Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/104416/sears-roebuck-co-vs-carpenters
Timestamp: 2018-02-18 11:05:15
Document Index: 243331207

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 187', '§ 8', '§ 158', '§ 185', '§ 701', '§ 164', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 8']

Sears Roebuck and Co Vs Carpenters - Citation 104416 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Sears, Roebuck and Co. Vs. Carpenters - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/104416
Case Number 436 U.S. 180
sears, roebuck & co. v. carpenters - 436 u.s. 180 (1978) u.s. supreme court sears, roebuck & co. v. carpenters, 436 u.s. 180 (1978) sears, roebuck & co. v. san diego county district council of carpenters no. 76-750 argued november 7, 1977 decided may 15, 1978 436 u.s. 180 certiorari to the supreme court of california syllabus upon determining that certain carpentry work in petitioner's department store was being done by men who had not been dispatched from its hiring hall, respondent union established picket lines on petitioner's property. when the union refused petitioner's demand to remove the pickets, petitioner filed suit in the california superior court and obtained a preliminary injunction against the.....
U.S. Supreme Court Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, 436 U.S. 180 (1978)
Upon determining that certain carpentry work in petitioner's department store was being done by men who had not been dispatched from its hiring hall, respondent Union established picket lines on petitioner's property. When the Union refused petitioner's demand to remove the pickets, petitioner filed suit in the California Superior Court and obtained a preliminary injunction against the continuing trespass, and the Court of Appeal affirmed. The California Supreme Court reversed, holding that, because the picketing was both arguably protected by § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act and arguably prohibited by § 8, state jurisdiction was preempted under the guidelines of San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U. S. 236 .
1. The reasons why preemption of state jurisdiction is normally appropriate when union activity is arguably prohibited by federal law do not apply to this case, and therefore they are insufficient to preclude the State from exercising jurisdiction limited to the trespassory aspects of the Union's picketing. Pp. 436 U. S. 190 -198.
(a) The critical inquiry is not whether the State is enforcing a law relating specifically to labor relations or one of general application, but whether the controversy presented to the state court is identical to or different from that which could have been, but was not, presented to the National Labor Relations Board, for it is only in the former situation that a state court's exercise of jurisdiction necessarily involves a risk of interference with the NLRB's unfair labor practice jurisdiction that the arguably prohibited branch of the Garmon doctrine was designed to avoid. Pp. 436 U. S. 190 -197.
no realistic risk of interference with the NLRB's primary jurisdiction to enforce the statutory prohibition against unfair labor practices. P. 436 U. S. 198 .
2. Nor does the arguably protected character of the Union's picketing provide a sufficient justification for preemption of the state court's jurisdiction over petitioner's trespass claim. Pp. 436 U. S. 199 -207.
(a) The "primary jurisdiction" rationale of Garmon, requiring that, when the same controversy may be presented to the state court or the NLRB, it must be presented to the NLRB, does not provide a sufficient justification for preempting state jurisdiction over arguably protected conduct when, as in this case, the party who could have presented the protection issue to the NLRB has not done so, and the other party to the dispute has no acceptable means of doing so. Pp. 436 U. S. 202 -203.
(b) While it cannot be said with certainty that, if the Union had filed an unfair labor practice charge against petitioner, the NLRB would have fixed the locus of the accommodation of petitioner's property rights and the Union's § 7 rights at the unprotected end of the spectrum, it is "arguable" that the Union's peaceful picketing, though trespassory, was protected, but, nevertheless, permitting state courts to evaluate the merits of an argument that certain trespassory activity is protected does not create an unacceptable risk of interference with conduct that the NLRB, and a court reviewing the NLRB's decision, would find protected. Pp. 436 U. S. 203 -207.
STEVENS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and WHITE, BLACKMUN, POWELL, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined. BLACKMUN, J., post, p. 436 U. S. 208 , and POWELL, J., post, p. 436 U. S. 212 , filed concurring opinions. BRENNAN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which STEWART and MARSHALL, JJ., joined, post, p. 436 U. S. 214 .
The question in this case is whether the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, [ Footnote 1 ] deprives a state court of the power to entertain an action by an employer to enforce state trespass laws against picketing which is arguably -- but not definitely -- prohibited or protected by federal law.
the pickets from Sears' property. The Union refused, stating that the pickets would not leave unless forced to do so by legal action. On October 29, Sears filed a verified complaint in the Superior Court of California seeking an injunction against the continuing trespass; the court entered a temporary restraining order enjoining the Union from picketing on Sears' property. The Union promptly removed the pickets to the public sidewalks. [ Footnote 2 ] On November 21, 1973, after hearing argument on the question whether the Union's picketing on Sears' property was protected by state or federal law, the court entered a preliminary injunction. [ Footnote 3 ] The California Court of Appeal affirmed. While acknowledging the preemption guidelines set forth in San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U. S. 236 , [ Footnote 4 ] the court held that the Union's continuing trespass fell within the longstanding exception for conduct which touched interests so deeply rooted in local feeling and responsibility that preemption could not be inferred in the absence of clear evidence of congressional intent. [ Footnote 5 ]
Since the Wagner Act was passed in 1935, this Court has not decided whether, or under what circumstances, a state court has power to enforce local trespass laws against a union's peaceful picketing. [ Footnote 6 ] The obvious importance of this problem led us to grant certiorari in this case. 430 U.S. 905. [ Footnote 7 ]
We start from the premise that the Union's picketing on Sears' property after the request to leave was a continuing trespass in violation of state law. [ Footnote 8 ] We note, however, that the scope of the controversy in the state court was limited. Sears asserted no claim that the picketing itself violated any state or federal law. It sought simply to remove the pickets from its property to the public walkways, and the injunction issued by the state court was strictly confined to the relief sought. Thus, as a matter of state law, the location of the picketing was illegal, but the picketing itself was unobjectionable.
dispatched from the hiring hall, the picketing may have been prohibited by § 8(b)(4)(D). [ Footnote 9 ] Alternatively, if an object of the picketing was to coerce Sears into signing a prehire or members-only type agreement with the Union, the picketing was at least arguably subject to the prohibition on recognitional picketing contained in § 8(b)(7)(C). [ Footnote 10 ] Hence, if Sears had filed an unfair labor practice charge against the Union, the Board's concern would have been limited to the question whether the Union's picketing had an objective proscribed by the Act; the location of the picketing would have been irrelevant.
area standards, and therefore the picketing was protected by § 7. Longshoremen v. Ariadne Shipping Co., 397 U. S. 195 . Thus, if the Union had filed an unfair labor practice charge under § 8(a)(1) when Sears made a demand that the pickets leave its property, it is at least arguable that the Board would have found Sears guilty of an unfair labor practice.
