Defendants-appellants Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association (“the International”) and Sheet Metal Workers’ Local Union No. 22 (“Local 22”) appeal from the December 11, 1997 decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Robert L. Carter, District Judge), pursuant to the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), enjoining defendants from implementing an agreement reaffiliat-ing Local 22 with the International.
We hold that, under the particular circumstances of this ease, the district court’s injunction was neither necessary nor appropriate to ensure Sheet Metal Workers’ Local Union No. 25’s (“Local 25”) compliance with various court orders instituted to remedy unlawful discrimination by Local 25’s predecessor-in-interest. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the district court and vacate the injunction.
Background
The International is an association of local unions that represents sheet metal workers. In 1971, the United States filed suit against one of the International’s local unions, Local 28, based in New York City.
Local 28 of the Sheet Metal Workers[’] International Association, its officers, agents, employees and successors and all persons in active conceit or participation with them in the administration of the affairs of Local 28 ... from engaging in any act or practice which has the purpose or the effect of discriminating in recruitment, selection, training, [or] admission to membership in Local 28 [or its] Apprentice Program ... on the basis of race, color or national origin.
EEOC v. Local 638, No. 71 Civ. 2877, slip op. at 2 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 28,1975). The court also directed Local 28 to achieve 29% minority membership by July 1981 and appointed Special Master David Raff to oversee Local 28’s affirmative action program. Id. at 6-7.
Prior to 1981, defendant-appellant Local 22 was a member of the International, with exclusive jurisdiction over Sussex, Somerset, Union, and Morris counties in northern New Jersey. In 1981, as a result of its opposition to a plan by the International to merge Local 22 with Local 28 (which would have thereby subjected Local 22 to the court-ordered affirmative action plan that covered Local 28), Local 22 disaffiliated from the International and became an independent union. Local 22 has since operated in Staten Island and throughout New Jersey competing for sheet metal contracts. For its part, the International merged Union and Morris counties into Local 28 and merged Somerset and Sussex counties into other locals. Unlike Local 28, there has never been a finding by any court that Local 22 engaged in unlawful discrimination.
In 1981, “pursuant to directive of [the] General President of the [International],” Local 28 expanded its jurisdiction to include former Locals 10, 13, 55, and 559 in New Jersey. EEOC v. Local 638, No. 71 Civ. 2877, slip op. at 1 (May 17, 1983). The district court then approved an Amended Affirmative Action Program and Order (“AAAPO”) establishing a goal of 29.23% minority representation in the expanded Local 28. See EEOC v. Local 638, No. 71 Civ. 2877, slip op. at 2 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 19, 1983).
In 1990, the International created plaintiff-appellee Local 25. As successor-in-interest to Local 28, Local 25 was subject to the 0 & J and the AAAPO. The International vested Local 25 with jurisdiction over eight counties in northern New Jersey: Somerset and Sussex counties, and six counties formerly under Local 28, including Union and Morris counties. Thus, Local 25’s territory includes the four counties (Somerset, Sussex, Union and Morris) over which Local 22 had exclusive jurisdiction prior to Local 22’s disaffiliation from the International.
In 1993, Arthur Moore, who had been Local 28’s business manager since 1977, became the International’s General President. Since that time, the International and Local 22 have attempted to reaffiliate. Through reaf-filiation, Local 22 seeks the opportunity, unavailable to it as an independent, to bid for contracts with employers who employ only AFL-CIO union workers. For its part, the International seeks reaffiliation, inter alia, to prevent Local 22 from affiliating with a competing international association. In 1995, the EEOC moved to block the reaffiliation on the basis that such reaffiliation would undermine Local 25’s compliance with the 0 & J and AAAPO. In an order entered by Special Master Raff on November 22, 1995, the defendants agreed not to “implement any reaf-filiation agreement until further order of the Court.” EEOC v. Local 638, No. 71 Civ. 2877, slip op. at 1 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 22, 1995).
