of business agent on November 2, 1960. The duties of the business agent were temporarily assigned to the local president. On November 9th, Sheridan appealed to the General President. On November 30th, a representative of the national office conferred with Sheridan and received from him a complete file on the case. Shortly thereafter, the local decided that, on January 6, 1961, it would elect a “temporary” business agent to relieve the local president of that responsibility. Objecting to this proposed interim procedure, Sheridan filed the present action on January 4, 1961, demanding both his own reinstatement and an order restraining the local from electing a temporary business agent.
On these facts it is apparent that the present claim for reinstatement, or damages in lieu thereof, has been filed in derogation of the union grievance procedure which Sheridan himself had invoked. But the statute precludes a court from giving judicial relief to a union
The limiting proviso in Section 101(a) (4) states that a union member “may be required” to exhaust intra-union procedures before resorting to litigation. It does not say who may impose that requirement. But the principal matter in the subsection is a prohibition against union interference with resort by its members to the courts, and that prohibition is qualified by the proviso stipulating that the exhaustion of reasonable intra-uniоn remedies may be required. It is reasonable to read both the general restriction and its qualification as statements of what a union may or may not do. Indeed, I think any other reading of the language is artificial and unwarranted. In effect, Congress has said that a union may not restrict a member‘s resort to the courts except that it may require that the member first devote not more than four months to reasonable grievance procedures within the organization.2
The court below did not find the union requirement of appeal to its national hierarchy unreasonable. Indeed, the appellate procedure seems to have been clear and appropriate. In this case a national representative began an inquiry within three weeks after Sheridan‘s appeal to the General President. Sheridan filed his suit without waiting even two months, much less the four month period set out in the statute, for a decision by the General President. The only justification urged for this precipitate resort to the courts is the fact that the union was about to elect a temporary business agent pending final determination of Sheridan‘s grievance. But this prospect afforded no justification for rejecting the grievance procedure. There is no indication that the election of a temporary business agent by the local would have prejudiced Sheridan‘s pending appeal to national authority or would have interfered with any proper award of back pay for the period of alleged wrongful deprivation of salaried office. It has been suggested that the election of a “temporary” business agent would have made it more difficult for Sheridan to be reelected a business agent after the end of his term. But the likelihood of the local reelecting the man it had tried and dismissed for dereliction in office, assigning his duties to another officer, was, in any event, small indeed. Thus, no harm was threatened such as would justify removing the issue of wrongful dismissal into the judicial forum without waiting a reasonable time for the General President‘s decision on the controversy as submitted to him.
The foregoing analysis leads me to join Judge KALODNER in voting to reverse the judgment of the court below.
Because the questions involved are of considerable importance within the framework of the 1959
On September 6, 1960, Albert E. Burke was a member in good standing of appellant, Local 626, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Wilmington, Delaware. On that day Richard Toy, the union shop steward at a construction job, Kirkwood Highway in New Castle County, Delaware, telephoned appellee Sheridan, then business agent of the union, asking that three named carpenters including Burke, be assigned to that work. Sheridan said he would not assign Burke because he had not been out of work long enough. The next day Burke saw Sheridan at the union hall and asked for a referral slip for employment on the Kirkwood project. Sheridan refused; he claimed Toy had not asked for him; he told Burke the job had been filled. Though Burke had been unemployed two weeks, Sheridan gave William Lloyd the job; Lloyd had been out of work for only two days. Burke left and found Toy who verified that he had asked Sheridan for Burke. The latter returned to the hall.
The court found that Burke “* * * said he grabbed plaintiff by the lapels аnd ‘pushed him pretty rough.’ Plaintiff said that Burke knocked him off his chair to the floor and badly bent or broke his glasses. Plaintiff did not retaliate. Burke‘s action was caused by the belief that plaintiff had prevented him from securing employment. Later in the same day plaintiff had Burke arrested; and on October 21, 1960 Burke was tried and convicted of assault in the Municipal Court at Wilmington.” On October 6th, Burke, acting within the union, preferred charges against Sheridan, alleging that he had violated Sections 43L and 56A of the Constitution and Laws of the parent Brotherhood. These read:
“43L. No member shall injure another member by undermining such member in prices or wages, nor commit any willful act by which the reputation of the member is injured or employment jeopardized.”
“56A. A member must exhaust all resources allowed by the Constitution and Laws of the United Brotherhood before taking a case to the civil courts.”
Sheridan was tried by the union Trial Committee on November 2, 1960. The district court found as facts that “In support of Sec. 43L charge Burke made two contentions: first, that plaintiff had jeopardized his employment by keeping him off the job, and second, by having caused the Municipal Court action to be brought, plaintiff had injured his (Burke‘s) reputation so that he could not get a Civil Service or Government job. In support of the charge under Sec. 56A Burke contended that plaintiff had carried his grievance with Burke to the Municipal Court before exhausting all of the resources within the union provided by the Constitution of the United Brotherhood. Plaintiff read a prepared statement in which he defended himself against both charges.” That same night the Trial Committee reported to the union meeting it had found Sheridan guilty of violating both 43L and 56A. The membership voted to remove him as Business Agent. The penalty was imposed because of the two offenses and not with respect to either of them separately.
