Court Opinion

ID: 9462693
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:47:37.873921+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:43.533500
License: Public Domain

ROSENN, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I join in Parts I, II, V, and VI of Judge Gibbons’ opinion. I take a somewhat different approach, however, to the basis of union liability, Part III, and to the scope of the injunction, Part IV.
A. Union Liability
In my view, the liabilities imposed on the union by the contractual theory of an implied best efforts promise, and the liabilities imposed under the mass action theory, must be more carefully distinguished. Also, I believe that distinctions in duties and liabilities of the local, district, and international unions must be recognized.
1. Contractual Theory
I might, in other circumstances, agree with Judge Gibbons that a best efforts promise can be implied from an already implied no-strike clause. I do not believe, however, that this case presents us with that problem, and I would not reach it. In light of the case law and the contractual language, I would rest our holding solely on the explicit language of Article XXVII of the 1974 collective bargaining agreement.
In Eazor Express, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 520 F.2d 951 (3d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 935, 96 S.Ct. 1149, 47 L.Ed.2d 342, 44 U.S.L.W. 346 (1976), Judge Maris restated the basic principle that
the courts may not remake the parties’ contracts and may declare an implied obligation to exist only when there is a satisfactory basis in the express provisions of the agreements which make it necessary to imply certain duties and obligations in order to effectuate the purposes of the parties.
Id. at 960. He rested his opinion in part on the presence of an express no-strike clause in the National Master Freight Agreement.1
The contract here does not contain an explicit no-strike clause, but the unions did agree in Article XXVII to “maintain the integrity of the contract” and to settle “all disputes and claims which are not settled by agreement ... by the machinery provided in the ‘Settlement of Disputes’ Article.” As Judge Maris stated in Eazor, a collective bargaining agreement imposes “continuing day-to-day obligations on the parties to fulfill their terms in good faith.” 520 F.2d at 959. The unions’ promises here *1080would be vacuous without a good faith effort to ensure that disputes are settled by the grievance machinery of the agreement. What that effort is will vary with the circumstances, but in the context of an unauthorized strike, substance can be given to those promises only by the union officers’ taking all reasonable measures to move the dispute from the battlefield of economic warfare to the green table of the grievance and arbitration process.2
That is not to say that the similar promises of the local, district, and international unions impose identical duties on each. To be sure, each has the duty to take all reasonable steps necessary to end the unauthorized strike and commit the dispute to the grievance process, but what is reasonable will depend on the circumstances of each union — its relationship to the strikers and its ability to exercise control and direction over them. This is a factual inquiry that, in an injunction proceeding, the district court must undertake.
2. The Mass Action Theory
Although seemingly an independent theory of liability, the mass action theory, as I understand it, does not impose liability independent of the collective bargaining agreement. When a union has a contractually imposed obligation not to strike — either express or implied- — and substantially all the members of the union act concertedly in violation of that obligation, the breach of contractual duty is imputed to the union as an entity. Liability under this theory is thus predicated on the contract.
The premise underlying the imposition of liability is, as stated by Judge Maris, that “large groups of men do not act collectively without leadership.” Eazor, supra, 520 F.2d at 963. As I read this premise, the mass action theory presumes that some union members (not necessarily elected officers) have led the strike — that is, planned it or urged union members to strike — before the strike in fact occurs. This presumptive ab initio sanctioning of the strike is imputed, by this theory, to the union as an entity.
Thus seen, the mass action theory differs from the contractual theory. The mass action theory imposes liability on the union for actions taken by the membership as a whole before or at the inception of the strike. The contractual theory imposes liability for actions or omissions of union officers after the strike occurs.
I think this difference is significant. If the union has no complicity in causing the strike, the most that can reasonably be expected of it is to take all reasonable efforts to end the strike. If, however, the union membership has carried out the strike from its inception, as the mass action theory presumes, union liability arises at the time the strike occurs. While good faith efforts thereafter to end the strike may mitigate union liability, it cannot completely escape the consequence of the initial wrongful act of its membership.3
To be consistent with the theory, however, liability must be limited to the entity, the mass4 of whose membership acts in concert. This is because the theory presumes that the leadership for the mass action comes from within the group that generates the unlawful action. Thus, in most cases, it will be only the local on which liability is imposed under this theory. *1081There can conceivably also be district and international union liability if there is evidence to show complicity by officers of these entities directly or indirectly in the mass action.5
3. Remedy
Accordingly, in the case sub judice, I would hold that injunctive relief is available against the local union irrespective of any efforts made by its officials to end the strikes once they had begun. I would further hold that an injunction may run against the district and international unions, but only because they did not exercise all reasonable efforts to end the strike.6
B. Scope of the Injunction
In accordance with my discussion of the liability of the various unions, supra, I believe that any injunction in this kind of case must differentiate in the duties it imposes on the local, district, and international unions. The primary purpose of the injunction, of course, is to terminate the unauthorized strike of the local union members. Since generally it is the local union members who are striking, the no-strike prohibition will run primarily against them. As previously discussed, the liability of the district and international union will arise, in most instances, from their failure to take all reasonable efforts to end an unauthorized strike. Thus, as I see it, they will be subject to a mandatory injunction: they will be ordered to take affirmative action to end the present strike and to prevent a future strike from occurring or continuing.
1. Overbreadth
