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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 158', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 17', '§ 52', '§ 104', '§ 8']

Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Associated Builders &contractors, Inc., Petitioner, v. National Labor Relations Board, Respondent, v. International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 701,intervenor.oregon-columbia Chapter, the Associated General Contractorsof America, Inc., Petitioner, v. National Labor Relations Board, Respondent, v. International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 701,intervenor.international Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 701, Petitioner, v. National Labor Relations Board, Respondent.woelke & Romero Framing, Inc., Petitioner, v. National Labor Relations Board, Respondent, v. Carpenters Local No. 944 and Carpenters Local No. 235, Intervenors.national Labor Relations Board, Petitioner, v. Carpenters Local No. 944, United Brotherhood of Carpenters &joiners of America, Afl-cio, and Carpenters Localno. 235, United Brotherhood Ofcarpenters & Joiners Ofamerica, Afl-cio, Respondent, 654 F.2d 1301 (9th Cir. 1981) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Ninth Circuit › 1981 › Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Associated Builders &contractors, Inc., Petitioner, v. National Lab...
Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Associated Builders &contractors, Inc., Petitioner, v. National Labor Relations Board, Respondent, v. International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 701,intervenor.oregon-columbia Chapter, the Associated General Contractorsof America, Inc., Petitioner, v. National Labor Relations Board, Respondent, v. International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 701,intervenor.international Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 701, Petitioner, v. National Labor Relations Board, Respondent.woelke & Romero Framing, Inc., Petitioner, v. National Labor Relations Board, Respondent, v. Carpenters Local No. 944 and Carpenters Local No. 235, Intervenors.national Labor Relations Board, Petitioner, v. Carpenters Local No. 944, United Brotherhood of Carpenters &joiners of America, Afl-cio, and Carpenters Localno. 235, United Brotherhood Ofcarpenters & Joiners Ofamerica, Afl-cio, Respondent, 654 F.2d 1301 (9th Cir. 1981)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit - 654 F.2d 1301 (9th Cir. 1981)
Argued and Submitted Oct. 16, 1980. Decided April 17, 1981. Certiorari Granted Oct. 5, 1981. See 102 S. Ct. 90
The second decision of the Board concerns Woelke Romero Framing, Inc., (Woelke), a framing subcontractor in the construction industry in Southern California. Woelke was a party to a collective bargaining agreement entered on July 5, 1974, with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, AFL-CIO (Carpenters), a group which included Locals Number 235 and 944 involved in this litigation. That agreement expired on June 15, 1977. From about June 3, 1977, to August 4, 1977, Carpenters and Woelke engaged in collective bargaining for the purpose of negotiating a successor agreement. They broke off negotiations when they reached an impasse over several issues.3 One such issue was the union's demand for a clause in the contract that prohibited Woelke from subcontracting work at any construction jobsite "except to a person, firm or corporation, party to an appropriate, current labor agreement with the appropriate union, or subordinate body signatory to this Agreement."4 In support of Carpenters' demand for this contract provision, Locals 235 and 944 picketed Woelke's construction sites, causing some work stoppages. The two locals were charged with violation of § 8(b) (4) (i) and (ii) (A) of the Act5 for picketing to require an employer "to enter into any agreement which is prohibited by section 8(e)."
The case was submitted to the Board upon stipulation and the Board found that the proposed subcontracting agreement was not prohibited by § 8(e) because it fell within the construction industry proviso, and that picketing to obtain such a clause therefor did not violate § 8(b) (4). Woelke petitions for review of the Board's order, and the Board seeks enforcement.6
Both decisions of the Board were reviewed by a panel of this court. 609 F.2d 1341 (9th Cir. 1979). On the authority of Connell Construction Co. v. Plumbers & Steamfitters Local Union No. 100, 421 U.S. 616, 95 S. Ct. 1830, 44 L. Ed. 2d 418 (1975), the panel held that the subcontractor clauses were prohibited by § 8(e) and did not fall within the protection of the construction industry proviso because their applicability was not limited to jobsites where members of the signatory union were employed at some time during the construction project. Having found the present clauses unenforceable, the panel did not reach the questions whether picketing or striking either to obtain or enforce a lawful subcontractor clause would violate § 8(e). 609 F.2d at 1351. This court subsequently ordered rehearing before a limited en banc panel as provided by Public Law 95-486, 92 Stat. 1629, 1633 and Rule 25 of this court.
(3) If the subcontracting clauses are lawful, does it nevertheless violate § 8(b) (4) for a union to picket or strike to induce an employer to agree to one?