Thereafter Sheridan brought this suit against the union, alleging the latter‘s discharge of him was illegal. He asked for reinstatement as Business Agent and for payment to him of all wages and employment benefits since November 2, 1960.
The district court held that it had jurisdiction under the
Appellant union advances the all purpose argument that the district court lacked jurisdiction because the Bill of Rights of the Act has no application to an employee-employer relationship. It also asserts that appellee failed to exhaust his intraunion remedies prior to instituting this litigation.
Section 101(a) (4) of the Act reads:
“No labor organization shall limit the right of any member thereof to institute an action in any court or in a proceeding before any administrative agency, irrespective of whether or not the labor organization, or its officers are named as defendants or respondents in such action or proceeding, or the right of any member of a labor organization to appear as a witness in any judicial, administrative, or legislative proceeding, or to petition any legislature or to communicate with any legislator: Provided, That any such member may be required to exhaust reasonable hearing procedures (but not to exceed a four-month lapse of time) within such organizatiоn, before instituting legal or administrative proceedings against such organizations or any officer thereof: And provided further, That no interested employer or employer association shall directly or indirectly finance, encourage, or participate in, except as a party, any such action, proceeding, appearance, or petition.”
Section 102 reads:
“Any person whose rights secured by the provisions of this title have been infringed by any violation of this title may bring a civil action in a district court of the United States for such relief (including injunctions) as may be appropriate. Any such action against a labor organization shall be brought in the district court of the United States for the district where the alleged violation occurred, or where the principal office of such labor organization is located.”
Section 609 reads:
“It shall be unlawful for any labor organization, or any officer, agent, shop steward, or other representative of a labor organization, or any employee thereof to fine, suspend, expel, or otherwise discipline any of its members for exercising any right to whiсh he is entitled under the provisions of this Act. The provisions of section 102 shall be applicable in the enforcement of this section.”
Under the first part of the charge Burke alleged that Sheridan had so injured his reputation by the police court action that “* * * he could not get a Civil Service or Government job.” This finding of fact by the trial court is completely supported in the record. The union‘s recording secretary in his testimony agreed that as to this the substance of Burke‘s statement at the union hearing on Sheridan was “* * * that by the charges brought by Sheridan in the municipal court Burke could not now hold a Civil Service or Government job * * *” At the trial in the district court Burke was asked on cross-examination, “Now with respect to the charge how was your reputation jeopardized by what Mr. Sheridan did on September 27th?” and he answered, “Well, I certainly couldn‘t go back to this man and ask him for a job.” It is uncertain whether Burke in the above meant that he could “not go back” because of the disgrace of being arrested that day. It does not seem that he could have been referring to Sheridan‘s refusal to furnish him a clearance for the job. There is nothing to indicate that the Kirkwood employer had ever heard of Burke. In any event what we are concerned with is the charge against Sheridan as made and interpreted by Burke at the union hearing. And that particular part of the charge cannot be said to accuse Sheridan as Business
The second part of the 43L charge was that Burke‘s employment was “jeopardized” by Sheridan‘s refusal to allow him employment at Kirkwood. (Emphasis supplied.) Just as clearly, this was directed at Business Agent Sheridan and not at Sheridan individually or at his union membership.
The 56A charge asserted that Sheridan had not exhausted “all resources allowed by the Constitution and Laws of the United Brotherhood before taking a case to the civil courts.”1 That, like the first part of the 43L charge, relates to Sheridan as a union member bringing his criminal charges against Burke. It has no connection with Sheridan as Business Agent.
At this stage it is necessary to pass upon apрellant‘s contention that Sheridan had violated the statute in starting this action without first complying with the appellate procedure called for by the Brotherhood Constitution and Laws. I am unable to find any real holes in his appellate course of conduct after the union had removed him in endeavoring to bring his case before the President of the Brotherhood. He was found guilty of the charges on November 3, 1960. Four days later he wired the President protesting that action and saying that detailed letter would follow. The mentioned letter was sent November 9. A copy of this went to the local. The letter was informal but substantially an appeal. That same day Sheridan sent a letter to the Recording Secretary of the Local reading:
“I am appealing the action of Local Union #626 in removing me from Office of Business Agent, at meeting of November 2, 1960.
