130 Tenn. 643 | Tenn. | 1914
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The case stated by the hill is this: The defendant union is composed of all of the bricklayers in Knoxville and vicinity. Under the. terms of the organization there is devolved upon it the duty of fixing the rate
There was a demurrer filed which raised the point that the above facts did not state a cause of action.
A labor union organized for the purpose of regulating the wages of its members and protecting them in their contracts and the promotion of their interests as laboring people is lawful. Rohlf v. Kasemeier, 140 Iowa, 182, 118 N. W., 276, 23 L. R. A. (N. S.), 1284, 132 Am. St. Rep., 261, 17 Ann. Cas., 750; Lohse Patent Door Co. v. Fuelle, 215 Mo. 421, 114 S. W., 997, 22 L. R. A. (N. S.), 607, 128 Am. St. Rep., 492; Beck v. Railway Teamsters’ Protective Union, 118 Mich., 497, 77 N. W., 13, 42 L. R. A., 407, 74 Am. St. Rep., 421; Thomas v. Cincinnati, etc., R. Co., 62 Fed. (C. C.), 803. It has even been held that it is lawful for a single employer to contract with a labor union that he will employ only union men. Jacobs v. Cohen, 183 N. Y., 207, 75 N. E., 5, 2 L. R. A. (N. S.), 292, 111 Am. St. Rep., 730, 5 Ann. Cas., 280; Mills v. U. S. Printing Co., 99 App Div., 605, 91 N. Y. Supp., 185.
The situation in Knoxville, under the allegations of the bill, was such that the union had absolute control of the labor market in respect of the services of bricklayers, fixed the terms of employment and the wages, and the bricklayers all had agreed thereto by becoming members of the union which exercised this power. The result was that the complainant was bound to accept these terms if he employed any of their men. „He could employ no other. Now, while each several contract of employment was made with the men who agreed to work for him, and while they might accept
There is a ground of demurrer to the effect that such injury as occurred was necessarily suffered not by. the contractor, but by the persons with whom he contracted for the erection of buildings; this on the assumption that he figured the cost of the wages into the price of his work. This is a speaking demurrer, and hence bad, because there is nothing in the bill to justify it. On the contrary, there was an amendment to the bill in which the complainant stated, in effect, that in getting his contracts for work he was compelled to compete with other bidders, and obtained the contracts, if at all, at the lowest prices, and in this way the difference in the wages came out of his profits.
Before closing the opinion we should say that it appears from the bill that the union is an unincorporated association. As such, of course, it cannot be made a party. Pickett v. Walsh, 192 Mass., 572, 78 N. E., 753, 6 L. R. A. (N. S.), 1067, 1081, 116 Am. St. Rep., 272, 7 Ann. Cas., 638. To avoid this* difficulty the complainant made sundry members of the union parties defendant, stating, that these were all he could learn the names of. It is not distinctly alleged in the bill that these were made defendants as representing all others of the same class — that is, standing for the union. Pickett v. Walsh, supra; Brown v. Brown, 86 Tenn., 277, 279, 310, 6 S. W., 869, 7 S. W., 640; Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Rainey, 120 Tenn., 357, 384, 113 S. W., 397. Proper allegations, however, can be made on this subject when the case again reaches the chancery court on.the remand.
On the ground stated we are of the opinion that both the chancery court and the court of civil appeals committed error in dismissing the bill. Their decrees are therefore reversed and the cause remanded, to the end that the amendment above mentioned may be made, and that an answer may be filed and proof heard.