(4) If the subcontracting clauses are lawful, does it nevertheless violate § 8(b) (4) to enforce them by picketing or strikes?
The subcontractor clauses in the present case clearly require the signatory employer to cease or refrain from using the products of another employer or to cease doing business with another person. The clauses consequently fall within the literal language of § 8(e). In National Woodwork Manufacturers Association v. NLRB, 386 U.S. 612, 87 S. Ct. 1250, 18 L. Ed. 2d 357 (1967), however, the Supreme Court held that § 8(e) is not to be read as expansively as its language seems to indicate. The Court pointed out that the purpose of Congress in enacting § 8(e) was to prohibit voluntary arrangements that reached the same result as coercive secondary boycotts prohibited by § 8(b) (4) (ii) (B) of the Act. The Court therefore held that an agreement between a union and an employer which prohibited certain kinds of subcontracting was permissible so long as the objective was to preserve work traditionally performed at the jobsite by employees of the primary employer. Such a "work preservation" clause was viewed as primary and therefore did not constitute an unfair labor practice.7 The test whether an agreement was primary and permissible was "whether the agreement or its maintenance is addressed to the labor relations of the contracting employer vis-a-vis his own employees." Id. at 645, 87 S. Ct. at 1268-69. An agreement was secondary and prohibited when "the agreements and boycotts were tactically calculated to satisfy union objectives elsewhere." Id. at 644, 87 S. Ct. at 1268.
By the National Woodwork test, union signatory clauses such as those in issue here are secondary in objective. They do not seek to preserve work for the employees of the contracting employer by limiting the amount of subcontracting. Nor do they seek to protect the wage and benefit standards of those same employees in their present employment by merely limiting subcontracting to third parties who maintain equivalent standards. Instead, these union signatory clauses permit unlimited subcontracting so long as the subcontractors have an agreement with the contracting union. Such clauses are properly viewed as secondary, for they are intended to satisfy union objectives involving employees and employers outside of the bargaining or work unit. Griffith Co. v. NLRB, 545 F.2d 1194 (9th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 854, 98 S. Ct. 171, 54 L. Ed. 2d 124 (1977); NLRB v. National Maritime Union, 486 F.2d 907 (2d Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 970, 94 S. Ct. 1993, 40 L. Ed. 2d 559 (1974).
The union's further contention that work preservation for the employees of each contractor was one of the objectives underlying the union subcontracting clause, does not compel us to alter our conclusion. Regardless of the union's other objectives, if "an object of a clause is to aid union members generally rather than members of the unit, the object is secondary and unlawful." National Maritime Union, 196 N.L.R.B. 1100, 1101 (1972), enforced, 486 F.2d 907 (2d Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 970, 94 S. Ct. 1993, 40 L. Ed. 2d 559 (1974) (emphasis supplied).
It is true that the primary-secondary distinction is particularly difficult to maintain in the construction industry, where contractors and subcontractors assemble their work forces for specific short-term jobs. There is a great deal of flexibility and interchangeability of employees between bargaining units. As a result, a subcontractor clause may well serve the interests of union members in the primary bargaining unit who may later find themselves working for a subcontractor. While we believe that fact to be of great significance for purposes of determining the scope of the construction industry proviso, we do not view it as determinative of the initial applicability of § 8(e) itself. See NLRB v. National Maritime Union, 486 F.2d at 913-14. The primary-secondary distinction between separate employers working the same jobsite in the construction industry has been adhered to in the past, NLRB v. Denver Building & Construction Trades, 341 U.S. 675, 71 S. Ct. 943, 95 L. Ed. 1284 (1951), and we do not feel free to disregard it here. Moreover, the consequences of viewing union signatory clauses as primary would be not only to remove them from the scope of § 8(e) but also to remove picketing to enforce such agreements from the prohibition of § 8(b) (4) (ii) (B). For reasons stated in Section VI of this opinion, we believe that permitting coercive enforcement of union signatory clauses would be contrary to the intent of Congress.
In order to ascertain the scope of the construction industry proviso, it is necessary to examine its legislative history in the light of the practices existing in the industry at that time and the law then applicable. In so reviewing the origins of the 1959 Landrum-Griffin Act of which § 8(e) and its proviso were a part, we recognize that our initial conclusions as to its meaning are subject to any modifications or corrections that may be compelled by a fair reading of Connell Construction Co. v. Plumbers & Steamfitters Local Union No. 100, 421 U.S. 616, 95 S. Ct. 1830, 44 L. Ed. 2d 418 (1975). Indeed, it is the effect of Connell that provides the primary ground of controversy in the present litigation. We believe, however, that the Connell decision is best analyzed after a review of the state of the industry and the legislative and administrative history of the proviso governing it.