In San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U. S. 236 , the Court made two statements which have come to be accepted as the general guidelines for deciphering the unexpressed intent of Congress regarding the permissible scope of state regulation of activity touching upon labor-management relations. The first related to activity which is clearly protected or prohibited by the federal statute. [ Footnote 11 ] The second articulated a more sweeping prophylactic rule:
Id. at 359 U. S. 245 .
While the Garmon formulation accurately reflects the basic federal concern with potential state interference with national labor policy, the history of the labor preemption doctrine in this Court does not support an approach which sweeps away state court jurisdiction over conduct traditionally subject to state regulation without careful consideration of the relative impact of such a jurisdictional bar on the various interests affected. [ Footnote 12 ] As the Court noted last Term:
Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U. S. 290 , 430 U. S. 302 . Thus, the Court has refused to apply the Garmon guidelines in a literal, mechanical fashion. [ Footnote 13 ] This refusal demonstrates that
of permitting the state court to proceed. Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U. S. 171 , 386 U. S. 180 . [ Footnote 14 ]
The enactment of the NLRA in 1935 marked a fundamental change in the Nation's labor policies. Congress expressly recognized that collective organization of segments of the labor force into bargaining units capable of exercising economic power comparable to that possessed by employers may produce benefits for the entire economy in the form of higher wages, job security, and improved working conditions. Congress decided that, in the long run, those benefits would outweigh the occasional costs of industrial strife associated with the organization of unions and the negotiation and enforcement of collective bargaining agreements. The earlier notion that union activity was a species of "conspiracy," and that strikes and picketing were examples of unreasonable restraints of trade, was replaced by an unequivocal national declaration of policy establishing the legitimacy of labor unionization and encouraging the practice of collective bargaining. [ Footnote 15 ]
The new federal statute protected the collective bargaining activities of employees and their representatives and created a regulatory scheme to be administered by an independent agency which would develop experience and expertise in the labor relations area. The Court promptly decided that the federal agency's power to implement the policies of the new legislation was exclusive and the States were without power to enforce overlapping rules. [ Footnote 16 ] Accordingly, attempts to apply provisions of the "Little Wagner Acts" enacted by New York [ Footnote 17 ] and Wisconsin [ Footnote 18 ] were held to be preempted by the potential conflict with the federal regulatory scheme. Consistently with these holdings, the Court also decided that a State's employment relations board had no power to grant relief for violation of the federal statute. [ Footnote 19 ] The interest in uniform development of the new national labor policy required that matters which fell squarely within the regulatory jurisdiction of the federal Board be evaluated in the first instance by that agency.
Board it is not subject to litigation in a state tribunal is Garner v. Teamsters, 346 U. S. 485 . Garner involved peaceful organizational picketing which arguably violated § 8(b)(2) of the federal Act. [ Footnote 20 ] A Pennsylvania equity court held that the picketing violated the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act, and therefore should be enjoined. The State Supreme Court reversed because the union conduct fell within the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board to prevent unfair labor practices.
This Court affirmed because Congress had "taken in hand this particular type of controversy . . . [i]n language almost identical to parts of the Pennsylvania statute," 346 U.S. at 346 U. S. 488 . Accordingly, the State, through its courts, was without power to "adjudge the same controversy and extend its own form of relief." Id. at 346 U. S. 489 . This conclusion did not depend on any surmise as to "how the National Labor Relations Board might have decided this controversy had petitioners presented it to that body." Ibid. The precise conduct in controversy was arguably prohibited by federal law, and therefore state jurisdiction was preempted. The reason for preemption was clearly articulated:
reasoning which prohibits federal courts from intervening in such cases, except by way of review or on application of the federal Board, precludes state courts from doing so. Cf. Myers v. Bethehem Shipbuilding Corp., 303 U. S. 41 ; Amalgamated Utility Workers v. Consolidated Edison Co., 309 U. S. 261 ."
Id. at 346 U. S. 490 -491 (footnote omitted). "The conflict lies in remedies. . . . [W]hen two separate remedies are brought to bear on the same activity, a conflict is imminent." Id. at 346 U. S. 498 -499.
This reasoning has its greatest force when applied to state laws regulating the relations between employees, their union, and their employer. [ Footnote 21 ] It may also apply to certain laws of general applicability which are occasionally invoked in connection with a labor dispute. [ Footnote 22 ] Thus, a State's antitrust law may not be invoked to enjoin collective activity which is also arguably prohibited by the federal Act. Capital Service, Inc. v. NLRB, 347 U. S. 501 ; Weber v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 348 U. S. 468 . [ Footnote 23 ] In each case, the pertinent inquiry is whether
the two potentially conflicting statutes were "brought to bear on precisely the same conduct." Id. at 348 U. S. 479 . [ Footnote 24 ]
San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. at 359 U. S. 244 . See Construction Workers v. Laburnum Constr. Corp., 347 U. S. 656 (threats of violence); Youngdahl v. Rainfair, Inc., 355 U. S. 131 (violence); Automobile Workers v. Russell, 356 U. S. 634 (violence); Linn v. Plant Guard Workers, 383 U. S. 53 (libel); Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U. S. 290 (intentional infliction of mental distress).
The Court identified those factors which warranted a departure from the general preemption guidelines in the "local interest" cases. Two are relevant to the arguably prohibited branch of the Garmon doctrine. [ Footnote 25 ] First, there existed a significant state interest in protecting the citizen from the challenged conduct. Second, although the challenged conduct occurred in the course of a labor dispute and an unfair labor practice charge could have been filed, the exercise of state jurisdiction over the tort claim entailed little risk of interference with the regulatory jurisdiction of the Labor Board. Although the arguable federal violation and the state tort arose in the same factual setting, the respective controversies
presented to the state and federal forums would not have been the same. [ Footnote 26 ]
The critical inquiry, therefore, is not whether the State is enforcing a law relating specifically to labor relations or one of general application, but whether the controversy presented to the state court is identical to (as in Garner ) or different from (as in Farmer ) that which could have been, but was not, presented to the Labor Board. For it is only in the former situation that a state court's exercise of jurisdiction necessarily involves a risk of interference with the unfair labor practice jurisdiction of the Board which the arguably prohibited branch of the Garmon doctrine was designed to avoid. [ Footnote 27 ]
In the present case, the controversy which Sears might have presented to the Labor Board is not the same as the controversy presented to the state court. If Sears had filed a charge, the federal issue would have been whether the picketing had a recognitional or work reassignment objective; decision of that issue would have entailed relatively complex factual and legal determinations completely unrelated to the simple question whether a trespass had occurred. [ Footnote 28 ] Conversely, in the state action, Sears only challenged the location of the picketing; whether the picketing had an objective proscribed by federal law was irrelevant to the state claim. Accordingly, permitting the state court to adjudicate Sears' trespass claim would create no realistic risk of interference with the Labor Board's primary jurisdiction to enforce the statutory prohibition against unfair labor practices.
