LABOR LAW - RIGHT OF EMPLOYEE TO SUE ON COLLECTIVE BARGAINING CONTRACT BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND UNION

Defendant, a theatre owner, in March, 1939, entered into a collective bargaining contract with a local union by the terms of which he agreed to hire only union operators, to pay them a specified wage, and to give them two weeks' notice of their discharge, or two weeks' salary in lieu thereof, should he decide to go out of business. Plaintiff, a union member, was employed by the defendant from March, 1939, until he was discharged in December, 1939. It appeared that this discharge was occasioned by defendant's sale of his theatre and retirement from the business. Plaintiff sued for breach of the contract between defendant and the union, and claimed as damages his wages from December, 1939, until the commencement of this suit.

Held, recovery denied, since the collective bargaining contract between the employer and the union could not be enforced against the employer by an individual employee. Swart v. Huston, (Kan. 1941) 117 P. (2d) 576.