Hodgson v. UMW, 344 F. Supp.17

Hodgson v. UMW, 344 F. Supp. 17

CORE TERMS: election, candidate, supervised, completion, nominee, reporting, bona fide, disbursement, observer, period of time, expenditures, balloting, enjoined, hired, persons acting, installation, nominations, concert, elected, preceding paragraph, internal affairs, sworn statement, duly elected, local union, slate, plaintiff-intervenor, proscription, headquarters, permanently, restrained

JUDGES: Bryant, D.J.

OPINIONBY: BRYANT

OPINION: [*35] ORDER

The issues in this cause having been tried before the court without a jury, the evidence of all parties hereto having been heard, and the court having entered an opinion on May 1, 1972 constituting its findings of fact and conclusions of law, it is this 15th day of June, 1972,

Ordered, adjudged, and decreed as follows:

1. The December 9, 1969 election of International officers in defendant United Mine Workers of America, hereinafter referred to as the International, is declared null and void pursuant to Section 402 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 29 USC § 482.

2. The International shall hold nominations for and conduct an election of all International offices by secret ballot among its members in good standing under the supervision of the Secretary of Labor and under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe and in accordance with the provisions of Title 4 of the LMRDA (29 USC § 481 et seq.). The election shall be concluded by January 1, 1973, and the results thereof shall [**2] be subject to the certification of the Secretary of Labor by January 15, 1973; and the individuals thereafter declared by this court to be the lawfully elected officers of the defendant shall serve full constitutional terms of office from the date of their installation.

3. The International, its officers, agents and employees are hereby restrained and enjoined from conducting an International Convention until the results of the supervised election are certified to this court by the Secretary of Labor and this court enters its decree declaring such persons to be the duly elected officers of the International.

4. From the date of this order until the installation of the duly elected officers pursuant to paragraph 2 of this order, the individuals now holding office pursuant to the election of December 9, 1969 shall continue to conduct the affairs of the defendant union. The internal affairs of the defendant union shall be subject to the direct supervision of the Secretary of Labor and shall be subject to such further orders from this court as are from time to time required.

[*36] 5. From the date of this order until the date this court enters an order declaring the election of [**3] individuals certified by the Secretary of Labor as the elected officers in the supervised election the Secretary of Labor shall have the authority to place a representative at International headquarters in Washington, D.C. with the specific authority to disapprove any financial transaction of the International; and all books and records of the International shall be made immediately available to the Secretary's representative upon his demand.

6. During the same period of time mentioned in the preceding paragraph the Secretary shall have the authority to place a representative in each of the International's District and Sub-District offices who will have the same power and authority as that of the Secretary's representative at the International headquarters.

7. During the same period of time the Department of Labor shall have the authority to oversee the financial transactions made by any or all of the defendant's local unions, and upon demand the books and records of any such local union shall be made available to representatives of the Secretary of Labor for audit.

8. During the same period of time mentioned in the preceding paragraph of this order plaintiff-intervenor is authorized [**4] to maintain an observer whereever the Secretary of Labor has authority to place a representative. This observer shall not participate in the conduct of the internal affairs of the union, but shall be fully informed of such activity as it occurs.

9. The dates, times and places of the nominations and election meetings in the defendant's local unions shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of Labor.

10. The International shall by June 25, 1972 prepare a list of all local unions and the names and addresses of the principal officers of each local union. A copy of this list shall be given to the Department of Labor immediately upon completion thereof and shall be given by the defendant to any bona fide candidate for office upon demand.

11. The International shall, by July 10, 1972, prepare a current membership list including the addresses of all members. A copy of this list shall be given to the Department of Labor immediately upon completion thereof, and shall be made available by the Secretary of Labor to any bona fide candidate for office upon demand, but under such conditions and provisions as are deemed by the Secretary necessary to restrict its use to purposes of the [**5] supervised election. Noncompliance with any such condition or the use of this list by any one for any other purpose is expressly forbidden by the terms of this order.

12. Commencing with the July 1, 1972 issue of the UMWA Journal up to and including the last issue prior to the supervised election, equal space for the presentation of news concerning, and the political views of bona fide candidates will be made available in each issue under a format subject to the approval of the Secretary of Labor. Slates of candidates may combine their allotted space and present their views as a slate.

