Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/404/116/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 05:10:09+00:00

Document:
Two unions, the Plasterers and the Tile Setters, in accordance with procedures binding them to arbitrate, submitted to a board their jurisdictional dispute over work to be done for a contractor. The board awarded the work to the Plasterers. When the contractor and the Tile Setters refused to abide by the arbitration board's decision, the Plasterers, to force reassignment of the work, picketed that contractor as well as another contractor employing members of the Tile Setters. Neither contractor was subject to the arbitration agreement. Charges were thereupon filed against the Plasterers for allegedly violating § 8(b)(4)(D) of the National Labor Relations Act, and a hearing to resolve the dispute was held under § 10(k), which directs the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to "hear and determine the dispute out of which [the alleged] unfair labor practice has arisen" unless "the parties to such dispute" agree upon a settlement. The NLRB, after weighing the arbitration board's decision "and all [other] relevant factors," awarded the work to the Tile Setters. When the Plasterers refused to abide by the award, a § 8(b)(4)(D) complaint was filed against them and they were found to have violated that provision. Both contractors, which had collective bargaining agreements with the Tile Setters (but not with the Plasterer) and had been employing members of that union to perform the operation involved in the jurisdictional dispute, contended that it was far more efficient for them to use tile setters than plasterers. The Court of Appeals, on review, set aside the NLRB's order, holding that it is not the employer, but the rival unions, that are parties to the jurisdictional dispute to which § 10(k) applies.
The employers here, both of which had substantial financial stakes in the outcome of the § 10(k) proceeding, were "parties to the dispute" within the meaning of that provision, and the NLRB was empowered to determine the jurisdictional dispute under that provision in this case, where the competing unions, but not the employers, had agreed upon a voluntary method of adjustment. Highway Truckdrivers, Local 107 (Safeway Stores, Inc.), 134 N.L.R.B. 1320, distinguished. Pp. 123-137.
The issue here is whether an employer, picketed to force reassignment of work, is a "party" to the "dispute" for purposes of § 10(k). When the two unions involved, but not the employer, have agreed upon a method of settlement, must the Board dismiss the § 10(k) proceedings, or must it proceed to determine the dispute with the employer being afforded a chance to participate?
"a coat or coats of mortar, prepared to proper tolerance to receive tile on floors, walls and ceiling regardless of whether the mortar coat is wet or dry at the time the tile is applied to it. [Footnote 3]"
This case arose when Plasterers' Local Union No. 79, Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons' International Association of Houston, Texas (Plasterers), picketed the job sites of Texas State and Martini claiming that the work of applying the mortar to receive tile was the work of the Plasterers' union, and not of the Tile Setters. [Footnote 4] Neither Texas State nor Martini had a collective bargaining contract with the Plasterers or regularly employed workers represented by that union.
Setters refused to acquiesce in the Joint Board decision and change the work assignment, the Plasterers began the picketing of Texas State which formed the basis for the § 8(b)(4)(D) charges. The Plasterers also picketed a jobsite where Martini employees, members of the Tile Setters, were installing tile, although this dispute had not been submitted to the Joint Board.
to indicate that they would abide by the Board's award, a § 8(b)(4)(D) complaint was issued against them, and they were found to have committed an unfair labor practice by picketing to force Texas State and Martini to assign the disputed work to them. [Footnote 10] In making both the § 10(k) and § 8(b)(4)(D) decisions, the Board rejected the Plasterers' contention that, even though the employer had not agreed to be bound by the Joint Board decision, the provisions of § 10(k) precluded a subsequent Board decision because the competing unions had agreed upon a voluntary method of adjustment.
to seek the work in question. [Footnote 12]"
committed, issuance of the complaint is withheld until the provisions of § 10(k) have been satisfied. That section directs the Board to "hear and determine" the dispute out of which the alleged unfair labor practice arose; the Board is required to decide which union or group of employees is entitled to the disputed work in accordance with acceptable, Board-developed standards, unless the parties to the underlying dispute settle the case or agree upon a method for settlement. Whether the § 8(b)(4)(D) charge will be sustained or dismissed is thus dependent on the outcome of the § 10(k) proceeding. The Board allows an employer to fully participate in a § 10(k) proceeding as a party. If the employer prefers the employees to whom he has assigned the work, his right to later relief against the other union's picketing is conditioned upon his ability to convince the Board in the § 10(k) proceeding that his original assignment is valid under the criteria employed by the Board.
