Majority
This proceeding in mandamus presents the question whether the provisions of title X of part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure apply to an arbitration award made pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement.
On November 3, 1939, a collective bargaining agreement was entered into between David Shann Corporation, women’s
During the strike the firm was employing approximately thirty nonunion workers. When the striking union workers reported back to work following the execution of the agreement the firm insisted on retaining 12 nonunion workers and reemploying only 3 union workers. A dispute immediately arose, which was heard by the arbitrator, who rendered his decision that pursuant to paragraph 10 of the agreement above quoted the firm should divide the available work by employing one union worker for each nonunion worker, and continue so to divide the work without favoritism during slack times.
On November 14, 1939, further charges of favoritism to nonunion workers and discrimination against union members were made and a hearing thereon was had before the arbitrator on the day following. On November 22, 1939, he made his findings and his decision to the effect that the firm should reemploy, on an equal basis with other workers, nine union members who were some of those specifically named in the agreement as workers whom the firm would so reemploy. The arbitrator also found the firm guilty of discrimination against union workers and of favoritism toward nonunion workers in the enforcement of regulations relating to working conditions. He made his award directing correction of the conditions without favoritism and stating that, if the firm failed to report within a specified time that such conditions had been corrected, it would “be his unpleasant duty to declare the firm in breach of its contract”.
The award of the arbitrator dated November 22, 1939, incorporating the prior award, was duly acknowledged and filed on November 30, 1939, in the Superior Court in Los Angeles County, in proceeding numbered 447044, together with the petition of the union for an order confirming the award of the arbitrator pursuant to section 1287 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Notice in writing was duly served on David Shann Corporation, the defendant in said proceeding. The defendant filed a demurrer upon the principal ground that the Superior Court was without jurisdiction because the award was made under a contract “pertaining to labor”, which by the proviso of section 1280 of the Code of Civil Procedure
The alternative writ issued. The matter is submitted on the petition and the demurrer and answer filed by the respondents. The petitioner is aided by briefs of amici curiae representing the California State Federation of Labor (A. F. of L.) and the Los Angeles Industrial Union Council (C. I. 0.). By the answer it appears that prior to the filing of the petition in said proceeding numbered 447044, the David Shann Corporation filed an action, numbered 446961, in the Superior Court in Los Angeles County, against the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and others for rescission and cancellation of the collective bargaining agreement and for damages. However, none of the questions involved in said action or in the motion to vacate the award filed by the corporation in proceeding numbered 447044 is before this court for consideration at this time. The sole question now to be determined is whether the respondent Superior Court has jurisdiction to entertain the petition to confirm the award of the arbitrator. This is a question of first impression in this state. It is assumed, for the purposes of considering the question, that the collective bargaining agreement was entered into voluntarily by both parties and that no causes exist which would be grounds for the interposition of a court of equity in an independent proceeding or for the exercise of the powers vested in the court by the statute here considered, under the motion now before it or otherwise.
Part 3, title X of the Code of Civil Procedure, as added to and amended by Statutes of 1927, page 404, and subsequent amendments, deals with the validity and enforcement of arbitration agreements and of awards pursuant thereto. Section 1280 provides that a provision in a written contract to settle by arbitration a dispute which may thereafter arise
The petitioning union contends that a collective bargaining agreement is not a contract pertaining to labor within the proviso of section 1280 of the Code of Civil Procedure; that a contract pertaining to labor within the meaning of that section is one for the performance of manual labor and payment therefor, made between the worker and his employer; that the collective bargaining agreement is not such a contract, but is one entered into on the one hand by the bargaining agent or trade union and, on the other, by the employer, not for performance of labor and payment therefor, but to settle the working conditions of union members who may be hired by the employer, the character of the shop, whether “closed” or otherwise, and to establish wage and hour standards. Such a contract usually provides against lockouts, strikes called by the union against the employer during the period of the contract, and secondary boycott activities. The contract also customarily contains provisions to submit any dispute arising out of the contract to a named arbitrator and for the finality and binding effect of the settlement by the arbitrator of any dispute submitted to him.
