Labor Law – Union Internal Affairs – Right of Union Members to Inspect Union Books and Exhaustion of Internal Remedies as a Prerequisite to Judicial Enforcement of that Right

Plaintiff, a member of defendant labor union, requested permission to examine all defendant’s financial records for a specified period. The request was refused. The constitution of the international union required members to exhaust internal remedies before resorting to the courts. Without exhausting these remedies plaintiff applied for, and received from the trial court, a writ of mandate directing that he be permitted to inspect all the defendant’s records and books of account. On appeal, held, affirmed. A member of an unincorporated labor union has a right to inspect its financial records, and it would serve no useful purpose to delay judicial enforcement of that right until all remedies within the union have been exhausted. Mooney v. Bartenders Union Local No. 284, (Calif. 1957) 313 P. (2d) 857.