because, for all practical purposes, the Board's award determines who will prevail in the unfair labor practice proceeding. If the picketing union persists in its conduct despite a § 10(k) decision against it, a § 8(b)(4)(D) complaint issues and the union will likely be found guilty of an unfair labor practice and be ordered to cease and desist. On the other hand, if that union wins the § 10(k) decision and the employer does not comply, the employer's § 8(b)(4)(D) case evaporates, and the charges he filed against the picketing union will be dismissed. [Footnote 19] Neither the employer nor the employees to whom he has assigned the work are legally bound to observe the § 10(k) decision, but both will lose their § 8(b)(4)(D) protection against the picketing which may, as it did here, shut down the job. The employer will be under intense pressure, practically, to conform to the Board's decision. This is the design of the Act; Congress provided no other way to implement the Board's § 10(k) decision.
"no other meaning except a jurisdictional dispute under § 8(b)(4)(D) which is a dispute between two or more groups of employees over which is entitled to do certain work for an employer."
364 U.S. at 364 U. S. 579. Again, we have no quarrel with the view that § 10(k) is designed to decide which union is entitled to the work. But the issue before us is whether the employer is also a party to that dispute and to the proceeding that decides that question. The Court in CBS did not have before it a case in which the employer was particularly interested in which union did the work, since it had collective bargaining contracts with both unions and since both unions were able to do the disputed work with equal skill, expense, and efficiency. The Court recognized that there, "as in most instances," the quarrel was of "so little interest to the employer that he seems perfectly willing to assign work to either [union] if the other will just let him alone." Ibid. (emphasis added). We have no doubt, therefore, that the Court had no intention of deciding the case now before us.
whereas holding union agreement alone sufficient to foreclose Board action will pressure employers to become part of private settlement mechanisms productive of sound result and much swifter decision.
coerced to accept compulsory private arbitration when Congress has declined to adopt such a policy.
"the Board has power, under Section 10(k), only to hear and determine the merits of a jurisdictional dispute and . . . by definition, such a dispute cannot exist unless there are rival claims to the work. . . . [Footnote 30]"
the other two parties settle their differences and one union declines the work assigned to it, the inter-union conflict that §§ 8(b)(4)(D) and 10(k) were designed to eliminate disappears. A § 10(k) hearing is a comparative proceeding aimed at determining which union is entitled to perform certain tasks. Its function evaporates when one of the unions renounces and refuses the work. Similarly, the applicability of § 8(b)(4)(D) is premised on conflicting claims of unions or groups of employees for the same job; absent such an actual conflict, it would be futile to proceed under that section unless the employer replaces the disclaiming employees by a new third group of employees when they reject the work assignment, and the disfavored union resumes picketing.
and they deserve Board resolution if the purposes of § 10(k) are to be achieved. Cf. CBS, supra, at 364 U. S. 579-580.
The Court of Appeals would extend the Safeway rule to foreclose Board decision where the two unions, but not the employer, have agreed to arbitrate; inter-union agreement was deemed equivalent to effective disclaimer by one of the unions. This view ignores the narrow view the Board has taken of the Safeway rule. It also fails to recognize the problem arising where a local union or group of employees continues to do work assigned by the employer despite agreement or disclaimer by their parent body. It makes little difference to the picketing union that there has been a "settlement" or an agreed-upon method of deciding the dispute as long as it is barred from enjoying the results of such a theoretical resolution. In the instant case, the Board held a § 10(k) hearing for the simple reason that a live unresolved jurisdictional dispute between unions and employer in fact, existed.
by the LMRA. See 29 U.S.C. § 160(a); Carey v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 375 U.S. at 375 U. S. 272; NLRB v. Strong, 393 U. S. 357, 393 U. S. 360-361 (1969); NLRB v. Acme Industrial Co., 385 U. S. 432, 385 U. S. 438 (1967). Although the Board is not statutorily required to honor arbitration awards in such situations, it often defers to them if the arbitrator has considered the alleged unfair labor practice. Spielberg Mfg. Co., 112 N.L.R.B. 1080 (1955); International Harvester Co., 138 N.L.R.B. 923 (1962), enforced sub nom. Ramsey v. NLRB, 327 F.2d 784 (CA7 1964). But again, such deference is in the context of voluntary arbitration. In the case before us, the LMRA requires that the Board defer only when all of the parties have agreed on a method of settlement; when there has been such an agreement, the Board cannot ignore or override the result of that settlement procedure. In the present cause, however, it is claimed the Board must defer when less than all the parties to the dispute have agreed to arbitrate.