Apart from notions of "primary jurisdiction," [ Footnote 29 ] there would be no objection to state courts' and the NLRB's exercising concurrent jurisdiction over conduct prohibited by the federal Act. But there is a constitutional objection to state court interference with conduct actually protected by the Act. [ Footnote 30 ]
and that which the Union might have brought before the NLRB. [ Footnote 31 ] Prior to granting any relief from the Union's continuing trespass, the state court was obligated to decide that the trespass was not actually protected by federal law, a determination which might entail an accommodation of Sears' property rights and the Union's § 7 rights. In an unfair labor practice proceeding initiated by the Union, the Board might have been required to make the same accommodation. [ Footnote 32 ]
The primary jurisdiction rationale unquestionably requires that, when the same controversy may be presented to the state court or the NLRB, it must be presented to the Board. But that rationale does not extend to cases in which an employer has no acceptable method of invoking, or inducing the Union to invoke, the jurisdiction of the Board. [ Footnote 33 ] We are therefore persuaded that the primary jurisdiction rationale does not provide a sufficient justification for preempting state jurisdiction over arguably protected conduct when the party who
could have presented the protection issue to the Board has not done so and the other party to the dispute has no acceptable means of doing so. [ Footnote 34 ]
The Court has held that state jurisdiction to enforce its laws prohibiting violence, [ Footnote 35 ] defamation, [ Footnote 36 ] the intentional infliction of emotional distress, [ Footnote 37 ] or obstruction of access to property [ Footnote 38 ] is not preempted by the NLRA. But none of those violations of state law involves protected conduct. In contrast, some violations of state trespass laws may be actually protected by § 7 of the federal Act.
In NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 351 U. S. 105 , for example, the Court recognized that, in certain circumstances, nonemployee union organizers may have a limited right of access to an employer's premises for the purpose of engaging in organization solicitation. [ Footnote 39 ] And the Court has indicated that Babcock extends to § 7 rights other than organizational activity, though the "locus" of the
Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U. S. 507 , 424 U. S. 522 .
Experience with trespassory organizational solicitation by nonemployees is instructive in this regard. While Babcock indicates that an employer may not always bar nonemployee union organizers from his property, his right to do so remains the general rule. To gain access, the union has the burden of showing that no other reasonable means of communicating its organizational message to the employees exists or that the employer's access rules discriminate against union solicitation. [ Footnote 40 ] That the burden imposed on the union is a heavy one is evidenced by the fact that the balance struck by the Board and the courts under the Babcock accommodation principle has rarely been in favor of trespassory organizational activity. [ Footnote 41 ]
Even on the assumption that picketing to enforce area standards is entitled to the same deference in the Babcock accommodation analysis as organizational solicitation, [ Footnote 42 ] it would be unprotected in most instances. While there does exist some risk that state courts will on occasion enjoin a trespass that the Board would have protected, the significance of this risk is minimized by the fact that, in the cases in which the argument in favor of protection is the strongest, the union is likely to invoke the Board's jurisdiction, and thereby avoid the state forum. Whatever risk of an erroneous state court adjudication does exist is outweighed by the anomalous consequence of a rule which would deny the employer access to any forum in which to litigate either the trespass issue or the
As long as the union has a fair opportunity to present the protection issue to the Labor Board, it retains meaningful protection against the risk of error in a state tribunal. In this case, the Union failed to invoke the jurisdiction of the Labor Board, [ Footnote 43 ] and Sears had no right to invoke that jurisdiction, and could not even precipitate its exercise without resort to self-help. Because the assertion of state jurisdiction in a case of this kind does not create a significant risk of prohibition of protected conduct, we are unwilling to presume that Congress intended the arguably protected character of the Union's conduct to deprive the California courts of jurisdiction to entertain Sears' trespass action. [ Footnote 44 ]
359 U.S. at 359 U. S. 245 .
The issue was left open by the Court in Meat Cutters v. Fairlawn Meats, Inc., 353 U. S. 20 , 353 U. S. 24 25. Cf. Taggart v. Weinacker's, Inc., 283 Ala. 171, 214 So.2d 913 (1968), cert. dismissed, 397 U. S. 223 .
359 U.S. at 359 U. S. 244 .
Machinists v. Gonzales, 356 U. S. 617 , 356 U. S. 619 . And it is
Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U. S. 290 , 430 U. S. 295 -296 (citation omitted).
Id. at 430 U. S. 296 -297.
The Court's rejection of an inflexible preemption approach is reflected in other situations as well. Where only a minor aspect of the controversy presented to the state court is arguably within the regulatory jurisdiction of the Labor Board, the Court has indicated that the Garmon rule should not be read to require preemption of state jurisdiction. Hanna Mining Co. v. Marine Engineers, 382 U. S. 181 . The Court has also indicated that, if the state court can ascertain the actual legal significance of particular conduct under federal law by reference to "compelling precedent applied to essentially undisputed facts," San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. at 359 U. S. 246 , the court may properly do so and proceed to adjudicate the state cause of action. Permitting the state court to proceed under these circumstances deprives the litigant of the argument that the Board should reverse its position, or, perhaps, that precedent is not as compelling as one adversary contends.
"In addition to the judicially developed exceptions referred to in [n. 13 supra ], Congress itself has created exceptions to the Board's exclusive jurisdiction in other classes of cases. Section 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, 61 Stat. 158, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 187, authorizes anyone injured in his business or property by activity violative of § 8(b)(4) of the NLRA, 61 Stat. 140, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4), to recover damages in federal district court even though the underlying unfair labor practices are remediable by the Board. See Teamsters v. Morton, 377 U. S. 252 (1964). Section 301 of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. § 185, authorizes suits for breach of a collective bargaining agreement even if the breach is an unfair labor practice within the Board's jurisdiction. See Smith v. Evening News Assn., 371 U. S. 195 (1962). Section 14(c)(2) of the NLRA, as added by Title VII, § 701(a) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 73 Stat. 541, 29 U.S.C. § 164(c)(2), permits state agencies and state courts to assert jurisdiction over 'labor disputes over which the Board declines, pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, to assert jurisdiction.'"
Bethehem Steel Co. v. New York Labor Relations Bd., 330 U. S. 767 , 330 U. S. 775 -777.
LaCrosse Telephone Corp. v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Bd., 336 U. S. 18 , 336 U. S. 226 .
348 U.S. at 348 U. S. 479 .
Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U. S. 274 , reaffirmed the notion that state regulation of activity arguably prohibited by the federal Act cannot avoid preemption simply because it is pursuant to a law of general application. In Lockridge, a union member who failed to pay his monthly dues was suspended from membership in the union and discharged from employment at union request. The union's conduct in securing Lockridge's discharge was arguably prohibited by §§ 8(b)(1)(A) and 8(b)(2) or protected by § 7. But rather than filing an unfair labor practice charge with the Labor Board, Lockridge brought suit in state court on a breach of contract theory. He alleged that the union breached a promise implicit in the union constitution that it would not secure his discharge pursuant to the union security clause in the collective bargaining agreement for missing one month's dues.
