Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/99924/labor-board-vs-drivers-local-union
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Labor Board Vs Drivers Local Union - Citation 99924 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Labor Board Vs. Drivers Local Union - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/99924
Case Number 362 U.S. 274
Respondent Drivers Local Union
labor board v. drivers local union - 362 u.s. 274 (1960) u.s. supreme court labor board v. drivers local union, 362 u.s. 274 (1960) labor board v. drivers, chauffeurs, helpers, local union no. 639, international brotherhood of teamsters, chauffeurs, warehousemen and helpers of america no. 34 argued january 14, 1960 decided march 28, 1960 362 u.s. 274 certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit syllabus peaceful picketing by a labor union, which does not represent a majority of the employees, to compel the employer to recognize the union as the exclusive bargaining agent of its employees, is not conduct of the union "to restrain or coerce" the employees in.....
Labor Board v. Drivers Local Union - 362 U.S. 274 (1960)
U.S. Supreme Court Labor Board v. Drivers Local Union, 362 U.S. 274 (1960)
Peaceful picketing by a labor union, which does not represent a majority of the employees, to compel the employer to recognize the union as the exclusive bargaining agent of its employees, is not conduct of the union "to restrain or coerce" the employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, and therefore such picketing is not an unfair labor practice under § 8(b)(1)(A) of the Act, as added by the Taft-Hartley Act. Pp. 362 U. S. 275 -292.
(a) Section 13 of the Act, as amended by the Taft-Hartley Act, is a command of Congress to the courts to resolve doubts and ambiguities in favor of an interpretation of § 8(b)(1)(A) which safeguards the right to strike as understood prior to passage of the Taft-Hartley Act. Pp. 362 U. S. 281 -282.
(b) Section 8(b)(l)(A) does not vest broad power in the Labor Board to sit in judgment upon, and to condemn, a minority union's resort to a specific economic weapon such as peaceful picketing. It is a limited grant of power to proceed against union tactics involving violence, intimidation and reprisal, or threats thereof -- conduct involving more than the general pressures implicit in economic strikes. Pp. 362 U. S. 282 -290.
(c) In the Taft-Hartley Act, Congress authorized the Board to regulate peaceful "recognitional" picketing only when it is employed to accomplish objectives specified in § 8(b)(4). P. 362 U. S. 290 .
The question in this case is whether peaceful picketing by a union, which does not represent a majority of the employees, to compel immediate recognition as the employees' exclusive bargaining agent, is conduct of the union "to restrain or coerce" the employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in § 7, [ Footnote 1 ] and thus an unfair labor practice under § 8(b)(1)(A) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended by the Taft-Hartley Act. [ Footnote 2 ]
Curtis Bros., Inc., has a retail store and a warehouse in Washington, D.C., in which it carries on a moving, warehousing and retail furniture business. In 1953, respondent Teamsters Local 639 was certified by the Labor Board, following a Board-conducted election, to be the exclusive representative of the Company's drivers, helpers, warehousemen and furniture finishers. However, when the Local called a strike over
contract terms in February, 1954, only nine of 21 employees in the unit left their jobs and Curtis Bros. replaced the nine with new employees. The strike continued, but the Local gradually lost membership, and when, after a year, Curtis Bros. petitioned the Board to conduct another election, the Local wrote the Board that it did not claim to represent a majority of the employees. The Board nevertheless ordered another election, 114 N.L.R.B. 116, which was held in October, 1955, and the then employees of the unit voted 28 to one in favor of "no union." [ Footnote 3 ]
After this picketing continued for about six months, Curtis Bros. made it the subject of an unfair labor practice charge against the Local for alleged violation of § 8(b)(1)(A). A complaint issued which alleged, in substance, that the picketing was activity to "restrain or coerce" the employees in the exercise of § 7 rights, and
The Trial Examiner recommended that the complaint be dismissed on the ground that the Local's peaceful picketing, even if "recognitional," was not conduct to "restrain or coerce." The Board, one member dissenting, disagreed, and entered a cease and desist order, 119 N.L.R.B. 232. On review at the instance of the Local, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, by a divided court, set aside the Board's order, holding that § 8(b)(1)(A) "is inapplicable to peaceful picketing, whether organizational' or `recognitional' in nature. . . ." 107 U.S.App.D.C. 42, 43, 274 F.2d 551, 552. [ Footnote 4 ] Because of the importance of the question in the administration of the Act, we granted certiorari. 359 U.S. 965.
