Opinion ID: 4248956
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Disaffiliation

Text: As a threshold matter, UDEM contends that it disaffiliated from the ILA before the ILA placed it in the emergency trusteeship and thus the ILA lacked authority to impose the trusteeship. Under the LMRDA, the authority of an international to impose a trusteeship depends on whether a local is a subordinate body under that statute. See 29 U.S.C. § 462 (Trusteeships shall be established and administered by a labor organization over a subordinate body . . . . (emphasis added)). If UDEM disaffiliated from the ILA prior to imposition of the trusteeship, it was no longer a subordinate body and the ILA had no authority to impose the trusteeship. See, e.g., Int'l Bhd. of - 21 - Boilermakers v. Local Lodge D129, 910 F.2d 1056, 1060 (2d Cir. 1990).13 The dispute over whether UDEM disaffiliated from the ILA prior to the imposition of the emergency trusteeship on May 12 focuses on whether the vote taken at the May 9 meeting of UDEM's membership complied with the disaffiliation provisions of the ILA constitution. See Int'l Bhd. of Boilermakers v. Local Lodge 714, 845 F.2d 687, 692 (7th Cir. 1988) (looking to international's constitution to determine whether local had disaffiliated and therefore whether trusteeship could be imposed). In reviewing the interpretation of the ILA constitution, we apply the principle that, in the absence of bad faith, a labor organization's interpretation of internal union documents puts an end to judicial scrutiny so long as the interpretation is 'facially sufficient' or grounded in 'arguable authority.' Dow v. United 13 In AFL-CIO Laundry & Dry Cleaning Int'l Union v. AFL-CIO Laundry, 70 F.3d 717 (1st Cir. 1995), we examined the validity of a trusteeship even though it was imposed after the local voted to disaffiliate. However, unlike the circumstances here, that case involved a dispute over the international's control of assets of the local that continued to exist following disaffiliation. See also Int'l Bhd. of Boilermakers v. Olympic Plating Indus., Inc., 870 F.2d 1085, 1088 (6th Cir. 1989) (explaining under similar circumstances that disaffiliation did not matter for jurisdictional purposes because [e]ven if the appellees and the local no longer have any relationship to the International, the International should be authorized to recover its assets through the mechanics of a trusteeship). In this case, the parties have not disputed that the ILA would not have authority to impose the trusteeship if UDEM disaffiliated before it was imposed. - 22 - Bhd. of Carpenters, 1 F.3d 56, 58 (1st Cir. 1993)(quoting Local No. 48, United Bhd. of Carpenters v. United Bhd. of Carpenters, 920 F.2d 1047, 1052 (1st Cir. 1990)) (footnote omitted); see also Local No. 48, 920 F.2d at 1052 ([W]e align ourselves squarely