403 U.S. at 403 U. S. 293 . The Court further noted that the
Id. at 403 U. S. 296 . Preemption was required, in the Court's view, because the state court was exercising jurisdiction over a controversy which was virtually identical to that which could have been presented to the Board. Permitting the state court to exercise jurisdiction pursuant to a law of general application in these circumstances would have entailed a " real and immediate' potential for conflict with the federal scheme. . . ." Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U.S. at 430 U. S. 301 n. 10.
One of the factors identified by the Court was that the conduct giving rise to the state cause of action ( e.g., violence, libel, or intentional infliction of emotional distress), if proved, would not be protected by § 7 of the NLRA, and therefore there existed no risk that state regulation of the conduct alleged in the complaint would result in prohibition of conduct protected by the federal Act. To this extent, the instant case is not controlled by the decision in Farmer. Sears' state cause of action was for trespass, and some trespassory union activity may be protected under the federal Act. See 436 U. S. infra. However, two points must be made regarding the apparent distinction between Farmer and the case at bar. First, Farmer itself involved some risk that protected conduct would be regulated; for, while the complaint alleged outrageous conduct, there remained a possibility that the plaintiff would only have been able to prove a robust intra-union dispute, and that the state tribunal would have found that sufficient to support recovery. Second, the distinction between this case and Farmer, to the extent that it exists, has significance only with respect to the arguably protected branch of the Garmon doctrine, which we discuss in 436 U. S. it does not detract from the support Farmer provides for our conclusion with respect to preemption under the arguably prohibited branch of the doctrine.
430 U.S. at 430 U. S. 304 -305.
Although it is clear that a state court may not exercise jurisdiction over protected conduct, it is important to note that the word "protected" may refer to two quite different concepts: union conduct which the State may not prohibit and against which the employer may not retaliate because it is covered by § 7 or conduct which a State may not prohibit even though it is not covered by § 7 of the Act. The Court considered protected conduct in the latter sense in Machinists v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Comm'n, 427 U. S. 132 . There, the Court relied on a line of preemption analysis
"focusing upon the crucial inquiry whether Congress intended that the conduct involved be unregulated because left 'to be controlled by the free play of economic forces.' NLRB v. Nash-Finch Co., 404 U. S. 138 , 404 U. S. 144 (1971)."
Id. at 427 U. S. 140 .
Longshoremen v. Ariadne Shipping Co., 397 U. S. 195 , 397 U. S. 201 -202 (WHITE, J., concurring).
Youngdahl v. Rainfair, Inc., 355 U. S. 131 ; Construction Workers v. Laburnum, 347 U. S. 656 .
Linn v. Plant Guard Workers, 383 U. S. 53 .
Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U. S. 290 .
Automobile Workers v. Russell, 356 U. S. 634 .
351 U.S. at 351 U. S. 112 . See also Central Hardware Co. v. NLRB, 407 U. S. 539 .
Not only could the Union have filed an unfair labor practice charge pursuant to § 8(a)(1) of the Act at the time Sears demanded that the pickets leave its property, but the Board's jurisdiction could have been invoked and the protection of its remedial powers obtained even after the litigation in the state court had commenced or the state injunction issued. See Capital Service, Inc. v. NLRB, 347 U. S. 501 ; NLRB v. Nash-Finch Co., 404 U. S. 138 .
The Board has taken the position that "a resort to court action . . . does not violate § 8(a)(1)." NLRB v. Nash-Finch Co., supra, at 404 U. S. 142 . If the employer were not required to demand discontinuation of the trespass before proceeding in state court and the Board did not alter its position in cases of this kind, the union would be deprived of an opportunity to present the protection issue to the agency created by Congress to decide such questions. While the union's failure to invoke the Board's jurisdiction should not be a sufficient basis for preempting state jurisdiction, the employer should not be permitted to deprive the union of an opportunity to do so.
1. The problem of a no-man's land in regard to trespassory picketing has been a troubling one in the past because employers have been unable to secure a Labor Board adjudication whether the picketing was "actually protected" under § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act except by resorting to self-help to expel the pickets and thereby inducing the union to file an unfair labor practice charge. The unacceptable possibility of precipitating violence in such a situation called into serious question the practicability there of the Garmon preemption test, see Longshoremen v. Ariadne Shipping Co., 397 U. S. 195 , 397 U. S. 202 (1970) (WHITE, J., concurring), despite the virtues of the Garmon test in ensuring uniform application of the standards of the NLRA.
Ante at 436 U. S. 206 -207. It should be made clear, however, that the logical corollary of the Court's reasoning is that, if the union does file a charge upon being asked by the employer to leave the employer's property and continues to process the charge expeditiously, state court jurisdiction is preempted until such time as the General Counsel declines to issue a complaint or the Board, applying the standards of NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 351 U. S. 105 (1956), rules against the union and holds the picketing to be unprotected. Similarly, if a union timely files a § 8(a)(1) charge, a state court would be bound to stay any pending injunctive or damages suit brought by the employer until the Board has concluded, or the General Counsel by refusal to issue a complaint has indicated, that the picketing is not protected by § 7. As the Court also notes, ante at 436 U. S. 202 , the primary jurisdiction rationale articulated in Garmon "unquestionably requires that, when the same controversy may be presented to the state court or the NLRB, it must be presented to the Board." Once the no-man's land has been bridged, as it is once a union files a charge, the importance of
2. The opinion correctly observes, ante at 436 U. S. 205 , that in implementing this Court's decision in Babcock the NLRB only occasionally has found trespassory picketing to be protected under § 7. That observation is important, as is noted,
ante, at 436 U. S. 203 , in that even the existence of a no-man's land may not justify departure from Garmon's preemption standard if the exercise of state court jurisdiction portends frequent interference with actually protected conduct. But in its conclusion that trespassory picketing has been found in "experience under the Act" to be only "rare[ly]" protected and "far more likely to be unprotected than protected," ante at 436 U. S. 205 , I take the opinion merely to be observing what the Board's past experience has been, not as glossing how the Board must treat the Babcock test in the future, either in regard to organizational picketing or other sorts of protected picketing. The Babcock test provides that,
351 U.S. at 351 U. S. 112 . A variant of that test has been applied by the Board when communication with consumers is at stake. See Scott Hudgens, 230 N.L.R.B. 414 (1977). The problem of applying the test in the first instance is delegated to the Board, as part of its "responsibility to adapt the Act to changing patterns of industrial life." NLRB v. Weingarten, Inc., 420 U. S. 251 , 420 U. S. 266 (1975); Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U. S. 507 , 424 U. S. 523 (1976). When, for a number of years, the First Amendment holding of Food Employees v. Logan Valley Plaza, 391 U. S. 308 (1968), overruled in Hudgens v. NLRB, diverted the Board from any need to consider trespassory picketing under the statutory test of Babcock, it would be unwise to hold the Board confined to its earliest experience in administering the test.
