Court Opinion

ID: 9450384
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 16:44:16.292056+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:16.456830
License: Public Domain

SCHNACKENBERG, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
Ruth Scovile is a unique victim of injustice at the hands of President Watson of the local of which she is a member.
Chronologically it appears that on May 19, 1962, at the regular monthly meeting of the local she and Watson disagreed over the removal of a steward from the second shift, whereupon Watson, knowing that her prior absences from work were medically-excused, irrelevantly announced that the union was not going to stand behind any member with an excessive absence record. The record does not show that the union then took any action supporting his statement. Stricken physically, she was confined to a hospital for a condition, stated in oral argument to be, peculiar to womanhood. This| was a medically-excused absence from work which continued from May 25 to June 11, 1962. The prestige and power of Watson were then set in motion against her. He gave as a reason that her hospital confinement constituted “an excessive absence record”. While she was in the hospital, he called a special union meeting on June 2, 1962 and there secured the passage of a motion to deny a member arbitration rights if the records of the company indicated excessive absenteeism, despite the fact that a medically-excused absence did not constitute “excessive absenteeism” as defined in the collective bargaining agreement between the union and plaintiff’s employer. This action was in violation of the constitution and bylaws of the union. Job security was not on the agenda for the meeting, although the notice posted stated that the subject of the meeting was “job security”. No specific written charges were served on plaintiff at or prior to the meeting of June 2, 1962, and she was given no time to prepare a defense or afforded a full and fair hearing, contrary to the terms of 29 U.S.C.A. § 411(a) (5).
“Every member of any labor organization shall have the right * * * to express at meetings of the labor organization bis views, * * * upon any business properly before the meeting, subject to the organization’s established and reasonable rules pertaining to the conduct of meetings * *
Consequently when plaintiff returned to work on June 11, 1962, her employer, with knowledge of said disciplinary action by Watson and the union, depriving her of assistance or protection by the use of arbitration procedure, discharged her for the alleged reason of “excessive absenteeism”, and defendants have failed and refused to represent and protect her rights as a member of the union.
*682At the regular meeting of the union held on August 18, 1962, plaintiff was present and attempted to make a motion to have her rights of arbitration reinstated. While she had the floor, Watson allowed her to be interrupted and then entertained a motion to adjourn, which was then carried, contrary to rules 8 and 28 of their bylaws, and in violation of 29 U.S.C.A. § 411(a) (2).
She has exhausted all of her internal union remedies and, due to the action of defendants, she has been without employment since the date of her discharge on June 11, 1962. Wherefore she has sued the union and Watson for damages. This case is important not only to this woman but to union members generally. Neither a presiding officer of a union at a union meeting nor the union itself may pursue a course of disciplinary action against any union member in such a manner as to deprive him or her of the freedom of speech protected by the first amendment of the federal constitution and recognized by § 411(a) (2) and (5) of the act. This deprivation of her right was the culmination of Watson’s calculated conduct which ruthlessly employed the naked power of a presiding officer to stifle the voice of a member who was entitled to the support of her union in her misfortune rather than suspension of rights and public ridicule.
In United States v. Roganovich, 318 F.2d 167, at 170 (1963), this court by Judge Knoch said:
“The language of § 411(a) (2) is clear and unambiguous. It gives ‘every member’ a ‘right * * * to express * * * his views’ respecting ‘any business properly before the meeting.’ None of the stated limitations (provisions for reasonable rules governing meetings, responsibility of members to the union, or interference with performance of the union’s legal or contractual obligations) affect the question before us.
* * * * *
« * * * -yye conclude that Congress was seeking to preserve for union members the right of free expression secure from interference by force or threat of force from any person, not merely from union agents or those acting on behalf of, or in concert with, them. * * * ”
I would reverse the order of the district court dismissing the complaint and remand for further proceedings consistent with these views.