Summary
In International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers v. Owens, (1928), 119 Ohio 94, 162 N.E. 386, the union denied a transfer card to plaintiff, whereby he was deprived of access to employment.
Summary of this case from Coke v. United Transportation UnionOpinion
No. 20843
Decided June 20, 1928.
Labor unions — Local charter revoked and new local established — Member not entitled to mandatory injunction requiring issuance of transfer card — Injunction lies to compel officers to grant hearing upon application for transfer card.
ERROR to the Court of Appeals of Cuyahoga county.
John G. Owens, for a number of years had been a member of the International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers, an unincorporated union composed of local unions throughout the United States and Canada. He was affiliated with Local Union No. 293.
In March, 1923, by reason of a controversy growing out of the question of calling a strike, the charter of Local Union No. 293 was revoked by the General Executive Board of the international organization, and immediately thereafter there was instituted a new local union known as No. 874. Into this new local union substantially all the members of the old local union were transferred.
John G. Owens instituted this action for mandatory injunction, asking that the International Union be enjoined from refusing to issue to him a transfer card to said Local Union No. 874. In his petition he alleges that the International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers is an unincorporated association, supported by initiation fees and dues contributed by the individual members including plaintiff, and has accumulated and is in possession of moneys and assets derived from such source. He asserts that for many years prior to March 17, 1923, Local Union No. 293 of said organization was a member in good standing in said International Union and that he then and long prior thereto had been a member in good standing of said local union. After alleging the refusal of the members of said local union by a majority vote to strike, as theretofore directed by the General President of the International Union, he alleged that because of such failure and refusal to ratify and approve said order and direction of the President and General Executive Board of said International Union the charter of Local Union No. 293 was revoked, which resulted in expelling said local union from membership in said International Union; that by the constitution of said International Union it was and is provided that a member of an expelled local union, if in good standing, may take a transfer card to the nearest local union, and pursuant to that provision the plaintiff duly and regularly applied to the General Executive Board for a transfer to said new Local Union No. 874, which was and is the nearest local union in his vicinity; that said General Executive Board with full knowledge of his application, and in violation of its duty, and in disregard of the rights of plaintiff, and with the desire and intention of depriving him of his right as a union man of membership in said organization, failed and refused to take any action whatever upon said application, and has failed and refused to issue such transfer to him; that he is a skilled and competent engineer, that such work is his only means of earning a livelihood; that by reason of the failure to issue to him a transfer card the plaintiff was injured in his trade and business and prevented from obtaining work; and that he is also deprived of his right to participate in the activities of the union or to share in the rights and benefits accruing to members thereof.
By answer the defendants admitted the averments relative to the organization both of the International and the local union, and admitted the revocation of the charter of the local, which action defendants aver was taken because of the failure of the local to ratify and approve the order and direction of the President as to said strike, and for other proper causes and reasons within the power conferred by the constitution, by-laws, rules, customs, and objects of said union. The defendants deny the right of a member of an expelled union to a transfer card to the nearest local in his vicinity on application to the General Executive Board, but state that under the provisions of the constitution the General Executive Board may in its discretion, for good cause shown, or for the best interests of the union, grant or deny such application for transfer. Defendants admit that pursuant to the constitution the plaintiff duly and regularly applied to the General Executive Board for a transfer, and that said General Executive Board had full knowledge of the application of the plaintiff, and state that for good cause shown, and by authority of and in accordance with the constitution, by-laws, rules, objects, and customs of said organization, the Executive Board acted on said application and refused the same. Defendants deny that the work of steam and operating engineers has been for many years the plaintiff's work, or his sole means of earning a livelihood, and deny that the failure to issue said transfer card to plaintiff has injured him in his trade or business, or has prevented him from obtaining employment, and deny that plaintiff ever had any rights or was entitled to any benefits in Local No. 874. Defendants aver the plaintiff had no property interest in said union; that the strike of Local No. 293 was ordered by the President of the International Union in accordance with and under the authority of the constitution, by-laws, rules, customs, and objects of the International Union, and that the charter of Local No. 293 was revoked after due notice and hearing and for good cause shown in accordance with and by the authority of the constitution, by-laws, rules, objects, and customs of the International Union, and after due notice and hearing, and that the plaintiff has not exhausted his remedies within the International Union, and has lost all rights, if any he may have had, by laches, and by acts in violation of the constitution, by-laws, rules, customs, and objects of said union.
Upon hearing the court of common pleas found in favor of the plaintiff, and upon appeal to the Court of Appeals that court found upon the issues joined for the plaintiff, and granted an injunction as prayed, requiring the defendants to issue to plaintiff a transfer card to said Local Union No. 874 of the International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers.
Messrs. Hartshorn Thomas, for plaintiffs in error.
Messrs. Orgill, Maschke Wickham, for defendant in error.
The authority exercised by the officers in the issuance of the strike order, or in the revocation of the charter of Local Union No. 293, is not an issue for determination in this case. That having been accomplished, and a new local union having been instituted, the only question is whether the plaintiff, John G. Owens, is entitled to a mandatory injunction requiring that a transfer card be issued to him, thereby continuing his membership in the union.
It is a well-settled principle of law, recognized by the courts of this state and by the courts of other states, that the members of a fraternal association by adopting a constitution and by-laws and providing reasonable rules and regulations for settling their own disputes, and by establishing their own tribunals of original, intermediate, and appellate jurisdiction, become bound thereby, provided such constitution, by-laws, rules, and regulations do not contravene the laws of the state. It is also well settled that the members of such an association must conform to the reasonable rules and regulations thereof and must exhaust all remedies within the association and before such regularly constituted tribunals.
It is conceded in the instant case that the International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers is such a fraternal organization, and it must therefore be conceded that, if the defendant in error has pursued all his remedies before the tribunals within the association, and if the duly constituted tribunals have failed to observe the constitution, by-laws, rules, and regulations of the association, the defendant in error is entitled to invoke the aid of the court to compel such tribunals to accord to him those rights, if any, which are shown to have been denied.
We have carefully examined the record and it clearly appears that all proceedings were regular relating to the revocation of the charter of Local Union No. 293 and the organization of Local Union No. 874. The defendant in error had full notice of and participated in those hearings, and he is precluded by the action taken in those matters. It is not, however, made clearly to appear by this record that when the defendant in error made application for transfer to Local No. 874 he requested a hearing, or that a hearing was accorded to him. If he desired and requested a hearing and it was not accorded to him, then a substantial right has been denied him. The court of common pleas found the issues in favor of Owens and granted the injunction as prayed for, and the Court of Appeals affirmed that judgment. The effect of this order is to compel the issuance of a transfer card to Local Union No. 874. In this the Court of Appeals erred. If no hearing has been accorded to Owens, he is entitled to have it, but the courts do not guarantee more than that. The International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers is required to complete any uncompleted processes in determining any rights between its members, and likewise any rights between members of any local union and such local union itself. The judgment of the lower courts should therefore be reversed because the courts have granted the writ of injunction to compel the issuance of the card, where it should only be directed to the International Union to command them to proceed with the uncompleted processes. Upon the issues joined the judgment of the lower courts must be reversed.
Judgment reversed.
MARSHALL, C.J., ALLEN, KINKADE and ROBINSON, JJ., concur.