MR. JUSTICE POWELL's concern, post at 436 U. S. 213 , that there is an unacceptable delay in waiting for the General Counsel to act is answered in main part by this Court's previous holdings that any obstructive picketing or threatening conduct may be directly regulated by the State. See Electrical Workers v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Bd., 315 U. S. 740 (1942); Youngdahl v. Rainfair, Inc., 355 U. S. 131 (1957); cf. Automobile Workers v. Russell, 356 U. S. 634 (1958). There was no hint of such a problem in this case. As the California Supreme Court notes:
Although I join the Court's opinion, MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN's concurrence prompts me to add a word as to the "no-man's land" discussion with respect to trespassory picketing. MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN, relying on the amicus brief of the National Labor Relations Board, observes that "there is a practicable means of getting the issue of trespassory picketing before the Board in a timely fashion without danger of violence," ante at 436 U. S. 209 , if the union -- having been requested to leave the property -- files a § 8(a)(1) charge.
In the context of trespassory picketing not otherwise violative of the Act, the Board has no comparable authority. If a § 8(a)(1) charge is filed, nothing is likely to happen "in a timely fashion." The Board cannot issue, or obtain from the federal court, a restraining order directed at the picketing. And it may be weeks for the General Counsel to decide whether to issue a complaint. Meanwhile, the "no-man's land" prevents all recourse to the courts, and is an open invitation to self-help. I am unwilling to believe that Congress intended, by its silence in the Act, to create a situation where there is no forum to which the parties may turn for orderly interim relief in the face of a potentially explosive situation. *
* It is true that, under this Court's decisions, state courts are not precluded from providing relief against actual or threatened violence. But in light of the "danger of violence" inherent in many instances of sustained trespassory picketing, relief often may come too late to prevent interference with the operation of the target business. Cf. People v. Bush, 39 N.Y.2d 529, 349 N.E.2d 832 (1976). Moreover, as Mr. Justice Clark noted for the Court in Linn v. Plant Guard Workers, 383 U. S. 53 , 383 U. S. 64 n. 6 (1966),
Sears' store may have been protected under the National Labor Relations Act. [ Footnote 2/1 ] Therefore, despite the Court's transparent effort to disguise it, faithful application of the principles of labor law preemption established in San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U. S. 236 (1959), [ Footnote 2/2 ] would compel the conclusion that the California Superior Court was powerless to enjoin the Union from picketing on Sears' property: that the trespass was arguably protected is determinative of the state court's lack of jurisdiction, whether or not preemption limits an employer's remedies. See Longshoremen v. Ariadne Shipping Co., 397 U. S. 195 , 397 U. S. 200 -201 (1970); Garmon, supra; Meat Cutters v. Fairlawn Meats, Inc., 353 U. S. 20 (1957); Guss v. Utah Labor Relations Bd., 353 U. S. 1 (1957). [ Footnote 2/3 ]
lack a "reasonable opportunity" to have the Board consider whether the challenged aspect of the employee conduct is protected and when employees having that opportunity have not invoked the Board's jurisdiction, a state court will have jurisdiction to enjoin arguably protected activity if the "risk of an erroneous . . . adjudication [by it does not outweigh] the anomalous consequence [of denying a remedy to the employer]." Ante at 436 U. S. 206 . In making this rather amorphous determination, the lower courts apparently are to consider the strength of the argument that § 7 in fact protects the arguably protected activity, their own assessments of their ability correctly to determine the underlying labor law issue, and the strength of the state interest in affording the employer an opportunity to have a state court restrain the arguably protected conduct.
This drastic abridgment of established principles is unjustified and unjustifiable. The Garmon test, itself fashioned after some 15 years of judicial experience with jurisdictional conflicts that threatened national labor policy, see Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U. S. 274 , 403 U. S. 290 -291 (1971), has provided stability and predictability to a particularly complex area of the law for nearly 20 years. Thus, the most elementary notions of stare decisis dictate that the test be reconsidered only upon a compelling showing, based on actual experience, that the test disserves important interests. Emphatically, that showing has not been and cannot be made. Rather, the Garmon test has proved to embody an entirely acceptable, and probably the best possible, accommodation of the competing state-federal interests. That an employer's remedies in consequence may be limited, while anomalous to the Court, produces no positive social harm; on the contrary, the limitation on employer remedies is fully justified both by the ease of application of the test by thousands of state and federal judges and by its effect of averting the danger that state courts may interfere with national labor policy. In
The animating force behind the doctrine of labor law preemption has been the recognition that nothing could more fully serve to defeat the purposes of the Act than to permit state and federal courts, without any limitation, to exercise jurisdiction over activities that are subject to regulation by the National Labor Relations Board. See Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, supra at 403 U. S. 286 . Congress created the centralized expert agency to administer the Act because of its conviction -- generated by the historic abuses of the labor injunction, see Frankfurter & Greene -- that the judicial attitudes, court procedures, and traditional judicial remedies, state and federal, were as likely to produce adjudications incompatible with national labor policy as were different rules of substantive law. See Garner v. Teamsters, 346 U. S. 485 , 346 U. S. 490 -491 (1953). Although Congress could not be understood as having displaced "all local regulation that touches or concerns in any way the complex interrelationships between employers, employees, and unions," Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, supra at 403 U. S. 289 , the legislative scheme clearly embodies an implicit prohibition of those state and federal court adjudications that might significantly interfere with those interests that are a central concern to national labor policy.