Some of these devices were not necessarily consistent with the organizational scheme of the National Labor Relations Act in its original form. The Act initially caused no disruption in the pattern of collective bargaining in the construction industry, however, because the National Labor Relations Board declined to exercise jurisdiction over that industry.13 The Taft-Hartley Amendments to the Act, passed in 1947, led to a reversal of the Board's position. Those amendments prohibited striking or picketing to coerce an employer to refrain from dealing in the products of any other employer or to cease to do business with any other person. § 8(b) (4) (A).14 Subsequent to the amendments, the Board's General Counsel determined that the construction industry would be regulated by the Board.15
One effect of applying the amended Act to the construction industry was the invalidation of collective bargaining agreements entered before any employees were hired on the job. Guy F. Atkinson Co. and J. A. Jones Construction Co., 90 N.L.R.B. 143 (1950), enforcement denied on other grounds, 195 F.2d 141 (9th Cir. 1952). The amended Act was also applied to prohibit a construction union from picketing a jobsite in order to force the general contractor with whom it had a collective bargaining agreement to cease doing business with a particular subcontractor on the job whose employees were non-union. NLRB v. Denver Building & Construction Trades Council, 341 U.S. 675, 71 S. Ct. 943, 95 L. Ed. 1284 (1951). The picketing was found to violate § 8(b) (4) (A)'s prohibition of coercive secondary boycotts.
In June 1958, the Supreme Court had decided Local 1976, United Brotherhood of Carpenters v. NLRB, (Sand Door), 357 U.S. 93, 78 S. Ct. 1011, 2 L. Ed. 2d 1186, Sand Door stated that a union did not violate § 8(b) (4) (A) by securing the voluntary participation of an employer in a boycott of another employer's product. Although the Court said it found no occasion to determine the legality of "hot cargo" clauses (by which an employer agreed to boycott nonunion firms) as such, id. at 107, 78 S. Ct. at 1020, Sand Door was widely interpreted as permitting them. The decision was seen as creating a loophole in the Act, and it contributed heavily to the move toward amending the secondary boycott provision of the Act.(B) The Landrum-Griffin Amendments and § 8(e).
The 1959 revisions of the Act accomplished the congressional purposes in various ways. The clearest accommodation to the peculiar conditions of the construction industry was found in § 8(f),16 which authorized unions and employers in that industry to enter prehire agreements fixing terms and conditions of employment of workers yet to be hired. This provision amounts to an exception to §§ 8(a) (1), (2) and 8(b) (1) (A), which make it an unfair labor practice for both the employer and the union to enter a collective bargaining agreement before the union, represents a majority of employees in the unit. International Ladies Garment Workers Union v. NLRB, 366 U.S. 731, 81 S. Ct. 1603, 6 L. Ed. 2d 762 (1961); see NLRB v. International Association of Bridge, Structural & Ornamental Iron Workers, 434 U.S. 335, 344-45, 98 S. Ct. 651, 657-58, 54 L. Ed. 2d 586 (1978). Section 8(f) also shortened to 7 days the period for nonunion workers to join the union under a union-shop agreement.
The legislative history regarding the construction industry proviso is much less exhaustive than that surrounding the garment industry proviso,21 but there are nevertheless indications of congressional intent in the records. Senator Kennedy, the chairman of the Conference Committee, said of the two provisos, that "(b)oth changes were necessary to avoid serious damage to the pattern of collective bargaining in these industries." 105 Cong.Rec. 17899; II Leg.Hist. 1432. Unlike the garment industry, the construction industry was not exempted from the provisions of § 8(b) (4) that prohibited striking or picketing to coerce a secondary boycott; it was merely exempted from § 8(e)'s prohibition of agreements between a union and an employer by which the employer would boycott others. The Conference Committee stated its intent in regard to the proviso as follows:
The committee of conference does not intend that this proviso should be construed so as to change the present state of the law with respect to the validity of this specific type of agreement relating to work to be done at the site of the construction project or to remove the limitations which the present law imposes with respect to such agreements.... To the extent that such agreements are legal today under section 8(b) (4) ..., the proviso would prevent such legality from being affected by section 8(e).