Notwithstanding the Special Master’s order, defendants agreed to reaffiliate on August 15, 1997 (“Original Agreement”), without giving notice to the district court. This Original Agreement “awarded” Union, Morris, Somerset and Sussex Counties back to Local 22, but permitted Local 25 to maintain its existing collective bargaining agreements with listed contractors in those counties. Although the International’s constitution prohibits locals from sending more than two workers out of their jurisdiction to work on a contract,
On August 28, 1997, plaintiff-appellee Sheet Metal Contractors Association of Northern New Jersey (“SMCA”), which bargains collectively with Local 25, brought this action seeking a preliminary injunction and damages on the ground, inter alia, that the reaffiliation of Local 22 with the International would effectively undermine the rights of Local 25’s minority members in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and various state statutes. The district court permitted Local 25 and the Joint Apprenticeship Committee of Northern New Jersey (“JAC”), a joint program run by SMCA and Local 25, to intervene as plaintiffs. On September 30, 1997, the district court consolidated the action with the underlying EEOC litigation. See Sheet Metal Contractors Ass’n v. Sheet Metal Workers’ Int’l Ass’n,
Specifically, the district court found that Local 25, SMCA, and JAC jointly operate an apprenticeship program with 51% African-American and Hispanic membership, and that those minority groups comprise 21% of Local 25’s overall membership, “a significant improvement over them initial level of participation in the union (although ... beneath the [29.23%] target mandated in the AAA-PO).” Id. at *3. In contrast, the district court found, Local 22 has only 8% minority membership, defined more broadly to include African Americans, Hispanies, and (according to Local 22’s business manager) “Orientals, American Indians, and females,” and these five groups comprise only 22% of Local 22’s apprentices. Id. The district court also found that Local 22 would not reaffiliate with the International if Local 22 were made subject to the AAAPO. Id. at *4. The court found that Local 22 enjoyed several competitive advantages over Local 25: Local 22’s wage rate is $2.90 per hour less than that of Local 25, contributing to an employment rate in Local 22 in excess of 90%; and Local 22 does not bear the costs of Local 25’s EEOC litigation-related financial obligations, including funding the JAC, which added $.61 per hour to Local 25’s labor costs for the fiscal year ending August 31,1997.
[wjith a loss of support for the JAC, employment opportunities for African-Americans and Hispanics will decline. Moreover, the union’s viability will be negatively affected by transfers of its members that can be expected with loss of work opportunities .... [TJhese factors will combine to undermine Local 25’s ability to comply with the court’s [affirmative action] orders.
Id. This appeal followed.
Discussion
The district court issued the injunction under the All Writs Act to protect the efficacy of the 0 & J and AAAPO. The All Writs Act provides:
The Supreme Court and all courts established by Act of Congress may issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law.
28 U.S.C. § 1651(a). The Supreme Court “ ‘has repeatedly recognized the power of a federal court to issue such commands under the All Writs Act as may be necessary or appropriate to effectuate and prevent the frustration of orders it has previously issued in its exercise of jurisdiction otherwise obtained.’ ” General Bldg. Contractors Ass’n v. Pennsylvania,
At the outset, the plaintiffs argue that the district court need not have relied on the All Writs Act because the International is a party to the EEOC litigation and that, even if it is not, it acted “in active concert or participation with [Locals 28 and 25] in the administration of the affairs of Local 28 [and Local 25]” and therefore falls within the O & J. EEOC v. Local 638, No. 71 Civ. 2877, slip op. at 2 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 28, 1975). Therefore, plaintiffs contend that the district court could have held the International in contempt of the O & J. See, e.g., EEOC 8,
The district court has twice confirmed that the International is not a party to the EEOC litigation. See Sheet Metal II,
The parties also dispute the correct legal standard for issuing injunctions under the All Writs Act. Defendants contend that, in issuing orders pursuant to the All Writs Act, a district court may impose only “minor and ancillary” burdens upon non-parties who have not been found liable for unlawful acts. Defendants rely upon General Bldg. Contractors,
In contrast to General Bldg. Contractors, the defendants in the instant case were not parties to the EEOC litigation nor have they been asked to bear directly the cost of an equitable remedy. The district court did not, for example, require defendants to pay money into a settlement or to institute their own affirmative action program. The district court’s injunction, unlike those in General Bldg. Contractors and EEOC 8, was focused not upon placing part of the cost of an equitable remedy upon the shoulders of an innocent party to the litigation, but rather upon preventing “persons who, though not parties to the original action or engaged in wrongdoing, are in a position to frustrate the implementation of a court order or the proper administration of justice,” from doing so. In Re Baldwin-United,
Turning to the facts in light of the foregoing legal standard, we conclude that, although this is a very close ease, the district court’s injunction was neither necessary nor appropriate to preserve the integrity of the 0 & J and AAAPO.