I do not read Judge Gibbons’ opinion as denying the power of a district court to issue an injunction framed in the language of the arbitration clause of a collective bargaining agreement, broadly prohibiting strikes over any arbitrable grievance, where the facts before the court justify such an injunction.7 I understand Judge Gibbons to state only that the broad injunction here was not warranted by the evidence before the district court.8 In view of the district court’s failure to make findings as to the nature of previous violations in the cases of *1082which he took judicial notice, and for the reasons stated below, I agree with that conclusion.
The complaint and the evidence before the district court related only to three specific strikes over arbitrable grievances. The court then took judicial notice that “[wjithin the past twelve months, there have been seven work stoppages at the Maple Creek Mine, including the three stoppages in February 1975 over disputes subject to resolution under the Settlement of Disputes procedure of the present and previous labor agreement.” He further notices that there was litigation over each of these previous disputes. I think it is proper for a district judge to take judicial notice of record evidence in other cases and decisions of other district courts relating to previous contractual violations of the parties before him. However, more than simply noting their existence is required.
I agree with Judge Gibbons that before prospective injunctive relief is ordered, the district court must find from the evidence before it that violations that have occurred are likely to recur, or that the pattern of past violations indicates that different violations will occur.9 The prospective part of the injunction should then be directed to prohibiting the recurrence of such potential future violations.10
Some concrete examples may clarify this necessarily abstract language. If the district court finds that strikes have occurred and likely will occur over two types of arbitrable grievances, e. g., employee suspensions and vacation pay, the injunction can be limited to enjoining future strikes over only these categories of grievances. If, however, the district court finds a proclivity to strike over every arbitrable grievance, it may conclude that the grounds for future strikes cannot be adequately forecast and it appropriately may issue a broad injunction.
The district court here did not undertake a sufficient examination of the union’s past conduct. It merely noticed the four previous strikes without, as far as the record before us indicates, examining the grievances giving rise to those strikes. It drew no conclusions as to what types of future violations the union’s past conduct indicated would likely recur. The district court gave no consideration to whether an injunction narrower in scope than the one it issued would have afforded sufficient relief.
In addition, the injunction did not differentiate among the duties imposed on the local, district, and international unions.
I thus agree that the injunction must be vacated and the case remanded.
2. Notice-Vagueness
I agree with Judge Gibbons that insofar as the injunction orders the district and international unions to take all reasonable efforts to prevent or end a future strike, the decree must specify what efforts the court expects from these unions. I also agree that insofar as officers of the local are to be held personally responsible for compliance with the injunction, it must specify what steps they must take to prevent or end a strike. Without such specification, the unions and their officers would, in the event of a subsequent contempt proceeding, be subject to the district judge’s post hoc evaluation of the sufficiency of their efforts. What steps the court requires of the parent unions will depend on the court’s analysis of the relation of the district and international to the local and their control over the local.
However, efforts of local officers cannot relieve the local from liability as an entity. If the injunction restrains the local union from striking over specific arbitrable grievances and it does strike in violation of the decree, it is in contempt at that point, and the efforts of its officers to avert or settle *1083that strike do not change the fact of the contempt.
A more difficult problem is whether the language describing the grievance over which striking is prohibited, is sufficiently specific to meet the requirements of Rule 65(d). Specificity in this context is a problem of the inevitable imprecision of language attempting to deal with a fact situation still to unfold.11 If a district court finds that future strikes will occur over a narrow class of grievances, it can easily frame a very specific injunction. The broader the range of past union violations, the more difficult it becomes to frame specific prohibitions of future conduct which will provide relief not readily frustrated by strike-happy persons.
Rule 65(d) requires only that acts restrained be described “in reasonable detail.” It leaves ample opportunity for the application of common sense standards. As with other reasonableness standards, compliance with Rule 65(d) can be examined only on a case by case basis. We can only offer district courts some general guidance.
A union should not be allowed to escape injunctive restraints merely because the range of previous violations by its members defies categorization. The injunction “should be broad enough to prevent evasion.” Local 167 v. United States, 291 U.S. 293, 299, 54 S.Ct. 396, 399, 78 L.Ed. 804, 810 (1934), cited with approval in May Stores Co. v. Labor Board, 326 U.S. 376, 391 n.13, 66 S.Ct. 203, 212, 90 L.Ed. 145, 157 (1945). When past violations may be reasonably categorized, the order should do so. See CF&I, supra, 507 F.2d at 173. When, however, the pattern of past conduct does not readily lend itself to such treatment, I see no objection to the use of carefully considered language broadly restraining strikes over arbitrable grievances, especially if it can be joined with specific language, to provide effective relief. See May Stores Co. v. Labor Board, 326 U.S. at 391, 66 S.Ct. at 212, 90 L.Ed. at 157.
Inevitably, there will be areas of doubt. This problem, however, should be minimal. Even where the injunction broadly prohibits strikes over any arbitrable grievance, arbitrability of grievances growing out of working conditions will seldom be in doubt in today’s labor law. Where such doubt arises, the union can readily seek declaratory relief from the court before striking. See Old Ben Coal Corp. v. Local Union No. 1487 of United Mine Workers, 500 F.2d 950, 953-4 (7th Cir. 1974).12
Since I agree with Judge Gibbons that the injunction in this case must be vacated and the case remanded for further findings, I have no need to evaluate the specificity of this order.
C. Conclusion
To recapitulate my view, on this record injunctive relief is available under the mass action theory only against the local union. Injunctive relief against the district and international unions may be granted because they did not exercise all reasonable efforts to terminate the strike. The district court, however, failed to make the necessary examination of previous violations and to find that similar or other violations are likely to recur. Although my approach differs from Judge Gibbons in certain aspects, I agree with him that the injunction must be vacated and the case remanded for further findings.