“I would like to call your attention to the requirement of the Constitution Section 57 Paragraph E —”
Section 57, Paragraph E of the Brotherhood laws requires the local union to forward to the President a copy of the charges, trial minutes and answer tо the appeal. These were not so sent. On November 30, 1960, the district representative of the Brotherhood‘s National Office conferred with Sheridan and the latter gave him a complete file on the case, including copies of the charges and correspondence. The Brotherhood President had authority under 57F of the Constitution and Laws to decide this type of appeal on the papers before him where the union has not forwarded him the papers called for by 57E.
Finally on this point, appellant contends that Sheridan failed to comply with Section 57G of the Constitution and Laws. This reads, “All parties to an appeal to the General President are required to go before a Notary Public and make affidavit to the truth of their written or printed statements.” Appellant‘s objection seems to be that since Sheridan did not have his letters of November 9th to the President and the local notarized his appeal was void. 57G does not say that or fairly imply it. There is no evidence of attempt to evade or avoid the required notarization; no evidence that it was not overlooked; no evidence that it would not have been readily attended to on notice of the omission. The fault is minor and was actually waived.2
As we have seen, Sheridan was convicted by the union of the two charges. The minutes of the meeting show no distinction was made between the two pertinent parts of the first charge or between the first and second charges. As we have also seen, the first pertinent part of the first charge (Burke‘s reputation as affected by the criminal conviction) and the second charge (Sheridan going forward with the assault complaint before exhausting all union resources) are not against Sheridan as the Business Agent and officer of the local but for his acts as an individual member of the union. The verdict of guilty on both charges, though no distinction was made, must include that result on the second charge. Since it does and since the secоnd charge is merely a corollary to the arrest and consequent damage to Burke‘s reputation part of the first charge, there is an inference that the union found Sheridan guilty of that part of the first charge.
But we are given no valid clue as to what the Trial Committee decided regarding Sheridan‘s blocking of Burke‘s employment. Appellee‘s counsel argues that the trial itself was a confused attempt to discipline plaintiff for causing the arrest of Burke. The circumstance that the Trial Committee in effect requested the shop steward Toy not to appear at the trial lends strength to that thought. Toy was thoroughly familiar with the facts supporting the charge of discrimination. It is true also that nowhere in the charges does “Business Agent” appear; and that both of the charges refer to plaintiff as a “member” not as “Business Agent“. Two other members of the local were tried during the November 2, 1960 session of the Trial Board at which Sheridan was tried. The results of those trials were read to the local at its meeting of November 20, 1960. As reported in the minutes these were identical for all three. The only differen-
The union then argues that, assuming Sheridan was removed as Business Agent for having had Burke arrested, the district court would still have lacked jurisdiction of this litigation since it would mean reviewing grounds for discharge of Sheridan as a union employee. On the record before us, Sheridan was discharged as Business Agent not for wrongful conduct in that capacity but because he, as a union member, had taken criminal action against his brother member without first going through union procedure. That is not actually, nor can it be successfully, controverted by the majority opinion.
The particular chastisement ordered was available for use solely because Sheridan was the Business Agent. Had he been fined, suspended or expelled, the three courses specifically named in Section 609, there would have been no excuse at all for the majority position. Clearly, Sheridan would have been entitled to bring the criminal charges against Burke. It is only the particular type of discipline imposed that presents an opportunity of sorts to cast possible doubt upon the jurisdiction of the Act. Such doubt, if any, should disappear when it is considered that “fine, suspend, expel” comprise just about everything in the way of discipline a union local could inflict upon a member who did not hold office in the organization. What further ordinary sanction could be authorized is not readily conceivable. The strong indication remaining is that the phrase “or otherwise discipline” was designed to cover the unusual situations which might arise. Among those must be included the disciplining of a member, who held a union office, by depriving him of that office.
The majority opinion notes that the
The reported decisions on this precise problem as yet are in the district courts. Burton v. Independent Packinghouse Workers Union, 199 F.Supp. 138 (D.C.Ka. Nov. 22, 1961), involved the identical question, though arising under Section 101(a) (5) of the Act. The court there held “The rule, therefore, is that removal from office is discipline within § 101(a) (5) if the
Strauss v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 179 F.Supp. 297 (E.D.Pa. 1959) and Jackson v. Martin Co., 180 F.Supp. 475 (D.C.Md.1960) are cited to the contrary but neither of those opinions dealt with removal of an officer for disciplinary reasons. Mamula v. United Steelworkers, 304 F.2d 108 (3 Cir. 1962) and Bennett v. Engineers Local 701, 207 F.Supp. 362 (D.Ore.1960), have no application to this appeal. The only other decision listed is Kelly v. Streho, 47 LRRM 2609 (E.D.Mich.1961). While its import is not too clear the holding there does state “* * * That the legislative history * * * clearly shows that Title 1, Section 101(a) (5) secures safeguards against improper disciplinary action against union members, as members, but not as officers or employees of the union.” (Emphasis supplied.)
From the above it is evident that the case law to date on the
See also 21 F.R.D. 370.