of detailed procedures for the restraint of specific types of picketing and the provision that other types of picketing are protected implies that picketing is to be free from all restraint under state law, see, e.g., Automobile Workers v. Russell, 356 U. S. 634 (1958) (state courts may restrain violent conduct on picket lines), it by the same token necessarily is true that to permit local adjudications, without limitation, of the legality of picketing would threaten intolerable interference with the interests protected by the Act. As the Court recognizes, the nature of the threatened interference differs depending on whether the picketing implicates the Act's prohibitions or its protections. See ante at 436 U. S. 190 . As to arguably prohibited picketing, there is a risk that the state court might misinterpret or misapply the federal prohibition and restrain conduct that Congress may have intended to be free from governmental restraint. [ Footnote 2/4 ] But even when state courts can be depended upon accurately to determine whether conduct is in fact prohibited, local adjudication may disrupt the congressional scheme by resulting in different forms of relief than would adjudication by the NLRB. By providing that an expert, centralized agency would administer the Act, Congress quite plainly evidenced an intention that, ordinarily at least, this expert agency should, on the basis of its experience with labor matters, determine the remedial implications of violations of the Act. If state courts were permitted to administer all the Act's prohibitions, the divergences in relief would add up to significant departures from federal policy. These considerations led the Court to fashion the rule, announced in Garmon, 359 U.S. at 359 U. S. 245 , that
This aspect of Garmon has never operated as a flat prohibition. [ Footnote 2/5 ] There are circumstances in which state courts can be depended upon accurately to determine whether the underlying conduct is prohibited and in which Congress cannot be assumed to have intended to oust state court jurisdiction. Illustrative are decisions holding that States may regulate mass picketing, obstructive picketing, or picketing that threatens or results in violence. See Automobile Workers v. Russell, supra; Automobile Workers v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Bd., 351 U. S. 266 (1956); Construction Workers v. Laburnum Constr. Corp., 347 U. S. 656 (1954); Electrical Workers v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Bd., 315 U. S. 740 , 315 U. S. 749 (1942). Because violent tortious conduct on a picket line is prohibited by § 8(b) and because state courts can reliably determine whether such conduct has occurred without considering the merits of the underlying labor dispute, allowing local adjudications of these tort actions could neither fetter the exercise of rights protected by the Act nor otherwise interfere with the effective administration of the federal scheme. And the possible inconsistency of remedy is not alone a sufficient reason for preempting state court jurisdiction.
In view of the historic state interest in "such traditionally local matters as public safety and order," Electrical Workers v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Bd., supra, at 315 U. S. 749 , the Act could not, in the absence of a clear statement to the contrary, be construed as precluding the imposition of different, even harsher, state remedies in such cases. See Automobile Workers v. Russell, supra at 356 U. S. 641 -642. Indeed, in view of the delay attendant upon resort to the Board, it could well produce positive harm to prohibit state jurisdiction in these circumstances. Our decisions leave no doubt that exceptions to the Garmon principle are to be recognized only in comparable circumstances. See Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U. S. 290 , 430 U. S. 297 -301 (1977); Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U. S. 171 (1967); Linn v. Plant Guard Workers, 383 U. S. 53 (1966).
When, on the other hand, the underlying conduct may be protected by the Act, the risk of interference with the federal scheme is of a different character. The danger of permitting local adjudications is not that timing or form of relief might be different from what the Board would administer, but rather that the local court might restrain conduct that is in fact protected by the Act. This might result not merely from attitudinal differences, but even more from unfair procedures or lack of expertise in labor relations matters. The present case illustrates both the nature and magnitude of the danger. Because the location of employee picketing is often determinative of the meaningfulness of the employees' ability to engage in effective communication with their intended audience, employees often have the right to engage in picketing at particular locations, including the private property of another. See Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U. S. 507 (1976); Scott Hudgens, 230 N.L.R.B. 414, 95 LRRM 1351 (1977); cf. NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 351 U. S. 105 (1056). The California Superior Court here entered an order, ex parte, broad enough to prohibit all effective picketing of Sears' store for a period of 35 days. See opinion of my Brother BLACKMUN, ante at 436 U. S. 212 .
In recognition of this fact, this Court's efforts in the area of labor law preemption have been largely directed to developing durable principles to ensure that local tribunals not be in a position to restrain protected conduct. Because the Court today appears to have forgotten some of the lessons of history, it is appropriate to summarize this Court's efforts. The first approach to be tried -- and abandoned -- was for this Court to proceed on a case-by-case basis and determine whether each particular final state court ruling "does, or might reasonably be thought to, conflict in some relevant manner with federal labor policy," Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. at 403 U. S. 289 -291; see Automobile Workers v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Bd., 336 U. S. 245 (1949). Not surprisingly, such an effort proved institutionally impossible. Because of the infinite combinations of events that implicate the central protections of the Act, this Court could not, without largely abdicating its other responsibilities, hope to determine on an ad hoc, "generic situation by generic situation" basis whether applications of state laws threatened national labor policy. In any case, such an approach necessarily disserved national labor policy because decision by this Court came too late to repair the damage that an erroneous decision would do to the congressionally established balance of power and was no substitute for decision in the first instance by the Board. The
Court soon concluded that protecting national labor policy from disruption or defeat by conflicting local adjudications demanded broad principles of labor law preemption, easily administered by state and federal courts throughout the Nation, that would minimize, if not eliminate entirely, the possibility of decisions of local tribunals that irreparably injure interests protected by § 7. The only rule [ Footnote 2/6 ] satisfying these dual requirements was Garmon's flat prohibition:
While there is some unavoidable uncertainty concerning the arguably prohibited prong of Garmon, I emphasize that it has heretofore been absolutely clear that there is no state power to deal with conduct that is a central concern of the Act [ Footnote 2/7 ] and arguably protected by it, see Longshoremen v. Ariadne Shipping Co., 397 U. S. 195 (1970); Garmon, supra; Meat Cutters v. Fairlawn Meats, Inc., 353 U. S. 20 (1957); Guss v. Utah Labor Relations Bd., 353 U. S. 1 (1957). As the Court itself recognizes, see ante at 436 U. S. 194 -197 and 436 U. S. 204 , none of the Garmon exceptions have ever been or could ever be applied to local attempts to restrain such conduct. But the Garmon approach to "arguably protected" activity does not "swee[p] away state court jurisdiction over conduct traditionally subject to
state regulation without careful consideration of the relative impact of such a jurisdictional bar on the various interests affected." Ante at 436 U. S. 188 . Quite the contrary, such careful consideration is subsumed by the determination whether the underlying conduct may be protected by § 7. By enacting § 7, Congress necessarily intended to preempt certain state laws: e.g., those prohibiting concerted activities as conspiracies or unlawful restraints of trade. In any instance in which it can seriously be maintained that the congressionally established scheme protects the employee activity, the assessment of the relative weight of the competing state and federal interests has to be regarded as having been made by Congress. By drafting the statute so as to permit a Board determination that the underlying conduct is in fact within the ambit of § 7's protections, Congress necessarily indicated its view that the historic state interest in regulating the conduct, however defined, may have to yield to the attainment of other objectives and that the state interest thus must be regarded as less than compelling. And, of course, there is necessarily a possibility that to permit state court jurisdiction over arguably protected conduct could fetter the exercise of rights protected by the Act and otherwise interfere with the congressional scheme. A local tribunal could recognize an activity as arguably protected, yet, given its attitude toward organized labor, lack of expertise in labor matters, and insensitive procedures, misapply or misconceive the Board's decisional criteria and restrain conduct that is within the ambit of § 7.