It should be noted that shortly before enactment of the proviso, the District of Columbia Circuit had upheld a subcontractor agreement the terms of which were as broad as those presently in issue. Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3 v. NLRB, 266 F.2d 905 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. St. Maurice v. NLRB, 361 U.S. 834, 80 S. Ct. 86, 4 L. Ed. 2d 76 (1959).22 While that case dealt with an interunion dispute, the terms of the secondary agreement were not restricted to that or any other situation of jobsite conflict. In upholding the agreement, the Court referred to the Board's reasoning "that the preclusion of future work to a prospective subcontractor in the circumstances did not justify the Board in holding that the rights of unidentified employees of such prospective employer were adversely affected." 266 F.2d at 908.
It was against this industrial and legislative background that the Supreme Court decided Connell Construction Co. v. Plumbers & Steamfitters Local Union No. 100, 421 U.S. 616, 95 S. Ct. 1830, 44 L. Ed. 2d 418 (1975). Connell was an antitrust suit brought by a general contractor against a union that was picketing in order to coerce the contractor to enter an agreement to deal only with subcontractors having a collective bargaining agreement with the union. The union expressly disclaimed any interest in representing the general contractor's employees. The picketing was successful and the contractor sought to annul the ensuing agreement on the grounds that it violated the antitrust laws.24 One of the defenses raised by the union was that the agreement could not be a violation of the antitrust laws because it was authorized by the proviso to § 8(e) of the National Labor Relations Act. The Supreme Court rejected that defense and held that broad subcontracting agreements applicable to every jobsite where the general contractor might hire subcontractors were invalid when entered outside of the context of a collective bargaining relationship between the union and the general contractor.
421 U.S. at 626, 95 S. Ct. at 1837.27 The focus of the Connell decision was therefore understandably upon the situation created by subcontracting clauses in the absence of a collective bargaining agreement with the prime contracting employer.
That focus on the part of the Court was not merely the product of the antitrust setting of Connell, however. The parties themselves had framed the issues toward the same end. The union contended that all subcontractor agreements were validated by the plain words of § 8(e). The employer responded by urging that "despite the unqualified language of the proviso, Congress intended only to allow subcontracting agreements within the context of a collective-bargaining relationship ...," but not those involving a "stranger" contractor. Id. at 627, 95 S. Ct. at 1837.28 The subject of controversy, then, was the validity of subcontractor agreements outside of the collective bargaining context, and the Connell opinion must to a large degree be read in that light. The Court's conclusion, reached after a discussion of the legislative history and policies behind § 8(e), was clearly limited to the situation before it:
Id. at 635, 95 S. Ct. at 1841. The holding of Connell, then, does not in the strict sense control the cases before us.
It is quite true that when a union seeks to serve the interests of employees in its bargaining unit not as employees of their existing employer, but as potential employees of some other employer, the arrangement is legally viewed as secondary. National Woodwork, 386 U.S. at 644-45, 87 S. Ct. at 1268; National Maritime Union, supra. We do not quarrel with this well-established rule, nor with the rule that when primary and secondary objectives are combined, an agreement is regarded as secondary for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act. NLRB v. Denver Building & Construction Trades Council, 341 U.S. 675, 689, 71 S. Ct. at 952, 95 L. Ed. 1284 (1951).
We believe that the Connell opinion is sensitive both to the interconnection of interests between employees of the various contractors and subcontractors and to the broad manner in which any or all of these factors may be exhibited at the jobsite. In dealing with the legislative history of the construction industry proviso, the opinion in Connell points out that the proviso was "explained only by bare reference to 'the pattern of collective bargaining' in the industry." 421 U.S. at 628-29, 95 S. Ct. at 1838. The legislative history discussed above indicates, we believe, that the pattern of collective bargaining included broad subcontracting agreements. To the extent that the just-quoted comment in Connell dismisses the history regarding the pattern of collective bargaining, it may well be explained by the fact that Connell was dealing with a case not considered by Congress, in which there was no collective bargaining relationship.32
In any event, the subsequent language of the Connell opinion appears quite clearly to encompass the multiple considerations affecting the construction industry at the jobsite. The opinion suggests that the construction industry proviso may have been adopted "as a partial substitute for an attempt to overrule" Denver Building Trades, 421 U.S. at 629, 95 S. Ct. at 1838. Denver Building Trades had outlawed the picketing of a contractor at a jobsite in order to force it to cease doing business with a nonunion subcontractor working there. The Connell opinion refers to congressional discussion of special problems in the construction industry related both to the § 8(e) proviso and to the attempt to overrule Denver Building Trades. That discussion, according to the Court, "focused on the problems of picketing a single nonunion subcontractor on a multiemployer building project, and the close relationship between contractors and subcontractors at the jobsite." Id. 421 U.S. at 629-30, 95 S. Ct. at 1838. The Court's footnote to this statement refers to legislative history that clearly goes beyond the problem of shoulder-to-shoulder conflict between union and nonunion workers at the jobsite. The first excerpt referred to is by Senator Morse whose statement includes the following:
