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American Ship Building Co Vs Labor Board - Citation 101191 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
American Ship Building Co. Vs. Labor Board - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/101191
Case Number 380 U.S. 300
Appellant American Ship Building Co.
american ship building co. v. labor board - 380 u.s. 300 (1965) u.s. supreme court american ship building co. v. labor board, 380 u.s. 300 (1965) american ship building co. v. labor board no. 255 argued january 21, 1965 decided march 29, 1965 380 u.s. 300 certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit syllabus petitioner, operator of four shipyards, entered negotiations with the unions representing its employees for the purpose of securing a new agreement to replace the current contract, soon to expire. after a bargaining impasse was reached, petitioner temporarily closed down one yard and laid off employees at the others. the national labor relations board found that the.....
American Ship Building Co. v. Labor Board - 380 U.S. 300 (1965)
U.S. Supreme Court American Ship Building Co. v. Labor Board, 380 U.S. 300 (1965)
Held: an employer does not commit an unfair labor practice under either § 8(a)(1) or § 8(a)(3) of the Act when, after an impasse has been reached in negotiations, he temporarily shuts down his plant and lays off his employees for the sole purpose of applying economic pressure in support of his legitimate bargaining position. Pp. 380 U. S. 308 -318.
The American Ship Building Company seeks review of a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia enforcing an order of the National Labor Relations Board which found that the company had committed an unfair labor practice under §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act. [ Footnote 1 ] The question presented is that expressly reserved in Labor Board v. Truck Drivers Local Union, 353 U. S. 87 , 353 U. S. 93 , namely, whether an employer commits an unfair labor practice under these sections of the Act when he temporarily lays off or "locks out" his employees during a labor dispute to bring economic pressure in support of
his bargaining position. To resolve an asserted conflict among the circuits [ Footnote 2 ] upon this important question of federal labor law, we granted certiorari, 379 U.S. 814.
Further negotiations narrowed the dispute to five or six issues, all involving substantial economic differences. On July 31, the eve of the contract's expiration, the employer made a proposal; the unions countered with another, revived their proposal for a six-month extension, and proposed, in the alternative, that the existing contract, with its no-strike clause, be extended indefinitely with the terms of the new contract to be made retroactive to August 1. [ Footnote 3 ] After rejection of the proposed extensions, the employer's proposal was submitted to the unions' membership; on August 8 the unions announced that this proposal had been overwhelmingly rejected. The following day, the employer made another proposal which the unions refused to submit to their membership; the unions made no counteroffer, and the parties separated without setting a date for further meetings, leaving this to the discretion of the conciliator.
Upon claims filed by the unions, the General Counsel of the Board issued a complaint charging the employer with violations of §§ 8(a)(1), (a)(3), and (a)(5). [ Footnote 4 ] The trial examiner found that, although there had been no work in the Chicago yard since July 19, its closing was not due to lack of work. Despite similarly slack seasons in the past, the employer had, for 17 years, retained a nucleus crew to do maintenance work and remain ready to take such work as might come in. The examiner went on to find that the employer was reasonably apprehensive
and discriminated against its employees within the meaning of Section 8(a)(3) of the Act. [ Footnote 5 ]"
The difference between the Board and the trial examiner is thus a narrow one turning on their differing assessments of the circumstances which the employer claims gave it reason to anticipate a strike. Both the Board and the examiner assumed, within the established pattern of Board analysis, [ Footnote 6 ] that, if the employer had shut down its yard and laid off its workers solely for the purpose of bringing to bear economic pressure to break an impasse and secure more favorable contract terms, an unfair labor practice would be made out.
