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HOUSTON INSULATION CONTRACTORS ASSN. V. NLRB, 386 U. S. 664 (1967) - US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE
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HOUSTON INSULATION CONTRACTORS ASSN. V. NLRB, 386 U. S. 664 (1967)
Subscribe to Cases that cite 386 U. S. 664 U.S. Supreme CourtHouston Insulation Contractors Assn. v. NLRB, 386 U.S. 664 (1967)Houston Insulation Contractors Assn. v.National Labor Relations BoardNo. 206Argued January 19, 1967Decided April 17, 1967*386 U.S. 664CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
In a collective bargaining agreement between a contractors' association and Local 22 of an insulators and asbestos workers' union, it is provided that the employer will not contract out work relating to the preparation, distribution and application of pipe and boiler coverings. In No. 206, Johns-Manville (J-M), an association member engaged in a construction project, purchased from a manufacturer precut stainless steel bands for fastening insulation material around pipes. Since customarily the cutting work was reserved by the collective bargaining agreement for J-M employee members of Local 22, the union instructed its members at the jobsite not to install the precut bands. The association charged Local 22 with violating § 8(b)(4)(B) of the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB, holding that the union's conduct had been taken to protest a deprivation of work traditionally performed by its members, and thus constituted primary activity, dismissed the charge, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. The association petitioned for certiorari. In No. 413, Armstrong Company, an association member, was engaged in a construction project within the jurisdiction of Local 113, a sister union of Local 22. Armstrong bought from a manufacturer asbestos fittings upon which had already been performed the cutting and mitering operations customarily performed by Local 22 at an Armstrong shop. Local 113's agents informed Armstrong that the fittings would not be installed unless the cutting and mitering had been performed by its sister Local 22. The association charged Local 113 with violating § 8(b)(4)(B). The NLRB having found Local 113's conduct had been taken to preserve work customarily performed by Armstrong's own employees, and was thus primary, dismissed the charge. The Court of chanroblesvirtualawlibraryPage 386 U. S. 665
1. In No. 206, there having been substantial evidence to support the NLRB's finding, the judgment is affirmed on the authority of National Woodwoork Mfrs. Assn. v. NLRB, ante, p. 386 U. S. 612. Pp. 666-667.
2. In No. 413, the NLRB's finding, supported by substantial evidence, was that Local 113's object was to influence Armstrong in a dispute with Armstrong employees, and not for its effect elsewhere. Since collective activity by employees of the primary employer was involved, the purpose of which was to affect its labor policies, the conduct of the members of Local 113 in support of their fellow employees was not secondary, and thus not violative of § 8(b)(4)(B). National Woodwork Mfrs. Assn., supra, followed. Pp. 386 U. S. 668-669.
These are companion cases to Nos. 110 and 111, National Woodwork Mfr. Assn. v. NLRB and NLRB v. National Woodwork Mfrs. Assn., ante, p. 386 U. S. 612. A provision of the collective bargaining agreement between the Houston Insulation Contractors Association and Local 22, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers, AFL-CIO, provides, in pertinent part, that the employer will not contract out work relating to "the preparation, distribution and application of pipe and boiler coverings." In No. 206, chanroblesvirtualawlibraryPage 386 U. S. 666
No. 206: Johns-Manville Company, a member of the Contractors Association, engaged in a construction project in Texas City, Texas, purchased from Techalloy Corporation, a manufacturer of insulation materials, stainless steel bands used to fasten asbestos material around pipes to be insulated. The bands had been precut to specification by Techalloy's employees. Customarily, Johns-Manville had ordered rolls of wire which were then cut to size by members of Local 22. The cutting work was reserved for Johns-Manville employee members of Local 22 by the quoted provision of the collective bargaining agreement between the Association and the Local. Agents of Local 22 instructed its members on the jobsite not to install the precut bands. After the hearing on the complaint issued on the Contractors Association's charge that this conduct violated § 8(b)(4)(B), the Board held that
148 N.L.R.B. at 869. The Court of chanroblesvirtualawlibraryPage 386 U. S. 667
Appeals found that there was substantial evidence to support this finding, and sustained it. [Footnote 1] The Association here attacks the substantiality of the evidence supporting the Board's finding, but we agree wit the Court of Appeals. See Universal Camera Corp. v. Labor Board, 340 U. S. 474. In that circumstance, our holding today in National Woodwork Mfrs. Assn. v. NLRB, supra, requires an affirmance in No. 206.
No. 413: Armstrong Company, a member of the Contractors Association, was engaged in a construction project in Victoria, Texas, within the jurisdiction of Local 113 of the Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers. The cutting and mitering of asbestos fittings for such jobs was customarily performed at Armstrong's Houston shop, which was within Local 22's jurisdiction. Armstrong purchased from Thorpe Company, a manufacturer of insulation materials, asbestos fittings upon which the cutting and mitering work had already been performed. Agents of Local 113 informed Armstrong that fittings would not be installed unless the cutting and mitering had been performed by its sister Local 22, as provided by Local 22's bargaining agreement. [Footnote 2] The Board found, chanroblesvirtualawlibraryPage 386 U. S. 668
as it had in No. 206, that the object of this refusal was primary -- the preservation of work customarily performed by Armstrong's own employees. 148 N.L.R.B. at 869. The Court of Appeals reversed on the ground that Local 113 "had no economic interest in Local 22's claim of breach of contract," and that, therefore, "it was coercing Armstrong not for its own benefit, but for the benefit of another local at the expense of a neutral employer." 357 F.2d 189. We disagree.
"Congress was not concerned to protect primary employers against pressures by disinterested unions, but rather to protect disinterested employers against direct pressures by any union. [Footnote 3]"
Primary employees have traditionally been assured the right to take concerted action against their employer to gain the "mutual aid or protection" guaranteed by § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 61 Stat. 140, whether or not the resolution of the particular dispute directly affects all of them. As Judge Learned Hand stated in Labor Board v. Peter Cailler Kohler Swiss Chocolates Co., 130 F.2d 503, 505-506:
"When all the other workmen in a shop make common cause with a fellow workman over his separate grievance, and go out on strike in his support, they engage in a 'concerted activity' for 'mutual Page 386 U. S. 669
MR. JUSTICE BLACK, MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, MR. JUSTICE CLARK, and MR. JUSTICE STEWART dissent for the reasons expressed in MR. JUSTICE STEWART's dissenting opinion in National Woodwork Mfrs. Assn. v. NLRB, ante, p. 386 U. S. 650.
* Together with No. 413, National Labor Relations Board v. Houston Insulation Contractors Association, also on certiorari to the same court.
The Association did not charge the Union with violation of § 8(e) (73 Stat. 543), and the validity of the work preservation clause was not an issue in the hearing before the Board. But the Board appears to have assumed that the clause was valid in holding that the object of the Union's conduct pursuant thereto was a primary one of work preservation. The Court of Appeals expressly held, as an aspect of its finding that § 8(b)(4)(B) was not violated by Local 22's activities, that the clause was valid. 357 F.2d 188-189.
United Association of Journeymen, Local 106 (Columbia-Southern Chemical Corporation), 110 N.L.R.B. 206, 209.