The Connell opinion quotes National Woodwork Manufacturers, supra, to the effect that the construction industry proviso is "designed to allow agreements pertaining to certain secondary activities on the construction site because of the close community of interests there, but to ban secondary-objective agreements concerning nonjobsite work, in which respect the construction industry is no different from any other." 421 U.S. at 630, 95 S. Ct. at 1839, quoting 386 U.S. at 638-39, 87 S. Ct. at 1265. It is clear that the Connell opinion views the jobsite considerations of National Woodwork as going well beyond the problem of friction among workers,34 because Connell next refers to some courts that have suggested that the proviso serves an "even narrower function" the alleviation of "the frictions that may arise when union men work continuously alongside nonunion men on the same construction site." Id. quoting Drivers Local Union No. 695 v. NLRB, 361 F.2d 547, 553 (D.C. Cir. 1966). The Connell opinion does not adopt this "even narrower" reading of the proviso, and indeed finds it unnecessary to treat the matter further because in the Connell case the union did not purport to represent any of the interests served by the proviso. 421 U.S. at 631, 95 S. Ct. at 1839.35
The Connell opinion's condemnation of the "unlimited" top-down organizing weapon with which it was confronted must be read in the context of the applicable factual and statutory framework. Because the union in Connell disclaimed any interest in organizing or representing Connell's employees, its picketing was not limited to the 30 days established for organizational picketing under § 8(b) (7). It could therefore picket indefinitely to obtain its objective of a subcontracting agreement covering all subcontracting by Connell. If the subcontractor clause were held to be legitimate, there would be no limit at all to the coercive force the union could apply. The decision in Connell solved this problem by holding that the subcontracting agreement was an unlawful goal when it was sought outside of a collective bargaining context.
The situation is quite different when a union seeks a subcontractor clause in the context of a collective bargaining relationship. In that situation, the union's coercive force is limited. If the clause is sought in the course of organizational or recognitional picketing, that picketing will be subject to the restrictions of § 8(b) (7). If the union already represents the contractor's employees, the employer may resist any attempts to secure a subcontractor agreement by asserting its own bargaining position and presenting its own demands. The existence of a collective bargaining relationship therefore avoids the "unlimited" nature of the organizational tool involved in Connell, where a stranger contractor was powerless to resist unlimited coercion by any means other than signing the demanded subcontractor agreement.
421 U.S. at 633, 95 S. Ct. at 1840. While it might be susceptible to another reading, we interpret this language to mean that the existence of a collective bargaining relationship clearly brings a union signatory subcontracting agreement within the proviso to § 8(e) and that in the absence of a collective bargaining relationship, it is possible that such an agreement may be valid where the union actually has workers on the job that may be threatened with shoulder-to-shoulder friction.37 We consequently believe that the quoted summary supports our conclusion that Connell does not deny the protection of the proviso to the subcontractor agreements in the present cases.
It is next contended, this time by Woelke, that even if a subcontractor agreement is protected by the construction industry proviso, it is an unfair labor practice for a union to picket or strike in order to induce a contractor to enter such an agreement. The legislative history of the 1959 amendments is in conflict on this point.41 The actual wording of § 8(b) (4) (ii) (A), however, prohibits coercion of any person "to enter into any agreement which is prohibited by (§ 8(e))."42 The negative implication of this provision is surely that picketing or striking to induce entry into an agreement protected by the proviso to § 8(e) is lawful.
After the 1959 amendments, the Board originally took the position that such agreements had to be voluntarily entered, but its position was uniformly rejected by this and other courts of appeals. Construction Production & Maintenance Laborers Union, Local 383 v. NLRB, (Colson & Stevens Construction Co.), 323 F.2d 422 (9th Cir. 1963); Orange Belt District Council of Painters No. 48 v. NLRB, 328 F.2d 534, 537 (D.C. Cir. 1964); Essex County and Vicinity District Council of Carpenters and Millwrights v. NLRB, 332 F.2d 636 (3d Cir. 1964). The Board subsequently acquiesced in the courts' view. Northeastern Indiana Building & Construction Council, 148 N.L.R.B. 854 (1964), remanded on other grounds, 352 F.2d 696 (D.C. Cir. 1965). We see no reason to disturb the present law and to read into the Act a limitation that runs counter to the suggestion of its plain words. Nor do we accept the contention that picketing or striking to obtain a subcontractor agreement violates the § 7 rights of employees of subcontractors; they are no more affected by a subcontractor agreement achieved by picketing than by one voluntarily entered.