Ibid. Developing this distinction in its rulings, the Board has approved lockouts designed to prevent seizure of a plant by a sit-down strike, Link-Belt Co., 26 N.L.R.B. 227; to forestall repetitive disruptions of an integrated operation by "quickie" strikes, International Shoe Co., 93 N.L.R.B. 907; to avoid spoilage of materials which would result from a sudden work stoppage, Duluth Bottling Assn., 48 N.L.R.B. 1335; and to avert the immobilization of automobiles brought in for repair, Betts Cadillac Olds, Inc., 96 N.L.R.B. 268. In another distinct class of cases, the Board has sanctioned the use of the lockout by a multiemployer bargaining unit as a response to a whipsaw strike against one of its members. Buffalo Linen Supply Co., 109 N.L.R.B. 447, rev'd sub. nom. Truck Drivers Local Union v. Labor Board, 231 F.2d 110, rev'd, 353 U. S. 353 U.S. 87. [ Footnote 7 ]
for reasons of renovation or lack of profitable work unrelated to his collective bargaining situation. Similarly, we put to one side cases where the Board has concluded on the basis of substantial evidence that the employer has used a lockout as a means to injure a labor organization or to evade his duty to bargain collectively. Hopwood Retinning Co., 4 N.L.R.B. 922; Scott Paper Box Co., 81 N.L.R.B. 535. What we are here concerned with is the use of a temporary layoff of employees solely as a means to bring economic pressure to bear in support of the employer's bargaining position, after an impasse has been reached. This is the only issue before us, and all that we decide. [ Footnote 8 ]
Moreover, there is no indication, either as a general matter or in this specific case, that the lockout will necessarily destroy the unions' capacity for effective and responsible representation. The unions here involved have vigorously represented the employees since 1952, and there is nothing to show that their ability to do so has been impaired by the lockout. Nor is the lockout one of those acts which are demonstrably so destructive of collective bargaining that the Board need not inquire into employer motivation, as might be the case, for example, if an employer permanently discharged his unionized staff and replaced them with employees known to be possessed of a violent antiunion animus. Cf. Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., 373 U. S. 221 . The lockout may well dissuade employees from adhering to the position which they initially adopted in the bargaining, but he right to bargain collectively does not entail any "right" to insist on one's position free from economic disadvantage. Proper analysis of the problem demands that the simple intention to support the employer's bargaining position as to compensation and the like be distinguished from a hostility to the process of collective bargaining which could suffice to render a lockout unlawful. See Labor Board v. Brown, ante, p. 380 U. S. 278 .
§§ 7 and 13 of the Act [ Footnote 9 ] in that it allows the employer to preempt the possibility of a strike, and thus leave the union with "nothing to strike against." Insofar as this means that, once employees are locked out, they are deprived of their right to call a strike against the employer because he is already shut down, the argument is wholly specious, for the work stoppage which would have been the object of the strike has, in fact, occurred. [ Footnote 10 ] It is true that recognition of the lockout deprives the union of exclusive control of the timing and duration of work stoppages calculated to influence the result of collective bargaining negotiations, but there is nothing in the statute which would imply that the right to strike "carries with it" the right exclusively to determine the timing and duration of all work stoppages. The right to strike, as commonly understood, is the right to cease work -- nothing more. No doubt, a union's bargaining power would be enhanced if it possessed not only the simple right to strike but also the power exclusively to determine when work stoppages should occur, but the Act's provisions are not indefinitely elastic, content-free forms to be shaped in whatever manner the Board might think best conforms to the proper balance of bargaining power.
Section 8(a)(3) prohibits discrimination in regard to tenure or other conditions of employment to discourage union membership. Under the words of the statute, there must be both discrimination and a resulting discouragement of union membership. It has long been established that a finding of violation under this section will normally turn on the employer's motivation. See Labor Board v. Brown, ante, p. 278; Radio Officers' Union v. Labor Board, 347 U. S. 17 , 347 U. S. 43 ; Labor Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U. S. 1 , 301 U. S. 46 . Thus when the employer discharges a union leader who has broken shop rules, the problem posed is to determine whether the employer has acted purely in disinterested defense of shop discipline, or has sought to damage employee organization. It is likely that the discharge will naturally tend to discourage union membership in both cases because of the loss of union leadership and the employees' suspicion of the employer's true intention. But we have consistently construed the section to leave unscathed a wide range of employer actions taken to serve legitimate business interests in some significant fashion, even though the act committed may tend to discourage union membership. See, e.g., Labor Board v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., 304 U. S. 333 , 304 U. S. 347 . Such a construction of § 8(a)(3) is essential if due protection is to be accorded the employer's right to manage his enterprise. See Textile Workers' Union v. Darlington Mfg. Co., ante, p. 380 U. S. 263 .
justifiable to disbelieve the employer's protestations of innocent purpose. Radio Officers' Union v. Labor Board, supra, 347 U.S. at 347 U. S. 44 -45; Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., supra. Thus, where many have broken a shop rule, but only union leaders have been discharged, the Board need not listen too long to the plea that shop discipline was simply being enforced. In other situations, we have described the process as the
Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., supra, at 373 U. S. 229 .
discouraged in his union membership or discriminated against by reason of that membership cannot suffice to label them violations of § 8(a)(3) absent some unlawful intention. The employer's permanent replacement of strikers ( Labor Board v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., supra ), his unilateral imposition of terms ( Labor Board v. Tex-Tan, Inc., 318 F.2d 472, 479-482), or his simple refusal to make a concession which would terminate a strike -- all impose economic disadvantage during a bargaining conflict, but none is necessarily a violation of § 8(a)(3).