13. No person who is an officer or employee of the International union or any District shall be allowed to make any financial contribution directly or indirectly to the campaign of any candidate or nominee. No person shall participate or aid or abet in any scheme to evade this proscription. This proscription, however, does not apply to a candidate making expenditures of his own funds on his own behalf. Every candidate or nominee shall make a report to the Secretary of Labor on the first day of each month detailing all contributions received and expenditures made, as of that date, in support of [**6] his candidacy for office. Such reports shall separately state donor and amount as to every contribution received for the candidate or nominee or by any other person or committee [*37] on his behalf, including contributions made by the candidate or nominee himself. A copy of each such statement shall be filed contemporaneously with the Secretary of Labor and shall be made available for inspection and copying by any other bona fide candidate or nominee or his representative.

14. During the period from the entry of this order until completion of balloting in the supervised election, each employee of the union shall file with the appropriate representative of the Secretary of Labor on the first and fifteenth day of each month a statement reporting his activities and accounting for his time and expenses. Such statements shall be made available to any candidate upon request.

15. During the period from entry of this order until completion of balloting in the supervised election, no loan from the International union to any district may be made without a sworn statement from the district demonstrating its need for the loan in relation to valid union purposes. Copies of the statement [**7] shall be furnished to the representative of the Secretary assigned to the district seeking a loan, to the plaintiff intervenor's observer, and to counsel in this cause. No such loan may be made without satisfactory statement of purpose, nor absent an adequate showing of evidence of need on demand of the Secretary.

16. During the period from the entry of this order until completion of balloting in the supervised election no new personnel, whether full-time or part-time, shall be hired by the International or any district union without a sworn statement from the International or district proposing to hire such person. Such statement shall contain the person's proposed job title, number of hours per week and salary. In addition the statement shall include a full description of the person's proposed union duties and a showing that such work cannot be performed by existing personnel. Copies of such statement shall be furnished to the appropriate representative of the Secretary, to the plaintiff-intervenor's observer, and to counsel in this cause. No person shall be hired without an adequate statement, nor absent an adequate showing, on the Secretary's demand, of need for the person's [**8] services. Each new employee hired by the International union or any district during this period shall file with the appropriate representative of the Secretary a statement on the first and fifteenth day of each month reporting his activities and accounting for his time and expenses. Such statement shall be made available to any candidate upon request.

17. The Secretary of Labor shall enter into negotiations with the government of Canada to assure that the election in the UMWA district located in Canada shall be conducted according to the guidelines established herein and under the same procedures and with the same safeguards as the election in the districts in the United States. Defendant UMWA is ordered to direct its districts in Canada and their officers, employees, and representatives to comply fully with this order and with the election requirements of its Constitution and LMRDA and to cooperate with the Canadian officials designated to oversee the election. Failure of the UMWA to assure compliance in the Canadian districts with this order and LMRDA and to cooperate with the Secretary and the designated Canadian officials in those districts may result in the voiding of the [**9] ballots from those districts.

18. The Opinion issued by this court in this case on May 1, 1972, and this Order shall be printed in their entirety in the July 1, 1972 issue of the United Mine Workers Journal.

It is further ordered, adjudged and decreed:

a. That the defendant, its officers, employees, agents, attorneys and representatives are permanently enjoined from repetition of the violations found to have occurred by this court's opinion of May 1, 1972.

[*38] b. That the defendant, its officers, agents, employees, attorneys or persons acting in concert and participation with said persons be and the same hereby are permanently enjoined and restrained from violating the record keeping provisions of Section 206 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 USC § 436); and in particular the defendant, its agents, employees, attorneys and all persons acting in concert and participation with said persons shall:

(1) retain and maintain all vouchers, worksheets, receipts and applicable resolutions pertaining to each disbursement of defendant's funds sufficient to provide verification in the records of each said disbursement to the ultimate recipient, said [**10] records to contain the date and purpose of the disbursement, signature or bill submitted by the ultimate recipient and authorization for disbursement, where necessary and appropriate; except where any per diem allowance, properly authorized in writing, is in effect so as to cover certain expense account expenditures;

(2) retain and maintain sufficient records as to all financial transactions between the International and the districts so as to reflect in the records the amount transferred to each district, the amounts repaid, if any, and the arrangements, if any, as to when and how repayments are to be made by each district; and

(3) retain and maintain all such records on the matters required to be reported under Title II of the Act (29 USC § 431 et seq.) contemporaneous with the transactions.

This court shall retain jurisdiction of this cause in order to provide such further relief as may be necessary to effectuate the purposes of this order.

Nothing herein shall prejudice the right of any party hereto to file an application for attorneys' fees, expenses or costs.