. I agree with Judge Gibbons that Judge Maris’ treatment of United Construction Workers v. Haislip Baking Co., 223 F.2d 872 (4th Cir.), cert. denied 350 U.S. 847, 76 S.Ct. 87, 100 L.Ed. 754 (1955), should be read only as distinction of inapposite precedent. And, in any event, Haislip is not controlling authority in this circuit.
In addition, see Penn Packing Co., Inc. v. Amalgamated Meat Cutters, Local 195, 497 F.2d 888, 891 (3d Cir. 1974). The collective bargaining agreement in Penn Packing had much more explicit language than the agreements in either Eazor or this case. However, the employer’s claim there was for indemnity and thus the language of that opinion is not controlling here.

. For this reason, I disagree with Chief Judge Seitz and I believe that the international and district officers are proper parties to a preliminary injunction under this theory especially since the international union is the principal union party to the collective bargaining agreement.

. As a matter of policy, I believe it is appropriate to impose responsibility on the local union for the consequences of the acts of its membership who assume the benefits of a collective bargaining agreement but then disregard its obligations. Therefore, I cannot agree with Judge Gibbons’ statement that “irrespective of the theory upon which union liability for unauthorized strikes is premised, the court must inquire into the reasonableness of the attempts by local and parent union officials to avert or halt wildcat activity by the membership.”

. The prerequisite for the application of the mass action theory, as I see it, is that substantially all of the members of an entity act in concert.

. I perceive on the record in the instant case no such participation by the district or international unions.

. Under my analysis of the contractual best efforts theory, the district court would ordinarily be expected to make findings as to whether efforts made by a parent union to end a strike were reasonable in light of the degree of control that parent had over the local, before subjecting the parent to an injunction. In the instant case, the district and international merely sent a telegram urging the end of one strike, and took no action on the other two strikes. In my view, these actions cannot in any circumstances be the best reasonable efforts of a responsible party to a collective bargaining agreement.

. In my opinion, such an injunction would be justified where it is shown that the union has continually and repeatedly disregarded the grievance and arbitration provisions of the collective bargaining agreement and that a more narrowly drawn decree would not protect the employer. (E. g., where a union has engaged in numerous wildcat strikes over arbitrable grievances of such a wide variety that they cannot be effectively categorized, as the court did in CF&I Steel Corp. v. United Mine Workers of America, 507 F.2d 170, 173 (10th Cir. 1974), it would be impossible to write a narrow injunction.) With due respect to Judge Wisdom’s opinion in United States Steel Corp. v. United Mine Workers of America, 519 F.2d 1236 (5th Cir. 1975), I do not read Boys Markets to preclude such an injunction; the Supreme Court simply did not have a fact pattern as I describe above before it. The reasons Judge Gibbons sets out on p. 1077 of his opinion persuade me that in such a factual context, a broad injunction can be necessary to accomplish “the purpose of Boys Markets [ — the vindication of] the arbitral process.” United States Steel Corp. v. United Mine Workers of America, supra, 519 F.2d at 1243. Furthermore, I do not believe that a broad injunction in response to a pattern of contractual violations conflicts with the purposes of the Norris-LaGuardia Act. See Boys Markets, supra, 398 U.S. at 253, n.22, 90 S.Ct. at 1593, 26 L.Ed.2d at 211.

. Judge Gibbons states that “the approach of the Old Ben II court, which from the fact of repeated violations of unspecified type justifies an injunction ‘framed from the language of the 1971 Agreement,’ . . . seems to us to go much farther than the evidence in this case would warrant.”

. I do not join Judge Gibbons’ statement that the court must “relate the likelihood of recurrence or occurrence to some act, omission, or responsibility of each defendant against whom such injunctive relief is ordered.”

. Parent unions would be ordered to take all reasonable efforts to terminate strikes that fall within the prohibition.

. For example, is a strike over a layoff in violation of a decree forbidding strikes “over disputes arising from employee suspensions, employee discharges and work assignments . . .”? CF&I, supra, 507 F.2d at 173.

. Where a broad prospective injunction has been issued and there is doubt whether it prohibits a strike over a grievance, the union, if it wants to minimize the risk of contempt, will have to refrain from striking while litigating the arbitrability of the grievance. That result is not unfair, in my view, where the record shows the type of consistent violation of a collective bargaining agreement necessary for the issuance of the broad injunction.