* Together with No. 70-65, Texas State Tile & Terrazzo Co., Inc., et al. v. Plasterers' Local Union No. 79, Operative Plasterer & Cement Masons' International Assn., AFL-CIO, et al., also on certiorari to the same court.
The National Joint Board for the Settlement of Jurisdictional Disputes is an arbitration panel established by a 1948 agreement between the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, and the Associated General Contractors of America and several specialty contractors' associations. The Joint Board consists of an equal number of representatives of employers and unions and a neutral chairman. An employer may become a party to a Joint Board proceeding by signing a stipulation agreeing to be bound by the results of the proceeding. Art. III, § 7, AFL-CIO, Bldg. & Constr. Trades Dept., Plan for Settling Jurisdictional Disputes Nationally and Locally 10 (1970). Member unions of the AFL-CIO's Building Trades Department do not have to agree formally to abide by Joint Board decisions, because they are bound by virtue of provisions contained in their constitutions. AFL-CIO, Bldg. & Constr. Trades Dept., Procedural Rules and Regulations of the National Joint Board 2 (1970). See generally K. Strand, Jurisdictional Disputes in Construction: The Causes, the Joint Board, and the NLRB 89-104 (1961). In the cases here, both the Tile Setters and the Plasterers were members of the Building Trades Department.
In the Texas State case, the Joint Board, on November 9, 1966, awarded all of the disputed work to the Plasterers except "any coat to be applied wet the same day under tile." App. 316. The Tile Setters refused to give up the work of laying the plaster undercoat to which the dry mortar was applied, claiming that the Joint Board decision gave this work to them. The Plasterers established a picket line on January 24, 1967; on March 15, 1967, the Joint Board issued a clarification of its decision, stating that the final smooth plaster coat was to be done by the Plasterers unless it was laid the same day as the tile and dry-set mortar were applied, in which case it was to be done by the Tile Setters. App. 341.
"Tile setters are at least as skilled in the performance of the work as plasterers, and both Texas Tile and Martini, which assigned them to the work, have been satisfied with both the quality of their work and the cost of employing them. Moreover, the instant assignments of the disputed work to tile setters are consistent with the explicit provisions of the collective bargaining agreement between the Tile Setters and Texas Tile and Martini, are consistent with the past practice of the Employers, and are not inconsistent with area or industry practice. . . ."
App. 23. The Board's decision in the § 10(k) proceeding is reported at 167 N.L.R.B. 185 (1967) and its decision and order in the unfair labor practice proceeding are reported at 172 N.L.R.B. Nos. 70, 72 (1968).
The § 10(k) determination is not binding as such even on the striking union. If that union continues to picket despite an adverse § 10(k) decision, the Board must prove the union guilty of a § 8(b)(4)(D) violation before a cease and desist order can issue. The findings and conclusions in a § 10(k) proceeding are not res judicata on the unfair labor practice issue in the later § 8(b)(4)(D) determination. International Typographical Union, 125 N.L.R.B. 759, 761 (1959). Both parties may put in new evidence at the § 8(b)(4)(D) stage, although often, as in the present cases, the parties agree to stipulate the record of the § 10(k) hearing as a basis for the Board's determination of the unfair labor practice. Finally, to exercise its powers under § 10(k), the Board need only find that there is reasonable cause to believe that a § 8(b)(4)(D) violation has occurred, while, in the § 8(b)(4)(D) proceeding itself, the Board must find by a preponderance of the evidence that the picketing union has violated § 8(b)(4)(D). International Typographical Union, supra, at 761 n. 5 (1959).
Ibid. at 152, 440 F.2d at 180. Although the dispute at the Martini worksite had not been submitted to the Joint Board, the Court of Appeals nevertheless held that, because the two unions had agreed to be bound by the procedures and decisions of the Joint Board, the NLRB was precluded from hearing and determining the Martini dispute under § 10(k).
See 29 CFR §§ 102.8, 102.9, 102.109 (1971); International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Local 28 v. Scofield, 382 U. S. 205, 382 U. S. 219-221 (1965).