The respondents’ view is that the word “labor” in connection with the applicability of the arbitration statute should be interpreted in its broadest sense; that is, if in any aspect
This court has heretofore had occasion to consider the meaning and effect of said proviso. In Kerr v. Nelson, 7 Cal. (2d) 85 [ 59 Pac. (2d) 821 ], a complaint was filed to confirm an arbitration award under a contract employing the services of the plaintiff as a sales or general manager of a corporation. It may not be doubted that an actor, or an artist, a clergyman, a general manager, sales manager or other executive, secretary, attorney, or judge, labors; but this court, following what was said in Universal Pictures Corp. v. Superior Court, 9 Cal. App. (2d) 490 [ 50 Pac. (2d) 500 ], determined that it was the obvious intention of the legislature that contracts involving individuals whose principal efforts were directed to the accomplishment of some mental task were not to be classified as contracts “pertaining to labor”; that the word “labor” as used in the section meant “that kind of human energy wherein physical force, or brawn and muscle, however skilfully employed, constitute the principal effort to produce a given result, rather than where the result to be accomplished depends primarily upon the exercise of the mental faculties”. The court concluded that the contract was not one pertaining to labor, as contemplated by the proviso of section 1280 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The courts are not justified in defining the term in its broadest sense when obviously to do so would not be within the legislative intent. This has long been a settled rule of statutory construction. (In re Mitchell, 120 Cal. 384 , 386 [ 52 Pac. 799 ]; People v. Merrill, 24 Cal. App. 206 , 210 [ 140 Pac. 1075 ], quoting from 2 Sutherland on Statutory Construction, 2d ed., see. 363; 23 Cal. Jur., p. 766.) The case of Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 143 U. S. 457 [ 12 Sup. Ct. 511 , 36 L. Ed. 226 ], involved the interpretation of the act of February 26, 1885 (23 Stats. 332), prohibiting the importation of aliens under contract to perform “labor or services of any kind”, as applied to an alien minister residing in England who had contracted to remove to New York and become the pastor of the church. In reversing a
The considerations bearing upon the question of the intent of the legislature in excluding contracts “pertaining to labor” from the arbitration agreement enforcement statutes lead to the conclusion that the legislature had in mind contracts pertaining to the actual hiring of labor between employer and laborer. The legislature did not itself define what is a contract pertaining to labor. It was left for interpretation by the courts. But the legislature has since defined labor (sec. 200(b) Labor Code) as including “labor, work, or service whether rendered or performed under contract, sub-contract, partnership, station plan, or other agreement if the labor to be paid for is performed personally by the person demanding payment”. That definition plainly indicates that a contract pertaining to labor means a promise to perform labor and a promise to pay therefor a stipulated price. The elements involved in that definition are absent from a collective bargaining agreement, which is distinct and separable from a contract of hiring. The function of the collective bargaining agreement is to lay down the relative duties or obligations to be observed between the employer and the union, and itself contemplates that the contract of hiring shall be a distinct and separate transaction.
Prior to 1927 the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure permitted parties to submit to arbitration only existing controversies (except specified questions relating to real property) which might be the subject of a civil action between them; and while the submission to arbitration remained executory and there was no stipulation that it be entered as an order of court, it was revocable by either party. (See California Annual Conference v. Seitz, 74 Cal. 287 , 291 [ 15 Pac. 839 ]; Sidlinger v. Kerkow, 82 Cal. 42 , 46 [ 22 Pac. 932 ].) The former provisions were based upon a public policy then existing which was averse to permitting parties to deprive themselves of their right of resort to the courts.
In 1927 (Stats. 1927, p. 404), the legislature added sections 1280 and 1291-1293 to the Code of Civil Procedure, and en
It has also been held that a statute providing for enforcement of arbitration awards which excludes contracts per-
In Harper v. Local Union No. 520, supra, the court held that mutuality of remedy for equitable relief by injunction existed under a collective bargaining agreement because the agreement in its collective aspect is not one for personal service.
In Schlesinger v. Quinto, supra (decided in 1922) the court observed: ‘ ‘ The cases thus far decided have been at the suit of the employer against combinations of labor, for the simple reason that this is the first time that labor has appealed to the courts. . . . The remedies are mutual; the law does not have one rule for the employer and another for the employee. ’ ’
In Goldman v. Cohen, supra, decided in 1928, the court said: “Usually in the past it has been the employer who has sought help of the courts for the protection of his rights, but obviously the same principles of law apply equally to both employer and labor union. Where a strike is threatened by a labor union in violation of its contract with an employer, the right of a court of equity to issue an injunction to prevent such contractual violation is well settled. . . . Likewise, where an employer is threatening to order a lockout of his employees in violation of his contract with the labor union in behalf of the employees, the right of a court of equity to prevent such contractual violation is necessarily measured by the same principle. ... If the union has not the right to invoke the aid of a court of equity to prevent the unlawful violation of a contract such as exists in the case.at bar, then such a contract loses most of its force, and the rights of collective bargaining are narrowed and the economic benefits to the community from collective bargaining to a great extent lost.”