To find a violation of § 8(a)(3), then, the Board must find that the employer acted for a proscribed purpose. Indeed, the Board itself has always recognized that certain "operative" or "economic" purposes would justify a lockout. But the Board has erred in ruling that only these purposes will remove a lockout from the ambit of § 8(a)(3), for that section requires an intention to discourage union membership or otherwise discriminate against the union. There was not the slightest evidence, and there was no finding, that the employer was actuated by a desire to discourage membership in the union, as distinguished from a desire to affect the outcome of the particular negotiations in which it was involved. We recognize that the "union membership" which is not to be discouraged refers to more than the payment of dues, and that measures taken to discourage participation in protected union activities may be found to come within the proscription. Radio Officers' Union v. Labor Board, supra, at 347 U. S. 39 -40. However, there is nothing in the Act which gives employees the right to insist on their contract demands, free from the sort of economic disadvantage which frequently attends bargaining disputes. Therefore, we conclude that, where the intention proven is merely to bring about a settlement of a labor dispute on favorable terms, no violation of § 8(a)(3) is shown.
"[t]o attempt, by interference, influence, restraint, favor, coercion, or lockout, or by any other means, to impair the right of employees guaranteed in section 4. [ Footnote 11 ]"
Prominent in the criticism leveled at the bill in the Senate Committee hearings was the charge that it did not accord evenhanded treatment to employers and employees because it prohibited the lockout while protecting the strike. [ Footnote 12 ] In the face of such criticism, the Committee added a provision prohibiting employee interference with employer bargaining activities, [ Footnote 13 ] and deleted the reference to the lockout. [ Footnote 14 ] A plausible inference to be drawn from this history is that the language was deleted
placing employees on a par with their adversary at the bargaining table. [ Footnote 15 ]"
Labor Board v. Insurance Agents' International Union, 361 U. S. 477 , 361 U. S. 497 -498.
Although the complaint stated a violation of § 8(a)(5) as well, the Board made no findings as to this claim, believing that there would have been no point in entering a bargaining order because the parties had long since executed an agreement. The passage quoted below in the text of this opinion from Labor Board v. Insurance Agents' International Union, 361 U. S. 477 ( see pp. 380 U. S. 317 -318, infra ), has even more direct application to the § 8(a)(5) question. See also Labor Board v. Dalton Brick & Tile Corp., 301 F.2d 886, 894-895 (C.A.5th Cir. 1962).
Contrary to the views expressed in a concurring opinion filed in this case, we intimate no view whatever as to the consequences which would follow had the employer replaced its employees with permanent replacements or even temporary help. Cf. Labor Board v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., 304 U. S. 333 .
U.S. 203; Textile Workers' Union v. Darlington Mfg. Co., decided today, ante, p. 380 U. S. 263 . There is nothing in the decisions of the NLRB, including this case, which would indicate that there are occasions when an employer may not truthfully inform his customers of a labor dispute and his fear of a strike to protect his business and their property and may not lay off employees for lack of work. Indeed, these decisions hold that an employer may shut down in response to such economic conditions, even though these conditions are the result of protected concerted activities, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., 145 N.L.R.B. 785 (1964); Associated General Contractors of America, Inc., 105 N.L.R.B. 767 (1953); H. H. Zimmerli, 133 N.L.R.B. 1217 (1961), so long as the creation of or alleged reliance on these conditions is not a subterfuge for a lockout, Ripley Mfg. Co., 138 N.L.R.B. 1452 (1962); Savoy Laundry, Inc., 137 N.L.R.B. 306 (1962); New England Web, Inc., 135 N.L.R.B. 1019 (1962). There is no evidence here that the lack of work was a result of the employer's decision or desire to lay off its employees, and the Board did not so find. I do not now determine whether a temporary economic shutdown could ever be found to violate the Act. Here, the Board has given no reasons, no rationale, to show how this closing violated the Act except to say the closing was a bargaining lockout. A lockout is the refusal by an employer to furnish available work to his regular employees. It is apparent that the considerations which fault an employer for refusing to furnish available work are quite different from those which would prohibit him from laying off workers for whom there is no work. Hence, reliance on the Board's lockout cases does not explain, no less support, the result reached in this case. The compelling conclusion is that the Board has failed to "disclose the basis of its order" and to "give clear indication that it has exercised the discretion with which Congress has empowered it." Phelps Dodge Corp. v. Labor
Board, 313 U. S. 177 , 313 U. S. 197 . This is not to say the Board has reached an erroneous balance in regard to the bargaining lockout; it is to say that the bargaining lockout analysis will not suffice to judge the legality of the layoffs in this case.
