International Ass'n of Bridge, Structural & Ornamental Iron Workers v. Superior Court

Petitioner seeks a writ of prohibition directing respondent court to dismiss real party’s pending cause of action. The facts are these: On May 22, 1974, petitioner and real party in interest were parties to a collective bargaining agreement, one provision of which was that no strikes or work stoppages would occur during the term of the contract. On that date, real party in interest was engaged in construction of a Veterans’ Administration hospital in West Los Angeles and a financial building in Encino. Real party’s superintendent on the hospital project, on May 22, 1974, terminated an employee who was a member of the petitioner union. Petitioner unsuccessfully demanded his reinstatement. Petitioner’s members then walked off the hospital job. The following day petitioner’s members walked off the financial center job. This dispute had not been *351 resolved by May 28, 1974, and real party filed suit in respondent court seeking temporary and permanent injunctive relief and damages for breach of the no-strike clause of the contract. In its answer to the complaint, filed July 10, 1974, petitioner asserted as an affirmative defense that real party’s cause of action was barred…