Forrest Industries, Inc. v. Local Union No. 9-436, International Woodworkers of America

This action arises out of a labor dispute in the plant of a plywood manufacturing concern. The employer (appellant here) seeks damages from a local labor union and a regional council of unions (appellees here) for a strike which the employer alleges was conducted in breach of the collective bargaining agreement then in effect between it and the local union. The dispute arose when the employer, as part of an economy drive, on two of its three shifts, combined three existing positions into two. One of the three jobs was eliminated and the duties previously performed by its occupant were allocated to the two other jobs. As a result, the duties of the two remaining positions were substantially enlarged ; the men occupying the abolished positions were required to assume other and different jobs; and an employee at the bottom of the seniority ladder was discharged.

The collective bargaining agreement sets up a multi-step procedure for the handling of “grievances”. Where a grievance is involved, the agreement prohibits a strike unless and until all of the steps of the grievance procedure have been taken. The various steps include presentation of the grievance by the Shop Steward to the…