See, e.g., Lodge 68 of the Int'l Assn. of Machinists (Moore Drydock Co.), 81 N.L.R.B. 1108, 1113-1114, 1126-1128 (1949); Local 21, Int'l Hod Carriers (Middle States Telephone Co.), 91 N.L.R.B. 598, 604 (1950); United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Local 581 (Ora Collard), 98 N.L.R.B. 346, 34349 (1952); United Assn. of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, 108 N.L.R.B. 186, 197 (1954); Bay Counties District Council of Carpenters, 115 N.L.R.B. 1757, 1766-1767 (1956); Local 17, Wood, Wire, & Metal Lathers' Int'l Union (Newark & Esse Plastering Co.), 121 N.L.R.B. 1094, 1103-1104 (1958); Int'l Union of Operating Engineers (Schwerman Co. of Pa. Inc.), 139 N.L.R.B. 1426, 1429 (1962); Carpenters District Council of Denver (J. O. Veteto & Son), 146 N.L.R.B. 1242, 1245 (1964); Electrical Workers, Local 26 (McCloskey & Co.), 147 N.L.R.B. 1498, 1501-1503 (1964); Operative Plasterers Int'l Assn. (Twin City Tile & Marble Co.), 152 N.L.R.B. 1609, 1611, 1615 (1965); Int'l Union of Operating Engineers, Local 49 (Egan-McKay Electrical Contractors, Inc.), 164 N.L.R.B. 672, 673 (1967). The Board has reasserted this view since the Court of Appeals' decision in the instant case, Lathers Local 104 (Blaine Petty Co.), 186 N.L.R.B. No. 70 (1970). Until now, courts of appeals have uniformly upheld the Board's position; see, e.g., New Orleans Typographical Union No. 17 v. NLRB, 368 F.2d 755, 763 (CA5 1966), NLRB v. Local 825, Int'l Union of Operating Engineers, 326 F.2d 213, 216 (CA3 1964); Local 450, Int'l Union of Operating Engineers v. Elliott, 256 F.2d 630, 636 (CA5 1958). See also Carey v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 375 U. S. 261, 375 U. S. 264 (1964), citing Wood, Wire & Metal Lathers Int'l Union (Acoustical Contractors Assn.), 119 N.L.R.B. 1345, 1347 (1958).
"employer is failing to conform to an order or certification of the Board determining the bargaining representative for employees performing such work."
"if the Board determination is that employees represented by a charged union are entitled to perform the work in dispute, the regional director shall dismiss the charge as to that union irrespective of whether the employer has complied with that determination."
93 Cong.Rec. 1845. Cf. also 93 Cong.Rec. 1824 (remarks of Sen. Morse).
See, e.g., 93 Cong.Rec. A1222-A1223 (remarks of Cong. Landis); 93 Cong.Rec. 3424 (remarks of Cong. Hartley); 93 Cong.Rec. 3227-3228 (remarks of Sen. Lucas); 93 Cong.Rec. 4860-4862 (remarks of Sen. Aiken); 93 Cong.Rec. A2251-A2253 (remarks of Sen. Ball). Section 10(k) protection was also extended to unorganized employees. In the Senate bill, § 8(b)(4)(1) covered only cases where two unions claimed the same work, but the section was broadened in the Conference Committee to cover conflicts between organized and unorganized employees. See CBS, 364 U.S. at 364 U. S. 584.
"Mr. MORREALE [General Counsel, International Hodcarriers, Building, and Common Laborers of America]. . . . I do not think [compulsory arbitration between the antagonistic unions] should be just by labor itself, but that it should be in combination with industry, because, in all those matters, the employers are affected and interested, as well as is labor. I think that the procedure set up should provide for a joint procedure between management and labor."
"The CHAIRMAN [Sen. Taft]. . . . I have no objection to giving both to labor and management the right to arbitrate or address themselves to arbitrating the question."
Hearings on S. 55 before the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, 80th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 3, p. 1467 (1947).
The arbitration provision in the Senate version of § 10(k) was deleted without explanation in Conference. See n 27, infra.
In construing a statute, the Court has ruled that legislative materials, if "without probative value, or contradictory, or ambiguous," should not be permitted to control the customary meaning of words. United States v. Dickerson, 310 U. S. 554, 310 U. S. 562 (1940). See also Gemsco, Inc. v. Walling, 324 U. S. 244, 324 U. S. 260 (1945).
The Court has previously had occasion to construe the term "party" in the National Labor Relations Act, and it has given it a broad and realistic definition. In Lewis v. NLRB, 357 U. S. 10 (1958), the issue was whether the Board's General Counsel was a "party" who could apply to the Board for the issuance of a subpoena. The General Counsel had obtained subpoenas duces tecum and ad testificandum to both an employer and a union after an unfair labor practice complaint had been issued; at the hearing on the complaint, the employer and union had moved to revoke the subpoenas on the ground that the General Counsel was not a "party" for purposes of § 11(1) of the Act, which provides that: "The Board, or any member thereof, shall upon application of any party . . . forthwith issue . . . subpoenas. . . ."
