Sheet Metal Contractors Ass'n of Northern New Jersey v. Sheet Metal Workers' Intern. Ass'n

Page 78

157 F.3d 78

78 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 655

SHEET METAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY Sheet Metal Workers' Local Union No. 25 Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. SHEET METAL WORKERS' INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION; and Sheet Metal Workers' Local Union No. 22, Defendants-Appellants.

Docket No. 97-9609.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued June 10, 1998.

Decided Sept. 2, 1998.

David H. Thompson, (Charles J. Cooper, Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal, PLLC, Washington, DC, Audrey A. Browne, New York City; Kathryn A. Sure, Wylie, McBride, Grossinger, Sure & Platten, San Jose, CA; Norman W. Albert, Goodman & Albert, LLC, Cranford, NJ, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellants.

David G. Uffelman, Pinto, Rodgers & Uffelman, Morristown, NJ, for Plaintiff-Appellee Sheet Metal Contractors Association of Northern New Jersey.

Paul K. Rooney, (Dana B. Zimmerman, Paul K. Rooney, P.C., New York City; Francis H. Pykon, Newark, NJ, on the brief), for Plaintiffs-Appellees Local Union No. 25 and Joint Apprenticeship Committee of Northern New Jersey.

John F. Suhre, C. Gregory Stewart, General Counsel, Philip B. Sklover, Associate General Counsel, Vincent J. Blackwood, Assistant General Counsel, Washington, DC, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, for Amicus Curiae Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Before: WINTER, Chief Judge, WALKER, and CALABRESI, Circuit Judges.

JOHN M. WALKER, Jr., Circuit Judge.

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 reaffiliating Local 22 with the International.

We hold that, under the particular circumstances of this case, 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. ¹ After a bench trial, the district court held that Local 28 had engaged in racial discrimination against African Americans and Hispanics in all aspects of its membership, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. See EEOC 1, 401 F.Supp. at 487-88. By an order and judgment ("O & J") dated August 28, 1975 and still in effect today, the district court permanently enjoined

Local 28 of the Sheet Metal Workers['] International Association, its officers, agents, employees and successors and all persons in active concert 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 O & 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 reaffiliation, 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 O & J and AAAPO. In an order entered by Special Master Raff on November 22, 1995, the defendants agreed not to "implement any reaffiliation 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, ² the Original Agreement suspended this "two-man rule" and permitted freedom of movement between Locals 22 and 25 for an initial one-year trial period. The suspension could be modified or terminated after this period only "if both parties agree with any proposed change." Locals 22 and 25 dispute whether the phrase "both parties" refers to Locals 22 and 25 or to the parties to the reaffiliation agreement (i.e., Local 22 and the International). The Original Agreement does not expressly state that Locals 22 and 25 would have "concurrent" jurisdiction over the four counties.

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, 978 F.Supp. 529, 530 (S.D.N.Y.1997) ("Sheet Metal I "). After a two-day evidentiary hearing, defendants submitted to the district court a Memorandum of Agreement ("Clarified Reaffiliation Agreement"), which states that Local § 22 and 25 "will exercise concurrent jurisdiction over the Four Counties .... [and] will continue to be able to recruit members and organize shops throughout the Four Counties," and that their freedom of movement in the four counties may be suspended only "if both Local 22 and Local 25 agree with any proposed change." Nevertheless, the district court enjoined reaffiliation pursuant to the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), concluding that "only an injunction preventing the reaffiliation from occurring under [the] terms [of the Original Agreement] can prevent the undermining of the orders issued by this court in the EEOC litigation." Sheet Metal Contractors Ass'n v. Sheet Metal Workers' Int'l Ass'n, No. 97 Civ. 6399, 1997 WL 767554, at * 10 (S.D.N.Y. Dec.11, 1997) ("Sheet Metal II "). The district court also noted that "[t]he Clarified Reaffiliation Agreement ... may serve as a point from which the locals and the international can begin to renegotiate the terms of defendants' reaffiliation to the satisfaction of the court." Id. at * 11.

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 their initial level of participation in the union (although ......