Ante at p. 380 U. S. 304 . This is puzzling, since the examiner found precisely the contrary, and neither the Board nor the Court of Appeals took issue with these findings. The examiner said that a nucleus crew was maintained in the past only in the expectation of emergency work, the performance of such work being thought necessary to maintain customer goodwill. Because of the labor uncertainty and the decision that undertaking emergency jobs would jeopardize customer relations, there was no expectation of work during the summer of 1961, unlike past years. Since I think an employer's decision to lay off employees because of lack of work is not ordinarily barred by the Act, and since neither the Board nor the Court properly can ignore this claim, I would reverse the Board's order, but without reaching out to decide an issue not at all presented by this case.
Republic Aviation Corp. v. Labor Board, 324 U. S. 793 , 324 U. S. 798 . Thus, the legal status of the bargaining lockout, as the Court indicated in Labor Board v. Truck Drivers Union, 353 U. S. 87 , 353 U. S. 96 , is to be determined by "the balancing of the conflicting legitimate interests."
The Board has balanced these interests here -- the value of the lockout as an economic weapon against its impact on protected concerted activities, including the right to strike, for which the Act has special solicitude, Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., 373 U. S. 221 , 373 U. S. 234 -- and has determined that the employer's interest in obtaining a bargaining victory does not outweigh the damaging consequences of the lockout. It determined that for an employer to deprive employees of their livelihood because of demands made by their representatives and in order to compel submission to the employer's demands coerces employees in their exercise of the right to bargain collectively and discourages resort to that right. And this interferes with the right to strike, sharply reducing the effectiveness of that weapon and denying the union control over the timing of the economic contest. The Court rejects this reasoning on the ground that the lockout is not conduct "demonstrably so destructive of collective bargaining that the Board need not inquire into employer motivation." Ante at p. 380 U. S. 309 . Since the employer's true motive is to bring about settlement of the dispute on favorable terms, there can be no substantial discouragement of union membership or interference with concerted activities. And the right to strike is only the right to cease work, which the lockout only encourages, rather than displaces.
of the right to strike, nowhere supported in the Act, is unprecedented. Until today, the employer's true motive or sole purpose has not always been determinative of the impact on employee rights. Republic Aviation Corp. v. Labor Board, 324 U. S. 793 ; Radio Officers' Union v. Labor Board, 347 U. S. 17 ; Labor Board v. Truck Drivers Union, etc., 353 U. S. 87 ; Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., 373 U. S. 221 ; Labor Board v. Burnup & Sims, Inc., 379 U. S. 21 . The importance of the employer's right to hire replacements to continue operations, or of his right to fire employees he has good reason to believe are guilty of gross misconduct, was not doubted in Erie Resistor and Burnup & Sims. Nonetheless, the Board was upheld in its determination that the award of superseniority to strike replacements and discharge of the suspected employee were unfair labor practices. Of course, such conduct is taken in the pursuit of legitimate business ends, but nonetheless the
Erie Resistor, 373 U.S. at 373 U. S. 228 . I would have thought it apparent that loss of jobs for an indefinite period, and the threatened loss of jobs, which the Court's decision assuredly sanctions, cf. Textile Workers' Union v. Darlington Mfg. Co., ante, p. 380 U. S. 274 , n. 20, because of the union's negotiating activity, itself protected conduct under § 7, hardly encourage affiliation with a union.