That the trespass was arguably protected could scarcely be clearer. NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 351 U.S. at 351 U. S. 112 , indicates that trespassory § 7 activity is protected when "reasonable efforts . . . through other available channels" will not enable the union to reach its intended audience. This standard, which was developed in the context of a rather different factual situation, is but an application of more general principles.
Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U.S. at 424 U. S. 522 , quoting NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., supra at 351 U. S. 112 ; see Scott Hudgens, 230 N.L.R.B. at 417, 95 LRRM, at 1354.
Here, it can seriously be contended that the locus of the accommodation should be on the side of permitting the trespass. The § 7 interest is strong: the object of the picketing was arguably protected on one of two theories -- as "area standards" [ Footnote 2/8 ] or as "recognitional" [ Footnote 2/9 ] picketing -- and the record suggests that the relocation of the picketing to the nearest public area -- a public sidewalk 150 to 200 feet away -- may have so
diluted the picketing's impact as to make it virtually meaningless. [ Footnote 2/10 ] The private property interest, in contrast, was exceedingly weak. The picketing was confined to a portion of Sears' property which was open to the public and on which Sears had permitted solicitations by other groups. [ Footnote 2/11 ] Thus, while Sears to be sure owned the property, it resembled public property in many respects. Indeed, while Sears' legal position would have been quit different if the lot and walkways had been owned by the city of Chula Vista, it is doubtful that Sears would have been any less angered or upset by the picketing if the property had in fact been public.
that is obstructive, or involves large groups of persons, or otherwise entails a serious threat of violence. Automobile Workers v. Russell; Construction Workers v. Laburnum Constr. Corp.; Automobile Workers v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Bd.; Electrical Workers v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Bd. These decisions constitute an almost dispositive answer to my Brother POWELL's suggestion that state trespass laws should be allowed full play, see ante at 436 U. S. 213 : most of the factual situations that concern him fall within a recognized Garmon exception. Finally, an employer may file an unfair labor practice charge under § 8(b) and obtain a "cease and desist" order from the Board where the picketing has an objective prohibited by § 8(b).
Thus, preemption of state court jurisdiction to deal with trespassory picketing has been largely, if not entirely, confined to situations such as presented in this case, i.e., in which the interest of the employer in preventing the picketing is weak, the § 7 interest in picketing on the employer's property strong, and the picketing peaceful and nonobstructive. In this circumstance, I think the denial to the employer of a remedy is an entirely acceptable social cost for the benefits of a preemption rule that avoids the danger of state court interference with national labor policy. The Court's arguments to the contrary are singularly unpersuasive. Because an employer's remedies are only preempted in the narrow circumstances of a case such as the present one, any suggestion that the faithful application of Garmon creates a "no-man's land" which results in a substantial risk of violence, see opinion of my Brother BLACKMUN, ante at 436 U. S. 208 ; opinion of my Brother POWELL, ante at 436 U. S. 213 ; cf. opinion of the Court, ante at 436 U. S. 202 , can be dismissed as the most unfounded speculation. An employer like Sears may be angered or outraged by the presence of peaceful, nonobstructive picketing close to its retail store. But the Act requires the employer's toleration of peaceful picketing when § 7 affords the union the right to engage in this form of
That this Court's departure from Garmon creates a great risk that protected picketing will be enjoined is amply illustrated by the facts of this case and by the task that was assigned to the California Superior Court. To decide whether the location of the Union's picketing rendered it unlawful, the state court here had to address a host of exceedingly complex labor law questions, which implicated nearly every aspect of the Union's labor dispute with Sears and which were uniquely within the province of the Board. Because it had to assess the "relative strength of the § 7 right," see Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U.S. at 424 U. S. 522 , its first task necessarily was to determine the nature of the Union's picketing. This picketing could have
been characterized in one of three ways: as protected area standards picketing, see opinion of the Court, ante at 436 U. S. 186 -187; as prohibited picketing to compel a reassignment of work, see ante at 436 U. S. 185 -186, and n. 9; or as recognitional picketing that is protected at the outset but prohibited if no petition for a representative election is filed within a reasonable time, not to exceed 30 days. See supra at 436 U. S. 225 n. 9; ante at 436 U. S. 186 , and n. 10. Notably, if the state court concluded that the picketing was prohibited by § 8(b)(4) -- or unprotected by § 7 on any other theory -- that determination would have been conclusive against respondent: whether or not the state court agreed with the Union's contention that effective communication required that picketing be located on Sears' premises, the court would enjoin the trespassory picketing on the ground that no protected § 7 interest was involved. Obviously, since even the Court admits that the characterization of the picketing "entail[s] relatively complex factual and legal determinations," see ante at 436 U. S. 198 , there is a substantial danger that the state court, lacking the Board's expertise and specialized sensitivity to labor relations matters, would err at the outset and effectively deny respondent the right to engage in any effective § 7 communication. [ Footnote 2/12 ]
It simply cannot be seriously contended that the thousands of judges, state and federal, throughout the United States can be counted upon accurately to identify the relevant considerations and give each the proper weight in accommodating the respective rights. Indeed, the actions of the California courts illustrate the danger. Not only was the ex parte order of the California Superior Court entered under conditions precluding careful consideration of all relevant considerations, even the Court of Appeal, presumably able to devote more time and deliberation to isolate the correct decisional criteria, failed properly to appreciate the significance of a criterion critical to the application of national law: that the distance of the picketing from a store entrance is largely determinative of its effectiveness. Cf. Scott Hudgens, 230 N.L.R.B. at 417, 95 LRRM at 1354 ("a message announced . . . by picket sign . . . a [substantial] distance from the focal point would be too greatly diluted to be meaningful"). Nothing better demonstrates the wisdom of the heretofore settled rule that "the primary responsibility for making [the] accommodation [between § 7 rights and private property rights] must rest with the Board in the first instance." Hudgens v. NLRB, supra at 424 U. S. 522 .