The Court noted that the Act does not define the term "party," but it emphasized that the role of the General Counsel was a "major one" in unfair labor practice proceedings. 357 U.S. at 357 U. S. 15. The General Counsel was held to be a party because he was "indispensable to the prosecution of the case" and because relegating him to a lesser status would "overlook the critical role he performs in enforcement of the Act." 357 U.S. at 357 U. S. 16. This description is equally applicable to an employer's function in a § 8(b)(4)(D) proceeding. In International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Local 283 v. Scofield, 382 U. S. 205 (1965), the Court went through a somewhat similar analysis of the substantive interests involved at the judicial enforcement stage of an unfair labor practice proceeding, and concluded that a successful "charged" or "charging" party before the Board had a right to intervene in the ensuing Court of Appeals action.
Excluding the employer from participation as a party is inconsistent with the common law rule that "all persons materially interested in the result of a suit ought to be made parties, so that the court may . . . do complete justice.'" Vetterlein v. Barnes, 124 U. S. 169, 124 U. S. 170-171 (1888). Story v. Livingston, 13 Pet. 359, 38 U. S. 375 (1839).
"The Board will consider all relevant factors in determining who is entitled to the work in dispute, e.g., the skills and work involved, certifications by the Board, company and industry practice, agreements between unions and between employers and unions, awards of arbitrators, joint boards, and the AFL-CIO in the same or related cases, the assignment made by the employer, and the efficient operation of the employer's business. This list of factors is not meant to be exclusive, but is by way of illustration. . . . Every decision will have to be an act of judgment based on common sense and experience rather than on precedent."
Int'l An. of Machinists, Lodge 174 (J. A. Jones Construction Co.), 135 N.L.R.B. 1402, 1410-1411 (1962).
"Decisions and agreements of record as set forth in the Green Book [the Building Trades Department's book of precedents], valid agreements between affected International Unions attested by the Chairman of the Joint Board, established trade practice and prevailing practice in the locality."
"Because efficiency, cost and good management are essential to the wellbeing of the industry, the Joint Board should not ignore the interests of the consumer in settling jurisdictional disputes."
AFL-CIO Bldg. & Constr. Trades Dept., Plan for Settling Jurisdictional Disputes Nationally and Locally 8 (1970).
93 Cong.Rec. 6452-6453; 93 Cong.Rec. 6519 (remarks of Sen. Pepper).
Int'l Assn. of Bridge Workers, Local 678 (W. R. Aldrich & Co.), 145 N.L.R.B. 943 (1964); Carpet, Linoleum & Soft Tile Layers, Local 1905 (Butcher & Sweeney Construction Co.), 143 N.L.R.B. 251 (1963); Wood, Wire Metal Lathers Union, Local 28 (Acoustics & Specialties, Inc.), 139 N.L.R.B. 598 (1962).
"to situations involving competing claims between rival groups of employees, and [was] not designed to require the Board to arbitrate a dispute between a union and an employer when no . . . competing claims [of another union] are involved."
Carpet, Linoleum & Soft Tile Layers, Local 1905 (Butcher & Sweeney Construction Co.), 143 N.L.R.B. 251, 255-256 (1963) (emphasis in original).
Carpenters Local 1849 v. C.J. Montag & Sons, Inc., 335 F.2d 216, 221 (CA9 1964); Bldg. and Construction Trades Council of Las Vegas, Local 525 (Charles J. Dorfman), 173 N.L.R.B. 1339 (1968). The Board has also held that a union cannot avoid a § 10(k) determination by a disclaimer of interest in presently representing the employees in question, United Mine Workers (Turman Construction Co.), 136 N.L.R.B. 1068 (1962), and it has ignored explicit disclaimers when it has questioned a representative's authority to disclaim work, Millwrights' Local 111 (Brodex Co.), 157 N.L.R.B. 996, 1002 (1966). See also Local 1291, Int'l Longshoremen's Assn. (Pocationtas Steamship Co.), 152 N.L.R.B. 676 (1965), enforced, 368 F.2d 107 (CA3 1966), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 1033 (1967); Bricklayers' Local 8, 152 N.L.R.B. 278, 282 (1965); Bldg. and Construction Trades Council of Las Vegas, Local 525 (Charles J. Dorfman), supra, (1968).

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