Labor Board v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., 304 U. S. 333 , and a shutdown during or before negotiations advances an employer's bargaining position as much as a lockout after impasse. And the hiring of replacements is wholly consistent with the employer's intent "to resist the demands made of it in the negotiations and to secure modification of these demands." Ante at p. 380 U. S. 309 . I would also assume that, under §§ 8(a)(1) and (3), he may lock out for the sole purpose of resisting the union's assertion of grievances under a collective bargaining contract, absent a no-lockout clause. Given these legitimate business purposes, there is no anti-union motivation, and, absent such motivation, a lockout cannot be deemed destructive of employee rights. "[I]nquiry into employer motivation" may not be truncated. Ante at p. 380 U. S. 312 .
Ante at p. 380 U. S. 309 . I think that the Board may assess the impact of a bargaining lockout on protected employee rights without regard to motivation, and that the Court errs in failing to give due consideration to the Board's conclusions in this regard.
The balance and accommodation of "conflicting legitimate interests" in labor relations does not admit of a simple solution, and a myopic focus on the true intent or motive of the employer has not been the determinative standard of the Board or this Court. As the Court points out, there are things an employer may do for business reasons which are inconsistent with a rigid or literal interpretation of employee rights under the Act, such as the right to hire strike replacements. Labor Board v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., 304 U. S. 333 . But there are just as clearly others which he may not. Republic
Aviation, 324 U. S. 793 ; Erie Resistor, 373 U. S. 221 ; Burnup & Sims, 379 U. S. 21 . A literal interpretation will not suffice to reconcile these cases, nor to justify the result in the present case. For, in saying an employer may lock out all his employees, the Court fully ignores the most explicit statutory right of employees "to refrain from any or all [concerted] activities." Nor can these cases be explained by the Court's test that employer conduct is not proscribed unless it is "inherently so prejudicial to union interests and so devoid of significant economic justification," ante, at p. 380 U. S. 311 , that true motivation need not be independently shown. The test is clearly one of choosing among several motivations or purposes and weighing the respective interests of employers and employees. And I think that is the standard the Court applies to the bargaining lockout in this case, but without heeding the fact the balance is for the Board to strike in the first instance.
Erie Resistor, 373 U.S. at 373 U. S. 229 . Its decisions are not immune from attack in this Court. Its findings must be supported by substantial evidence, and its explication must fit the case before it, be adequate, and be based upon the policy of the Act and an acceptable reading of industrial realities. I would reverse the Board's decision here because it has not articulated a rational connection between the facts found and the decision made.
"This is not to deprecate, but to vindicate ( see Phelps Dodge Corp. v. Labor Board, 313 U. S. 177 , 313 U. S. 197 ), the administrative process, for the purpose of the rule is to avoid 'propel[ling] the court into the domain which Congress has set aside exclusively for the administrative agency.' 332 U.S. at 332 U. S. 196 "
Lines v. United States, 371 U. S. 156 , 371 U. S. 169 . It is to ask the Board to show that it has exercised the discretion which it has under the Act. Such insistence on a reasoned decision is a foremost function of judicial review, especially where conflicting significant interests are sought to be accommodated. Compare Securities & Exchange Comm. v. Chenery Corp., 318 U. S. 80 , with Securities & Exchange Comm. v. Chenery Corp., 332 U. S. 194 , 332 U. S. 197 . But this function is not to reject the Board's reasoned assessment of the impact of a particular economic weapon on employee rights. It is certainly not to restrike the balance which the Board has reached.
142 N.L.R.B. at 1382, and that the company "by its actions, therefore, did not violate . . . the Act," 142 N.L.R.B. at 1383. The Board did not dispute the trial examiner's finding that the employer in fact believed that a strike was threatened. Nor did it deny that, if the employer reasonably believed that "there was a real strike threat," the lockout would be justified. 142 N.L.R.B. at 1364. The Board, however, rejected the ultimate finding of the trial examiner because it disagreed with his conclusion that the employer "had reasonable grounds to fear a strike." (Emphasis added.) 142 N.L.R.B. at 1363. The Court of Appeals, in a single sentence, sustained the Board's holding on this point, concluding, without detailed analysis, "that the Board's finding that respondent had no reasonable basis for fearing a strike is not without the requisite record support." 331 F.2d 839, 840. In my view, the Board's conclusion that the employer's admitted fear of a strike was unreasonable is not only without the requisite record support, but is at complete variance with "the actualities of industrial relations," Labor Board v. United Steelworkers, 357 U. S. 357 , 357 U. S. 364 , which the Board is to take into account in effectuating the national labor policy.