The first is its belief that the generic type of activity -- which the Court characterizes as trespassory organizational activity by nonemployees -- is more likely to be unprotected than protected. Ante at 436 U. S. 205 -206. In so concluding, the Court relies on NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 351 U. S. 105 (1956), for the proposition that there is a strong presumption against permitting trespasses by nonemployees. But the Court overlooks a critical distinction between Babcock and the case at bar. Babcock involved a trespass on industrial property which the employer had fenced off from the public at large, and it is a grave error to treat Babcock as having substantial implications for the generic situation presented by this case. To permit trespassory § 7 activities in the Babcock fact pattern entails far greater interference with an employer's business than does allowing peaceful nonobstructive picketing on a parking lot which is open to the public and which has been used for other types of solicitation. As my Brother BLACKMUN's concurring opinion notes, this Court's short-lived holding that picketing at shopping centers is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, see Food Employees v. Logan Valley Plaza, 391 U. S. 308 (1968), overruled in Hudgens v. NLRB, supra, has resulted in a situation where neither this Court nor the Board has considered, in any comprehensive fashion, the quite different question of the conditions under which union representatives may enter privately owned areas of shopping centers to engage in protected activities such as peaceful picketing. But the Court's own opinion in Hudgens v. NLRB, supra, and the Board's decision in Scott Hudgens, supra, [ Footnote 2/13 ] both suggest that
Ante at 436 U. S. 206 . That, with all respect, betrays ignorance of the conduct of adversaries in the real world of labor disputes. Whether a union will seek the protection of a Board order will depend upon whether that tactic will best serve its self-interest, and that determination will depend in turn on whether the employer's request inhibits or interferes with the union's ability to engage in protected conduct. A request that a trespass cease may or may not so threaten the union as to lead it to go to the trouble and expense of attempting to invoke the Board's jurisdiction, and the strength of the argument that the conduct is protected will frequently be a factor of no relevance. For example, if the union perceives the employer's request as a hollow threat or believes that the employer's legal position in any case has no merit, the union will have no reason to turn to the Board.
would have more of an incentive to file a § 8(a)(1) charge if it believed that resort to the Board were necessary to protect itself against adjudications by hostile state tribunals. Of course, even then, the union may not believe that invocation of the Board's jurisdiction is worth the trouble and expense in those instances in which it believes its own legal position unassailable. But there is no point in conjecturing on this score. The Court assiduously avoids holding that resort to the Board will oust a state court's jurisdiction [ Footnote 2/14 ] and is divided on this question. Compare opinion of my Brother BLACKMUN, ante at 436 U. S. 209 -210, with opinion of my Brother POWELL, ante p. 436 U. S. 212 . The Court cannot have it both ways: unless and until the Court decides that the filing of a charge preempts adjudications by local tribunals, speculation as to the conditions under which there would or would not be a failure to file is an idle exercise. [ Footnote 2/15 ]
This prospect should give the Court more concern than its opinion reflects. It is no answer that errors remain correctible while this Court sits. The burden that will be thrown upon this Court finally to decide, on an ad hoc, "generic situation by generic situation" basis, whether the employer had a "reasonable opportunity" to obtain a Board determination and, if not, whether the risk of interference outweighs the anomaly of denying the employer a remedy, should give us pause. Inconsistency and error in decisions below may compel review of an inordinate number of cases, lest lower court adjudications threaten irretrievable injury to interests protected by § 7. Indeed, the experience of 30 years ago should, I would have thought, taught us the folly of such an approach. And our burden will be even greater if, as my Brother BLACKMUN suggests, ante at 436 U. S. 211 -212, this Court must fashion a code of
See infra at 436 U. S. 225 -226.
This rule, which was implicit in earlier decisions, has been repeatedly reaffirmed. See, e.g., Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U. S. 290 (1977); Machinists v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Comm'n, 427 U. S. 132 , 427 U. S. 138 -139 (1976); Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U. S. 274 (1971).
There are several arguably discrete exceptions to Garmon, all sharing a common characteristic. Each applies only in circumstances in which local adjudications will not threaten important interests protected by the Act: e.g., when a state court can ascertain the actual legal significance of particular conduct by reference to "compelling precedent applied to essentially undisputed facts," Garmon, 359 U.S. at 359 U. S. 246 ; when the rule to be invoked before the state tribunal is
Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. at 403 U. S. 297 -298;
Garmon, supra at 359 U. S. 243 -244.
A second approach was suggested and rejected by Garmon itself: that state court jurisdiction be preempted only when "it is clear or may fairly be assumed that the activities which a State purports to regulate are protected by § 7 of the . . . Act." 359 U.S. at 359 U. S. 244 . This Court recognized that state and federal courts, quite simply, lack the familiarity and requisite sensitivity to labor law matters to be counted on accurately to determine which combinations of facts could "fairly be assumed" to fall within the ambit of § 7.
If an activity were merely a "peripheral concern" of the Act, state and federal courts presumably may restrain it even if arguably protected. See Garmon, 359 U.S. at 359 U. S. 246 .
The Act provides that recognitional picketing is prohibited if no representation petition is filed within a reasonable time, not to exceed 30 days. See ante at 436 U. S. 186 , and n. 10. Although the Board has never held that recognitional picketing is protected at the outset and for up to 30 days thereafter, this conclusion would seem to follow from its holding that "area standards" picketing is protected. See Hod Carriers (Calumet Contractors Assn.), 133 N.L.R.B. 512 (1961).
Since the whole premise for an order effectively terminating all picketing of the Sears store could be the state court's conclusion that the picketing was prohibited by § 8(b), it is difficult to understand how the Court can assert that this is a case in which the "arguably prohibited" prong of the Garmon test is not implicated. Even if the Court is correct that the crucial consideration under that aspect of Garmon is whether the controversy in the state court would be the same as that which would have been presented to the NLRB, see ante at 436 U. S. 197 , the test surely is satisfied here. More fundamentally, to permit a state court to enter an order which, in law and fact, prohibits picketing because of an interpretation of § 8(b) entails a substantial risk of interference with the objectives Congress sought to achieve by giving the Board exclusive jurisdiction to enforce § 8(b).
In Scott Hudgens, the Board held that warehouse employees of a shoe company had a § 7 right to engage in protected picketing on a privately owned shopping mall that contained one of the shoe company's retail outlets. Since the warehouse employees were no more "rightfully on the employer's premises" than were the pickets in the present case, see Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U.S. at 424 U. S. 521 -522, n. 10, Scott Hudgens at least indicates that the fact that an individual has no right to be on the premises is not a factor of any special significance in the context of shopping center picketing. It would be a small step to conclude that the fact the pickets were nonemployees did not, standing alone at least, counsel strongly against a finding that the trespass was unprotected.
The Court leaves open a host of questions concerning the availability of state court remedies to the precise type of trespassory picketing that here occurred: is state court jurisdiction preempted when a § 8(a)(1) charge is filed before the institution of state suit? What if the § 8(a)(1) charge is filed after the employer files the state court complaint, or after the state court has issued temporary, preliminary, or final relief; must the state court action and state court order be stayed pending the Board proceedings or is it up to the Board to take action to protect its jurisdiction? Since the generic situation is one in which there is no realistic possibility of violence, I think my Brother BLACKMUN's logic in answering some of these questions is unassailable, see ante at 436 U. S. 208 -210. Indeed, I would think the Court would be compelled to extend it to a situation my Brother BLACKMUN does not address: when the state court has entered final relief. But especially in light of my Brother POWELL's differing views, see ante p. 436 U. S. 212 , it can safely be predicted that the state and federal courts around the country will answer these questions in a variety of ways. A consequence surely will be that erroneous determinations of non-preemption will occur and rights and interests protected by the Act will be irreparably damaged before any corrective action can be taken by this Court.