The Plaintiffs-Appellees are workers and elected officials of their local who tried to bring a new direction to their union. In response to the Plaintiffs' reform efforts the Defendants, who are also union officers, used the full weight of their positions to obstruct the Plaintiffs' efforts, eventually trying them on charges of disorder and issuing union reprimands against them. As a result of the officers' actions, Plaintiffs commenced two actions in the district court asserting that the officers' actions violated several provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 ("LMRDA" or "Act"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 401-531 (1994). After a jury trial and a bench trial of the two cases respectively, the jury and district court concluded that the Defendants' conduct violated sections 101(a)(2) and (a)(5) of the LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. § 411(a)(2) and (a)(5). The district court issued two judgments which, inter alia, (1) granted the Plaintiffs the jury's award of nominal damages, (2) granted the Plaintiffs permanent injunctive relief, and (3) voided the union reprimands. See Schermerhorn v. Hall, 150 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2238 (S.D.N.Y. 1995), and Schermerhorn v. Local 100, Transport Workers Union of Am., 150 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2246 (S.D.N.Y. 1995). Because the district court's judgments are fully supported by the record and are proper as a matter of law, we affirm.
Background
A.Underlying Events
The Defendant-Appellant Local 100, Transport Workers Union of America ("Local 100" or "Union") represents over 30,000 employees of the New York City Transit Authority ("TA") and the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority ("MABSTOA"). As an affiliated local of the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU"), Local 100 is governed by TWU's constitution as well as its own by-laws. Because of its enormous membership, Local 100 is divided into 15 "Divisions" which reflect the subway and busline operating divisions of the TA and MABSTOA. Each Division must have a minimum of 100 members. Some Divisions are further subdivided into "Sections."
The Plaintiffs-Appellees Tim Schermerhorn ("Schermerhorn"), Corine Scott ("Scott"), Cecile Clue ("Clue"), Clarence Little ("Little") and Frank Neal Whitted ("Whitted") (collectively "Plaintiffs") at all pertinent times were members of Local 100 holding elected office in the Union: Schermerhorn and Scott are Vice-Chairpersons of the Train Operators Division; Clue and Whitted are Local 100 Executive Board members, elected to that office by the Conductor/Tower Division; and Little is a Local 100 Executive Board member, elected to that office by the Train Operators Division. The Plaintiffs are also members of a reform caucus within Local 100 known as "New Directions." Founded in 1986 by rank-and-file members of Local 100 who believed that their Union was in need of reform, New Directions published newsletters and fielded candidates for offices within the Union. In the December 1991 elections, candidates running on the New Directions slate won ten of Local 100's thirty-three Executive Board positions, as well as other officer positions in several of the Divisions.
The principal events underlying the instant case concern: (1) the Plaintiffs' efforts to gain admittance to Division and Section meetings during 1991-1992 in order to discuss various matters, including obtaining a better bargaining agreement; and (2) the actions undertaken by other Union officials to prevent the Plaintiffs from appealing to a wider audience among union members.
Between January and May of 1991, several of the Plaintiffs tried to enter various Division and Section meetings in order to hand out flyers or raise issues of concern to the Union, but were precluded from doing so by the presiding chairpersons of the respective Divisions and Sections. In response to the Plaintiffs' efforts to enter meetings, on May 23, 1991, Local 100's Executive Committee issued a written policy which limited attendance at Division and Section meetings to members of the Division or Section that was meeting, unless the meeting's participants voted to invite a member not in that particular Division or Section to a subsequent meeting to speak about a particular subject (the "Attendance Policy"). Around the same time, the Executive Committee also issued a policy providing that: (1) the distribution of flyers to Union members was limited to the placement of flyers on a table outside of Division or Section meetings; (2) members had to request that a Union officer place the flyers on the table; and (3) the Union officer could refuse to place any flyer on the table that did not relate to the operation of Local 100 (the "Flyer Distribution Policy"). Both policies were subsequently adopted by the Local's Executive Board.