We note first that, although the International is not a party to the EEOC litigation, it does participate in the governance of Local 25 and its constitution binds Local 25. Under its constitution, the International is vested with the power “to suspend the charter of any local union ... for failure ... to comply with the provisions of this Constitution” or “for disregarding the instructions, decisions, or orders properly issued by” the International; “to approve, modify, revise, defer, suspend or reverse any decision of a local union ... [that] is contrary to ... this Constitution or the established policies of [the International]”; and “to specify, designate or change the specific territory ... over which each local union ... shall exercise jurisdiction, to organize and charter .additional local unions[,] ... to separate and divide membership of any local union[,] ... [and] to merge two or more local unions.” Constitution and Ritual, art. 3 §§ 2(a), 2(e), 2(g) (1994). The International has considerably more control over Local 25’s affairs than a typical non-party and, therefore, its proposed reaffiliation must be examined more closely than, for example, a reaffiliation between Local 22 and another international association of which Local 25 is not a member. That Local 28’s former business manager, Arthur Moore, negotiated the reaffiliation with Local 22 as International’s General President recommends our even closer scrutiny.
Nevertheless, several factors in this case persuade us that the district court’s injunction was neither necessary nor appropriate to preserve the integrity of the 0 & J and AAAPO. First, plaintiffs have not alleged and the district court did not find that, in proposing to reaffiliate, defendants acted with an intent to undermine the 0 & J or AAAPO. Nor has the International created a new local to replace all or part of Local 25, which would suggest such an intent. Rather, Local 22 existed and exercised exclusive jurisdiction over the four counties prior to Local 25’s creation. We also think that it is significant that, both prior to and following Local 22’s disaffiliation from the International, no local sheet metal union in the four counties has ever been found to have engaged in unlawful discrimination.
Of further significance is the fact that the injunction denies Local 22 important statutory and First Amendment rights of association. See 29 U.S.C. § 157 (“[ejmployees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing”); NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co.,
Moreover, the district court’s rationale for the injunction-that Local 22’s ability to compete successfully with Local 25 for AFL-CIO
We also note that, although the AAAPO raises Local 25’s costs by $.61/hour, more than 78% of Local 22’s $2.90 wage-rate advantage over Local 25 is attributable to factors other than the AAAPO. Local 22 uses non-union draftsmen, helpers, pre-appren-tices, and classified workers, and its apprentices attend school at their own expense, and not at the expense of Local 22’s contractors. These additional measures, which Local 25 has not adopted, contribute to Local 22’s relatively lower costs. The injunction would effectively penalize these market efficiencies.
Our view that this injunction is neither necessary nor appropriate is also premised upon defendants’ representation to this court and to the district court that Locals 22 and 25 shall share concurrent jurisdiction over the four counties and that Local 25 will have veto power over any decision to reimpose the two-man rule. See Clarified Reaffiliation Agreement, ¶¶ 3, 16.
Finally, although competition from Local 22 will likely “negatively affect[ ]” Local 25’s ability to comply with the 0 & J and AAA-PO, Sheet Metal II,
In sum, in light of defendants’ lack of intent to frustrate the 0 & J and AAAPO, Local 22’s prior affiliation with the International and previous exclusive jurisdiction over the four counties, the lack of a finding of unlawful discrimination by Local 22 in the four counties, the importance of defendants’ associational rights, the attenuated economic relationship between defendants’ reaffiliation and Local 25’s AAAPO, the fact that Local 22’s competitive advantage over Local 25 results primarily from factors unrelated to the AAAPO, Local 22’s ability to affiliate with another international association and thereby compete with Local 25 under identical economic conditions, Local 25’s continued, albeit more limited, ability to meet its affirmative action obligations notwithstanding the reaffil-iation, and the fact that Locals 22 and 25 will share concurrent jurisdiction in the four counties, we believe that the district court abused its discretion in granting the injunction.
We have considered all of plaintiffs’ other arguments on appeal and have found in them no basis for affirmance. For the reasons set forth above, the judgment of the district court is reversed and the injunction barring Local 22 from reaffiliating with the International is vacated. Costs shall be borne by appellees.
Notes
. A detailed history of the litigation arising out of this suit, (hereinafter, the "EEOC litigation”), is set forth in EEOC v. Local 638,
. The International's constitution provides: In the event qualified members are available in
. The JAC’s operating costs include training and recruitment of minority apprentices, worker education, payment for teachers, and administrative aid.
. The caption in EEOC 8,
. We note that the EEOC argues on appeal that the district court based its decision on the assumption that defendants' reaffiliation contemplated concurrent jurisdiction. See EEOC's Br. at 14.