In the same vein, in the case of Ribner v. Racso Butter & Egg Co., supra, the court said: “ . . . the right of a labor union to enforce the terms of a lawful contract such as exists between the parties in the instant case should not be determined by the character of the services to be performed by the members of the union, but should rest upon the mutual rights and obligations of the parties under their contract. It is well settled that an employer may avail himself of the relief afforded by a court of equity to enforce his, rights under such
Our conclusion that the arbitrator’s award pursuant to the terms of a voluntary collective bargaining agreement is enforceable and that it was not the legislative intent to exclude such contracts from the provisions of section 1280 of the Code of Civil Procedure, is in harmony with legislative declarations. In the Labor Code adopted in 1937, by section 923 thereof, the legislature declared the public policy of the state with reference to labor organizations as follows: “Nego
It is further brought to our attention that arbitration under collective bargaining agreements has been one of the most potent factors in establishing and maintaining peace and protection in industry (see National Labor Relations Board v. Friedman-Harry Marks Clothing Co., 301 U. S. 58 [ 57 Sup. Ct. 645 , 81 L. Ed. 921 , 108 A. L. R. 1352 ], 17 Or. Law Rev., pp. 263-288); and that organized labor is more and more resorting to the courts for recognition of the lawfulness and enforceability of collective bargaining agreements, rather than electing to settle its disputes by other methods. (See 44 Har. Law Rev., pp. 601-608; 51 Har. Law Rev., pp. 520-533; see, also, reports of Standing Committee on Commerce, Trade and
. The respondents present no legislative history which indicates that the proviso was inserted in section 1280 for the purpose of excluding collective bargaining contracts. The bill introducing the measure "without the proviso was before the Assembly in January, 1927, designated as Assembly Bill No. 460. The proviso was inserted by amendment in the committee on March 1, 1927. It is asserted that in the movement for uniform state legislation on arbitration, both commercial and industrial, a form of State Arbitration Act contained the proviso that “the provisions of this Act shall not apply to collective contracts between employers and employees, or between employers and associations of employees, in respect to terms or conditions of employment”, and that such a draft was tendered to the California legislature in 1927. It is stated that such a provision has been included in the statutes of Arizona, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Oregon. The respondents argue that by the omission of such specific provision from the California statute and the use of the proviso excluding contracts “pertaining to labor”, the legislature intended also to exclude collective bargaining contracts. But it would seem more reasonable to expect a specific provision to that effect if the legislature intended to exclude collective bargaining contracts from the operation of the statute.
Lastly, the respondents point out that the contract and the award here involved provide that the corporation should reemploy certain specified union members who had been regular employees of the corporation prior to the inception of the dispute. They contend that because of those provisions the considerations are present which exclude from specific enforcement contracts to perform labor or personal services, and which therefore designate this collective bargaining agreement as a contract pertaining to labor.
We do not agree that the possible effect of any confirmation which the court may grant will be to enforce specifically a contract or award for the performance of labor. Courts have enjoined the discharge of union workers, where there was no dispute as to their competency, and the employment of nonunion workers in their stead, in violation of collective bargaining agreements. (Note, 51 Har. Law Rev., p. 526,
It follows from what we have said that the respondent Superior Court has jurisdiction to entertain the proceeding before it and that the alternative writ of mandate heretofore issued herein should be made peremptory.
It is ordered that the peremptory writ issue accordingly.
Curtis, J., Edmonds, J., Carter, J., and Gibson, C. J., concurred.
Cases cited
- In re Mitchell 120 Cal. 384 at 386 p. 698
- People v. Merrill 24 Cal. App. 206 at 210 p. 698
- Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States 143 U. S. 457 p. 698
- California Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church v. Seitz 74 Cal. 287 at 291 p. 699
- Sidlinger v. Kerkow 82 Cal. 42 at 46 p. 699
- Grassi Contracting Co. v. Bennett 174 App. Div. 244 p. 700
- Ribner v. Racso Butter & Egg Co. 135 Misc. 616 p. 700
- Farulla v. Freundlich, Inc. 152 Misc. 761 p. 700
- National Labor Relations Board v. Friedman-Harry Marks Clothing Co. 301 U. S. 58 p. 704