Shortly before May, 1961, the unions notified the employer that they wished to modify the contract due to expire on August 1. At the first bargaining meeting on June 6, 1961, the employer spokesman maintained that competitive conditions prevented any increase in wages or benefits. The unions took an opposite view, and asked for a substantial increase in pension and other benefits. The parties met on numerous occasions throughout June and July. As the negotiations progressed, the employer receded from its original position and offered improved wages and benefits; the unions receded from some of their demands, but a meeting of the minds was not reached. On July 20 and subsequently, with the August 1 expiration date approaching, the unions proposed a six-month extension of the current contract. This would have given the unions an expiration date at a time most advantageous to them; the employer rejected this proposal on the grounds that the contract would then expire on February 1, 1962, the very height of its busy season, and that no customer would risk its ships by putting them in the company's yards knowing that the labor contract was about to expire. On July 28, the unions' negotiator informed the employer that the union members had voted "overwhelmingly to take a strike if necessary." On July 31 the employer made a new and increased offer on wages and benefits, asked that its proposals be submitted to the employees for a vote, and offered to extend the contract for the limited period sufficient to enable this vote to be taken. The unions, in turn, asked that the labor agreement be extended indefinitely until a new agreement was reached. The employer refused to agree to an indefinite extension of its present contract on the ground that it could then be struck at any time of the unions' choosing. [ Footnote 2/1 ]
in the past, there seemed to have been a strike at every -- during every negotiation since World War II, from information I had received, and it was our sincere hope that we could negotiate this agreement -- go through those negotiations and negotiate a new agreement without any strife, that, personally, I always had a strong dislike to strike, and that I thought, if two parties sincerely desired to reach an agreement, one could be reached without strike. The Company . . . stated that the Company concurred in those thoughts, that they too disliked strikes, and it was their hope, also, that an agreement could be reached amicably. [ Footnote 2/2 ]"
that, if a strike were called, any work brought into Respondent's yard before the strike would be completed" [ Footnote 2/3 ] likewise cannot be deemed to offset the unions' threat of a strike and its consequences. These men were officials of locals in only one of the eight separate unions involved. At most, they could give assurances as to a few of the men at two of the company's four yards. And even had all of the unions joined in these statements, which was not the case, the employer had been subject to wildcat strikes at a time when the unions were bound by a no-strike clause in their contract. Therefore, without impugning the good faith of these union agents, it surely was not unreasonable for the employer, notwithstanding this assurance, to fear that its employees might not complete work on ships when they were not bound by a no-strike clause.
strike at any time, or after giving brief notice. [ Footnote 2/4 ] Surely the employer would be reasonable in fearing that such an arrangement would peculiarly place the timing of the strike in the unions' hands.
The sum of all this is that the record does not supply even a scintilla of, let alone any substantial, evidence to support the conclusion of the Board that the employer's fear of a strike was unreasonable, but, rather, this conclusion appears irrational. Cf. Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., 373 U. S. 221 at 373 U. S. 236 . I would therefore hold on this record that the employer's lockout was completely justified.
The fact that the Board held on the undisputed facts that the employer's fear of a strike was unreasonable, and that the Court of Appeals has affirmed the Board, does not preclude us from reviewing this determination. See Public Service Comm. v. United States, 356 U. S. 421 . The standard that should have been applied by the Court of Appeals was whether the Board's finding was supported by substantial evidence when the record was viewed as a whole. Universal Camera Corp. v. Labor Board, 340 U. S. 474 . See Burlington Truck Lines, Inc. v. United States, 371 U. S. 156 , 371 U. S. 168 ; Interstate Commerce Comm'n v. J-T Transport Co., 368 U. S. 81 , 368 U. S. 93 .
Universal Camera Corp. v. Labor Board, supra, at 340 U. S. 490 . Indeed, the Board here set aside the report of its trial examiner, and, in
340 U.S. at 340 U. S. 496 . The Court of Appeals, in my view, in its summary affirmance on this issue, grossly misapplied the standards laid down by Universal Camera. This case is properly before us on a substantial legal question, which necessarily involves a review of the entire record. In making such a review, although we give proper weight to what the first reviewing court decides, we cannot ignore our duty to apply the statutory standard that the Board's findings must be supported by substantial evidence. Since the Board's holding was not so supported, but, on the contrary, as the plain facts of the record reveal, was irrational, I would reverse the Court of Appeals on this ground.