The final issue concerns the effect of the provision in the AGC contract that permits each party to resort to self-help when the other party does not comply with an arbitration decision made pursuant to the grievance procedure.43 The Board concluded that these provisions authorized picketing or strikes to enforce the subcontractor agreement, and held that the contract was consequently unlawful. The rule that picketing or strikes may not be used to enforce subcontractor agreements arises from the fact that the 1959 amendments exempted the construction industry from § 8(e)'s prohibition against secondary boycott agreements, but did not exempt it from § 8(b) (4) (ii) (B), which forbids economic coercion to enforce such a boycott. The legislative history makes clear Congress's intent that subcontractor clauses entered pursuant to § 8(e) were to be enforced judicially rather than by self-help,44 and this court has followed that view. NLRB v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 405 F.2d 159, 163-64 (9th Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 921, 89 S. Ct. 1772, 23 L. Ed. 2d 237 (1969). We have also held that such clauses may be enforced by arbitration. La Mirada Trucking, Inc. v. Teamsters Local Union 166, 538 F.2d 286 (9th Cir. 1976).
Engineers argue, without pressing the point strongly, that self-help to enforce an arbitration award that in turn enforces a subcontractor agreement is not unlawful. The picketing or strike, according to the Union, is simply enforcing the arbitration award and not the underlying agreement. We believe that acceptance of this contention would too easily circumvent the clear intent of Congress and would do violence to the plain words of § 8(b) (4) (ii) (B). Nor can we accept the suggestion of the Union that the AGC agreement must be construed to limit the self-help clause to self-help which is determined to be lawful. We must take the agreement to mean what it says. Operating Engineers, Local No. 701 v. NLRB, 578 F.2d 841, 842 (9th Cir. 1978); Donald Schriver, Inc. v. NLRB, 635 F.2d at 886-87.
As with many legal issues, where one ends up in this case depends upon where one starts. While I have no disagreement with the court's holding that union signatory clauses are secondary and within the scope of section 8(e), I respectfully dissent from its holding that such clauses are invariably within the construction industry proviso to section 8(e) when a collective bargaining relationship exists between the employer and the union seeking the clause. The majority reaches its conclusion by commencing with the view that the construction industry presents unique problems in labor relations that require the legitimation of union signatory clauses. Although admitting that the legislative history is not compelling, the court finds that legitimation was provided by the construction industry proviso. My starting point, on the other hand, is with Connell Construction Co. v. Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 100, 421 U.S. 616, 95 S. Ct. 1830, 44 L. Ed. 2d 418 (1975), and its concern with the "top-down" organizing effect of union signatory clauses. This concern led the panel before which this case was heard originally to hold as follows:
The court rejects the panel's result because it is said to represent an "even narrower" view of the construction industry proviso than that adopted by the Supreme Court in Connell. 654 F.2d 1320. Alleviation of "the frictions that may arise when union men work continuously alongside nonunion men on the same construction site," 421 U.S. at 630, 95 S. Ct. at 1839, is said not to have been a concern of the Supreme Court in Connell because in that case "the union did not purport to represent any of the interests served by the proviso." 654 F.2d 1320. Presumably this is because there was no collective bargaining agreement between the employer and union in that case.
"We therefore hold that this agreement, which is outside the context of a collective-bargaining relationship and not restricted to a particular jobsite, but which nonetheless obligates Connell to subcontract work only to firms that have a contract with Local 100, may be the basis of a federal antitrust suit because it has a potential for restraining competition in the business market in ways that would not follow naturally from elimination of competition over wages and working conditions." 421 U.S. at 635, 95 S. Ct. at 1841.