In light of plaintiff Whitted's repeated efforts to gain access to Division and Section meetings both before, as well as after, the Union's adoption of the two Policies, he was charged by Union officials with disrupting meetings and was called to appear before a trial committee to answer the charges. Trial committees are Local 100's disciplinary bodies. According to Articles XIX and XX of the TWU Constitution, a union member may charge another member with violating the TWU constitution or of engaging in conduct unbecoming a TWU member. Those charges are then either rejected by the Local Executive Board as improper, or accepted and referred to trial. Trials are conducted by a trial committee of three members elected by the Executive Board. After the hearing, the trial committee reports its findings to the Executive Board, which can then take such action as it deems proper.
For example, Whitted was charged on March 29, 1991 by Dennis Williams ("Williams"), the chairperson of the Tower Section, and Martin Muller ("Muller"), the former Vice-Chairperson of the Tower Section, with disrupting a February 27, 1991 Tower Section meeting. According to Whitted, Williams unsuccessfully attempted to prevent him from entering the meeting; once Whitted was inside, Williams refused to recognize him as a speaker or permit a motion from the floor to allow Whitted to speak. After a hearing on the charges, the Executive Board issued a warning to Whitted.
Several months later, on September 5, 1991, Whitted was again charged with disrupting an August 14, 1991 meeting of the Conductor/Tower Division by Robert Littles ("Littles"), the Division's former Chairperson. A trial committee found that Whitted and Littles were equally at fault, and recommended that the Union's then-Vice-President speak with both Whitted and Littles. During this same period in which he faced repeated charges, Whitted sought several times to bring charges against Littles and Williams for refusing to let him speak at meetings. Each time, however, the Executive Board rejected Whitted's charges.
Following the Union-wide elections in December of 1991, on January 28, 1992, Local 100's leadership entered into a tentative three year bargaining agreement with the TA and MABSTOA subject to ratification by the Union membership. New Directions immediately commenced a campaign to persuade Union members to reject the tentative agreement. In support of that goal, New Directions held a rally against ratification on February 12, 1992. After the rally hundreds of union members marched from Manhattan to Brooklyn and entered a meeting of the Conductor/Tower Division to challenge the leadership concerning the tentative bargaining agreement. As a result of the presence of members from other Sections of Local 100, the meeting was adjourned.
According to the Plaintiffs, on February 19, 1992, a motion was made at the Train Operators Division meeting to hold a special meeting open to all union members, pursuant to the Local's by-laws, to discuss the tentative agreement and any alternatives. Although the motion was properly passed to hold the special meeting on March 25, 1992, Local 100 President Sonny Hall ("Hall") and Vice President Herbert Jones ("Jones") posted notices cancelling the meeting. Despite Hall's and Jones's actions to counteract New Directions's opposition to the agreement, on March 18, 1992 the membership of Local 100 rejected the tentative agreement by a margin of approximately two to one.
As a result of their actions opposing ratification, on March 24, 1992, Schermerhorn, Scott, Whitted and Clue were charged by Vice-President Jones with, inter alia, bringing non-Conductor/Tower Division members of Local 100 to the Conductor/Tower Division meeting held on February 12, 1992, and "kidnapping," Tony Dandridge ("Dandridge"), the Chairperson of the Conductor/Tower Division, and Joseph Continanzi ("Continanzi"), the Local's staff representative, by refusing to allow them to leave the Union hall upon adjournment of that meeting. Dandridge filed similar charges on March 25, 1992, against Scott, Whitted, Clue, and Little, alleging, inter alia, that they "storm[ed]" the Conductor/Tower Division meeting on February 12, 1992, engaged in abusive language, and disturbed the peace. On March 27, 1992, Jones also charged Schermerhorn, Scott, and Little with violating the Local's by-laws by supporting the February 19, 1992 motion calling for a special meeting, and with making malicious accusations against him and his staff. These charges by Jones and Dandridge were referred to a trial committee, and tried during sessions held in November and December of 1992, and January of 1993. At the conclusion of the trial, the trial committee recommended that the Whitted, Clue, and Scott be reprimanded. The recommendation was adopted by the Local's Executive Board.
Finally, from April through June of 1992, the Plaintiffs brought repeated charges against several Union officials for disregarding their duties, and the officials continued filing counter-charges against the Plaintiffs for disrupting meetings and bringing personal attacks upon them.