My view of this case would make it unnecessary to deal with the broad question of whether an employer may lock out his employees solely to bring economic pressure to bear in support of his bargaining position. The question of which types of lockout are compatible with the labor statute is a complex one, as this decision and the other cases decided today illustrate. See Textile Workers Union v. Darlington Mfg. Co., ante, p. 380 U. S. 263 ; Labor Board v. Brown, ante, p. 380 U. S. 278 . This Court has said that the problem of the legality of certain types of strike activity must be "revealed by unfolding variant situations," and requires "an evolutionary process for its rational response, not a quick, definitive formula as a comprehensive answer." Electrical Workers v. Labor Board, 366 U. S. 667 , 366 U. S. 674 ; see also Labor Board v. United Steelworkers, supra, 357 U. S. 362 -363. The same is true of lockouts.
The Court should be chary of sweeping generalizations in this complex area. When we deal with the lockout and the strike, we are dealing with weapons of industrial warfare. While the parties generally have their choice of economic weapons, see Labor Board v. Insurance Agents, 361 U. S. 477 , this choice, with respect to both the strike and the lockout, is not unrestricted. While we have recognized "the deference paid the strike weapon by the federal labor laws," Labor Board v. Erie Resistor, supra, at 373 U. S. 235 , not all forms of economically motivated strikes are protected, or even permissible, under the labor statutes [ Footnote 2/5 ] or the prior decisions of this Court. [ Footnote 2/6 ] Moreover, a lockout prompted by an anti-union motive is plainly illegal under the National Labor Relations Act, [ Footnote 2/7 ] though no similar restrictions as to motive operate to limit the legality of a strike. See Labor Board v. Somerset Shoe Co., 111 F.2d 681; Labor Board v. Stremel, 141 F.2d 317; Labor Board v. Somerset Classics, Inc., 193 F.2d 613. The varieties of restrictions imposed upon strikes and lockouts reflect the complexities presented by variant factual situations.
of the conflicting legitimate interests." Labor Board v. Truck Drivers Union, 353 U. S. 87 , 353 U. S. 96 . The Court states that employer conduct, not actually motivated by anti-union bias, [ Footnote 2/8 ] does not violate § 8(a)(1) or § 8(a)(3) unless it is "demonstrably so destructive of collective bargaining," ante at 380 U. S. 309 , or "so prejudicial to union interests and so devoid of significant economic justification," ante at 380 U. S. 311 , that no anti-union animus need be shown. This rule departs substantially from both the letter and the spirit of numerous prior decisions of the Court. See, e.g., Labor Board v. Truck Drivers Union, supra, at 353 U. S. 96 ; Republic Aviation Corp. v. Labor Board, 324 U. S. 793 ; Labor Board v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 351 U. S. 105 ; Labor Board v. Burnup & Sims, Inc., 379 U. S. 21 .
A similar test is applicable in § 8(a)(3) cases where no anti-union motive is shown. The Court misreads Radio Officers' Union v. Labor Board, 347 U. S. 17 , and Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., supra, in stating that the test in such cases under § 8(a)(3) is whether practices
Ante at 380 U. S. 311 . Radio Officers did not restrict the application of § 8(a)(3) in cases devoid of anti-union motive to the extreme situations encompassed by the Court's test. Rather, in holding applicable the common law rule that a man is presumed to intend the foreseeable consequences of his own actions, the Court extended the reach of § 8(a)(3) to all cases in which a significant anti-union effect is foreseeable, regardless of the employer's motive. In such cases the Court, in Erie Resistor Corp., held that conduct might be determined by the Board to violate § 8(a)(3) where the Board's determination resulted from a reasonable
373 U.S. at 373 U. S. 229 .
These cases show that the tests as to whether an employer's conduct violates § 8(a)(1) or violates § 8(a)(3) without a showing of anti-union motive come down to substantially the same thing: whether the legitimate economic interests of the employer justify his interference with the rights of his employees -- a test involving "the balancing of the conflicting legitimate interests." Labor Board v. Truck Drivers Union, supra, at 353 U. S. 96 . As the prior decisions of this Court have held,
See Automobile Workers v. Wisconsin Board, 336 U. S. 245 ; Labor Board v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., 306 U. S. 240 .
See Labor Board v. Truck Drivers Union, etc., supra, at 353 U. S. 93 ; Textile Workers Union v. Darlington Mfg. Co., ante, p. 380 U. S. 263 , at 380 U. S. 268 -269.