It must be acknowledged that the panel's holding would not greatly diminish the "top-down" organizing effect of the union signatory clause. It would permit the choice of the more efficient firm only when to do so would entail no jobsite friction between members of the signatory union and workers performing work covered by the collective bargaining agreement. Thus, a provision in the agreement precluding subcontracting of all the covered work would prevent choice of the more efficient firm and thus provide a substantial "top-down" organizing effect. A clause prohibiting subcontracting is permissible. National Woodwork Manufacturers Association v. NLRB, 386 U.S. 612, 644-46, 87 S. Ct. 1250, 1268-69, 18 L. Ed. 2d 357 (1967); see also Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. v. NLRB, 379 U.S. 203, 85 S. Ct. 398, 13 L. Ed. 2d 233 (1964); NLRB v. Johnson, 368 F.2d 549 (9th Cir. 1966). However, the panel's holding would afford an opportunity by which an employer could accept a union signatory clause without sacrificing all right to choose the more efficient subcontractor. Preservation of this opportunity would be more consistent with the primary concern of Connell than is the position of the en banc court. I doubt that the en banc court seriously contends otherwise. It does believe that the preservation of this opportunity would provide a "strong incentive for anti-union discrimination by employers." 654 F.2d 1322. I am dubious. Under either view an anti-union employer will strive to avoid a union signatory clause. That an employer under the panel's view would have a limited opportunity to subcontract to a firm not having an agreement with the signatory union is not likely to make it more anti-union.
I agree with the en banc court that the legislative history of the construction industry proviso is not conclusive. We have previously considered the legislative history of the proviso. ACCO Construction Equipment, Inc. v. NLRB, 511 F.2d 848, 851 (9th Cir. 1975). In surveying the legislative history, we concluded that the dominant motive of Congress in adopting the proviso was to permit agreements that aimed at eliminating jobsite friction between union and nonunion workers. Id. at 851; accord, Drivers Local 695 v. NLRB, 361 F.2d 547, 553 (D.C. Cir. 1966); Essex County District Council of Carpenters v. NLRB, 332 F.2d 636, 640 (3d Cir. 1964). And the National Labor Relations Board previously believed: "(T)he 8(e) proviso was intended to prevent labor strife among nonunion and union employees at the same jobsite." International Union of Operating Engineers, Locals 542, 542-A and 542-B, 216 N.L.R.B. 408, 409 (1975), enforced, 532 F.2d 902 (3d Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1072, 97 S. Ct. 808, 50 L. Ed. 2d 789 (1977). I see no reason to depart from our earlier analysis of the purpose of the proviso.
The en banc court notes that some subcontractor clauses similar to those challenged in these cases existed in 1959. Since they conclude that the Congress intended to preserve the law relating to the construction industry as it then existed, the court argues that Congress intended that the proviso would protect broad subcontractor clauses. I believe this reasoning gives far too much weight to the bare reference to the pattern of collective bargaining referred to in the Committee Report. See Connell, supra, 421 U.S. at 628-29, 95 S. Ct. at 1838. Furthermore, the lawfulness and permissible scope of subcontractor agreements had not been conclusively determined in 1959. And the proviso clearly changed the law by explicitly limiting its protection to jobsite work. That limitation at least partially overruled the Sand Door case, Local 1976, United Brotherhood of Carpenters v. NLRB, 357 U.S. 93, 78 S. Ct. 1011, 2 L. Ed. 2d 1186 (1958). Thus the most that can be said is that Congress intended to preserve the existing law within the scope of the proviso. That proposition, however, begs rather than answers the question of what the proper scope of the proviso is. That is what this case is about. Our decision, whatever it is, can draw but little comfort from the legislative history.
Thus, we come to the nub of the matter. Which interpretation of the proviso is more faithful to curbing "top-down" organizing, which, it must be remembered, was Congress's objective in adopting the 1959 Act which included section 8(e). Connell, supra, 421 U.S. at 632-33, 95 S. Ct. at 1840. The holding of the panel gets my nod.1
In Connell Construction Co. v. Plumbers Local 100, 421 U.S. 616, 95 S. Ct. 1830, 44 L. Ed. 2d 418 (1975), the Supreme Court concluded that the construction industry proviso did not authorize a construction industry employer and a union not representing its employees to agree to limit the employer's right to subcontract. Finding no congressional purpose in extending the proviso to legalize agreements between employers and "stranger" unions, the Court narrowly construed the proviso to limit its scope "to agreements in the context of collective-bargaining relationships and ... possibly to common-situs relationships on particular jobsites as well." Id. at 633, 95 S. Ct. at 1840.
