Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9407010091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER Note: lede
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In an opinion that drew glee from labor and grief from state leaders, the high court ruled that the union won't have to pay $52 million in contempt-of-court fines from the union's 1989-90 strike in Southwest Virginia against companies of the Pittston Coal Group.
In a unanimous decision, the court reversed a November 1992 ruling by an also-unanimous Virginia Supreme Court, which had ordered the union to pay the fines levied by Russell County Circuit Judge Donald McGlothlin Jr.
McGlothlin had fined the union to force it to obey an injunction he issued at Pittston's request. The injuction restricted union picket-line activity that interfered with Pittston's attempts to operate during the strike and prohibited union intimidation and violence against Pittston supervisors and replacement workers, commonly called "scabs." Over the course of eight hearings from May to December of 1989, McGlothlin found the union guilty in civil proceedings of more than 400 violations of the injunction.
The high court, however, in an opinion written by Justice Harry Blackmun, concluded that the fines were in effect criminal fines - because, among other reasons, they were meant to punish - and the union should have been given an opportunity for a jury trial before McGlothlin imposed them.
The court's ruling may have a wide-reaching impact on future attempts by American trial judges to enforce their injunctive orders, and the quick reaction to it speaks to its potential significance. The fact that the court was unanimous was surprising to some, particularly because the court, which heard oral arguments in the case in November, waited until the last day of its term to rule on the case.
"I am disappointed with the ruling," said Virginia Attorney General Jim Gilmore, who along with fellow Republican Gov. George Allen, had made the Pittston fines an issue in last year's state-office races. They had criticized former attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Sue Terry for staying out of the case.
Gilmore said his office would review the decision to make sure the state has the tools it needs to maintain public safety and judicial integrity.
Allen believes its important to remember that the high court was not endorsing the behavior that led McGlothlin to impose the fines, but only finding fault with the procedure he used, said Ken Stroupe, a spokesman for the governor.
On the other hand, Daniel G. LeBlanc, president of the Virginia AFL-CIO, said he, like UMW President Richard Trumka, is gratified that "the entire court saw fit to uphold the integrity of the collective bargaining process. The courts should not be used to try to break the will of working men and women who engage in collective bargaining rights to fight for issues such as health care and job security."
Trumka called the decision "a tremendous victory for the UMWA, working Americans, their unions and the collective bargaining process."
The UMW's strike against Pittston drew worldwide attention because of the union's frequent use of sit-down tactics to disrupt Pittston's attempts to continue mining coal. Hundreds of union members and their supporters were arrested as they blocked roadways used by Pittston coal trucks. At one point, several union miners seized and occupied a Pittston coal preparation plant for three days.
However, the strike also resulted in several reports of violence, including rock-throwing, shootings, bombings and personal assaults. McGlothlin's injunction and subsequent fines were aimed at curbing both the nonviolent and violent activities of union supporters.
When the strike was settled in early 1990, Pittston asked McGlothlin to drop the fines against the UMW. The judge agreed to drop $12 million in fines he had ordered the union to pay Pittston but left in its place more than $52 million more he had ordered the union to pay Russell and Dickenson counties and the state of Virginia. The state had spent several million dollars during the strike to maintain hundreds of state troopers in the coalfields.
The union appealed the remaining fines. The Virginia Court of Appeals overturned half of them, but the Virginia Supreme Court overturned the appeals court and upheld all the fines, sending the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court.
John Bagwell, a Grundy lawyer who was appointed by McGlothlin as a special commissioner to collect the fines from the UMW, was the respondent in the case before the U.S. Supreme Court. "Obviously the effort to collect these particular fines is over," Bagwell said following the release of the court's decision.
Frank Friedman of the Roanoke law firm Woods, Rogers and Hazlegrove was involved in the effort to collect the fines. The effect of the ruling is to tie the hands of judges, and that is summed up by Blackmun himself in his opinion, Friedman said.
"It's not a good day for law and order," Friedman said of the decision. "It has ramifications way beyond where we are in this case." He noted that the Clinton Justice Department had supported efforts to uphold the fines.
Blackmun wrote in his opinion that the decision does put some burden on a court's ability to deal with certain kinds of contempt but added that the need to maintain respect for judges and courts doesn't outweigh the rights of an individual to due process of law.
by CNB