After we granted certiorari, the Congress enacted the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, which, among other things, adds a new § 8(b)(7) to the National Labor Relations Act. [ Footnote 5 ] It was stated
by the Board on oral argument that, if this case arose under the 1959 Act, the Board might have proceeded against the Local under § 8(b)(7). This does not, however, relegate this litigation to the status of an unimportant controversy over the meaning of a statute which has been significantly changed. For the Board contends that new § 8(b)(7) does not displace § 8(b)(1)(A), but merely "supplements the power already conferred by Section 8(b)(1)(A)." [ Footnote 6 ] It argues that the Board may
proceed against peaceful "recognitional" picketing conducted by a minority union in more situations than are specified in § 8(b)(7) and without regard to the limitations of § 8(b)(7)(C). [ Footnote 7 ]
Basic to the right guaranteed to employees in § 7 to form, join or assist labor organizations is the right to engage in concerted activities to persuade other employees to join for their mutual aid and protection. Indeed, even before the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 47 Stat. 70, and the Wagner Act, 49 Stat. 449, this Court recognized a right in unions to "use all lawful propaganda to enlarge their membership." American Steel Foundries v. Tri-City Central Trades Council, 257 U. S. 184 , 257 U. S. 209 . However, the Taft-Hartley Act added another right of employees also guaranteed protection, namely, the right to refrain from joining a
119 N.L.R.B. 232, 238. [ Footnote 8 ] It therefore found
We first consider § 8(b)(1)(A) in the light of § 13, as amended, which provides, in substance, that the Taft-Hartley Act shall not be taken as restricting or expanding either the right to strike or the limitations or qualifications on that right, as these were understood prior to 1947, unless "specifically provided for" in the Act itself. [ Footnote 9 ] The Wagner Act conferred upon the Board wide authority to protect strikers from employer retaliation. However, the Court and the Board fashioned the doctrine that the Board should deny reinstatement to strikers who engaged in strikes which were conducted in an unlawful manner or for an unlawful objective. See, for example, Southern S.S. Co. v. Labor Board, 316 U. S. 31 ; Labor Board v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., 306 U. S. 240 ; Labor Board v. Sands Mfg. Co., 306 U. S. 332 ; and American News Co., 55 N.L.R.B. 1302. These are the "limitations or qualifications" on the right to strike referred to in § 13.
See S.Rep. No. 105, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 28. The Board makes no claim that prior to 1947 it was authorized, because of any "limitation" or "qualification," to issue a cease and desist order against peaceful "recognitional" picketing; indeed the full protections of the Norris-LaGuardia Act extended to peaceful picketing by minority unions for recognition. See Fur Workers Union No. 21238 v. Fur Workers Union, Local No. 72, 308 U.S. 522, per curiam affirming, 70 App.D.C. 122, 105 F.2d 1; Lauf v. Shinner & Co., 303 U. S. 323 . Therefore, since the Board's order in this case against peaceful picketing would obviously "impede" the right to strike, it can only be sustained if such power is "specifically provided for" in § 8(b)(1)(A), as added by the Taft-Hartley Act. To be sure, § 13 does not require that the authority for the Board action be spelled out in so many words. Rather, since the Board does not contend that § 8(b)(1)(A) embodies one of the "limitations or qualifications" on the right to strike, § 13 declares a rule of construction which cautions against an expansive reading of that section which would adversely affect the right to strike, unless the congressional purpose to give it that meaning persuasively appears either from the structure or history of the statute. Therefore, § 13 is a command of Congress to the courts to resolve doubts and ambiguities in favor of an interpretation of § 8(b)(1)(A) which safeguards the right to strike as understood prior to the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act.
The Board asserts that the very general standard in § 8(b)(1)(A) vests power in the Board to sit in judgment upon, and to condemn, a minority union's resort to a specific economic weapon, here peaceful picketing. The structure of § 8(b), which defines unfair labor practices, hardly supports the Board's claims. Earlier this Term we pointed out that "Congress has been rather specific when it has come to outlaw particular economic weapons
on the part of unions." Labor Board v. Insurance Agents' International Union, 361 U. S. 477 , 361 U. S. 498 . We referred to § 8(b)(4) as illustrative of the congressional practice. [ Footnote 10 ] In the context of a union's striking to promote enlarged membership, Congress there explicitly prohibited a union's resort to the secondary boycott, to the strike to force employers
or self-employed persons to join unions, and, very pertinent here, to the "recognitional" strike where another union is certified. Plainly, if the Board's interpretation is sustained, § 8(b)(1)(A) largely overlaps at least this last-mentioned prohibition, namely § 8(b)(4)(C), to the extent of making it almost redundant. [ Footnote 11 ] But the Court has rejected an argument that a provision of § 8(b)(4) is a repetition of the prohibitions of § 8(b)(1)(A). In International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. Labor Board, 341 U. S. 694 , the Court, in holding that a peaceful strike to promote self-organization was proscribed by § 8(b)(4)(A) if its objective was to "induce or encourage" a secondary boycott, contrasted the language of the two subsections and labeled the words "restrain or coerce" in § 8(b)(1)(A) a "restricted phrase" to be equated with "threat of reprisal or force or promise of benefit." Id. at 341 U. S. 701 -703.
It is true that, here and there in the record of the debates, there are isolated references to instances of conduct which might suggest a broader reach of the amendment. See,
for example, 93 Cong.Rec. 4023-4024. [ Footnote 12 ] But they appear more as asides in a debate, the central theme of which was not the curtailment of the right peacefully to strike, except as provided in § 8(b)(4), but the elimination of the use of repressive tactics bordering on violence or involving particularized threats of economic reprisal. The plainest indication negating an intention to restrict the use by unions of methods of peaceful persuasion, including peaceful picketing, is seen in the comments of Senator Taft near the close of the debate. He said:
This approach in the Senate is in sharp contrast to the House view, which was that picketing should be strictly circumscribed. The House passed a bill imposing drastic
But the House conferees abandoned the House bill in conference and accepted the Senate proposal. H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 510 on H.R. 3020, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 42. [ Footnote 13 ] They joined in a Conference Report which stated that "the primary strike for recognition (without a Board certification) was not prohibited." Id. at 43.
This history makes pertinent what the Court said in Local 1976, United Brotherhood of Carpenters v. Labor Board, 357 U. S. 93 , 357 U. S. 99 -100:
The Board's own interpretation for nearly a decade after the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act gave § 8(b)(1)(A) this limited application. See, e.g., National Maritime Union, 78 N.L.R.B. 971, enforcement granted, 175 F.2d 686; Local 74, United Brotherhood of Carpenters (Watson's Specialty Store), 80 N.L.R.B. 533, enforcement granted, 181 F.2d 126, aff'd, 341 U. S. 707 ; Perry Norvell Co., 80 N.L.R.B. 225; Miami Copper Co., 92 N.L.R.B. 322; Medford Building & Construction Trades Council (Kogap Lumber Industries), 96
We are confirmed in our view by the action of Congress in passing the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. That Act goes beyond the Taft-Hartley Act to legislate a comprehensive code governing organizational strikes and picketing, and draws no distinction between "organizational" and "recognitional" picketing. While proscribing peaceful organizational strikes in many situations, it also establishes safeguards against the Board's interference with legitimate picketing activity. See § 8(b)(7)(C). [ Footnote 14 ] Were § 8(b)(1)(A) to have the sweep contended for by the Board, the Board might proceed against peaceful picketing in disregard of these safeguards. To be sure, what Congress did in 1959 does not establish what it meant in 1947. However, as another major step in an evolving pattern of regulation of union conduct, the 1959 Act is a relevant consideration. Courts may properly take into account the later Act when asked to extend the reach of the earlier Act's vague language to the limits which, read literally, the words might
Accord: Labor Board v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local Union No. 182, 272 F.2d 85 (C.A. 2d Cir.). Contra: Labor Board v. United Rubber Workers, 269 F.2d 694 (C.A. 4th Cir.), cert. granted and judgment reversed, 362 U. S. 329 .
Picketing has been equated with striking for the purposes of § 13. See, e.g., Labor Board v. International Rice Milling Co., 341 U. S. 665 . Cf. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local No. 807 (Schultz Refrigerated Service, Inc.), 87 N.L.R.B. 502.
* The single sentence in a footnote to an opinion joined by but three members of the Board, referred to in note 6 of the Court's opinion 362 U. S. 279 , hardly reflects the kind of reconsideration which I have in mind, and certainly does not stand in the way of a more thorough reexamination by the Board.