Another issue over which the parties reached impasse was Carpenters' demand to include Woelke's foremen in the bargaining unit. The Board found that picketing to enforce this demand violated § 8(b) (1) (B) of the Act. The union has not contested that ruling in this court. We therefore enforce the Board's order concerning this issue
Sections 8(b) (4) (i) and (ii) (A) and (B), 29 U.S.C. § 158(b) (4) (i) and (ii) (A) and (B), provide:
Along with the present cases, reported at 239 N.L.R.B. 274 (1978) (Pacific Northwest) and 239 N.L.R.B. 241 (Woelke), the Board decided Los Angeles Building & Construction Trades Council (Donald Schriver, Inc.), 239 N.L.R.B. 264 (1978), and Colorado Building & Construction Trades Council, 239 N.L.R.B. 253 (1978). The Board's order upholding broad subcontractor agreements in Schriver was enforced by the District of Columbia Circuit in an extensive and instructive opinion by Judge Edwards. Donald Schriver, Inc. v. NLRB, 635 F.2d 859 (D.C. Cir. 1980)
"Union standards" clauses, which require that an employer not subcontract with anyone whose wage and benefit scale does not meet union standards, have also been held primary. The purpose of such clauses is deemed to be protection of the pay and benefit scales of the workers of the primary employer. Truck Drivers Union Local No. 413 v. NLRB, 334 F.2d 539, 548 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 916, 85 S. Ct. 264, 13 L. Ed. 2d 186 (1964); NLRB v. National Maritime Union, 486 F.2d 907, 912 (2d Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 970, 94 S. Ct. 1993, 40 L. Ed. 2d 559 (1974)
A union attempt to limit subcontracting to union firms was held exempt from the antitrust laws as early as 1934. Levering & Garrigues Co. v. Morrin, 71 F.2d 284 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 293 U.S. 595, 55 S. Ct. 110, 79 L. Ed. 688 (1934)
The relevant portions of § 8(b) (4) (A) are now in § 8(b) (4) (ii) (B), quoted in note 4 supra
It shall not be an unfair labor practice under subsections (a) and (b) of this section for an employer engaged primarily in the building and construction industry to make an agreement covering employees engaged (or who, upon their employment, will be engaged) in the building and construction industry with a labor organization of which building and construction employees are members (not established, maintained, or assisted by any action defined in subsection (a) of this section as an unfair labor practice) because (1) the majority status of such labor organization has not been established under the provisions of section 159 of this title prior to the making of such agreement, or (2) such agreement requires as a condition of employment, membership in such labor organization after the seventh day following the beginning of such employment or the effective date of the agreement, whichever is later, or (3) such agreement requires the employer to notify such labor organization of opportunities for employment with such employer, or gives such labor organization an opportunity to refer qualified applicants for such employment, or (4) such agreement specifies minimum training or experience qualifications for employment or provides for priority in opportunities for employment based upon length of service with such employer, in the industry or in the particular geographical area: Provided, That nothing in this subsection shall set aside the final proviso to subsection (a) (3) of this section: Provided further, That any agreement which would be invalid, but for clause (1) of this subsection, shall not be a bar to a petition filed pursuant to section 159(c) or 159(e) of this title.
Provided further, That for the purpose of this subsection and subsection (b) (4) (B) of this section the terms "any employer", "any person engaged in commerce or an industry affecting commerce", and "any person" when used in relation to the terms "any other producer, processor, or manufacturer", "any other employer", or "any other person" shall not include persons in the relation of a jobber, manufacturer, contractor, or subcontractor working on the goods or premises of the jobber or manufacturer or performing parts of an integrated process of production in the apparel and clothing industry....
Connell was another chapter in the dispute in Dallas between building contractors and trade unions. In Dallas Building & Construction Trades Council v. NLRB, 396 F.2d 677 (D.C. Cir. 1968), a clause similar to the one in Connell was at issue. Unlike Connell, however, the general contractor that was picketed had nonunion employees. Although the Trades Council expressly disavowed any interest in organizing the general contractor's workers, both the Board and the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals concluded otherwise. The court held that because there was an organizational objective the picketing was limited to thirty days by § 8(b) (7), a period which the unions had exceeded
The court's opinion left open the possibility of picketing more than thirty days if the unions could conclusively show no organizational objective. In order to avoid the § 8(b) (7) problem, the unions picketed contractors who had no employees of their own. The contractors sought to challenge this practice before the Board, but the General Counsel refused to issue a complaint. See Connell, 483 F.2d 1154, 1158 (5th Cir. 1973), and 421 U.S. at 631-32 n. 10, 95 S. Ct. at 1839 n. 10.
But for the Connell decision, we would have no difficulty in enforcing the Board's order. Prior to Connell, this court, other circuits and the Board had upheld broad subcontracting clauses in collective bargaining agreements. See, e. g., Construction, Production & Maintenance Laborers Union, Local 383 v. NLRB, 323 F.2d 422 (9th Cir. 1963); Suburban Title Center Inc., v. Rockford Building & Construction Trades Council, 354 F.2d 1, 2-3 (7th Cir. 1965), cert. denied, 384 U.S. 960, 86 S. Ct. 1585, 16 L. Ed. 2d 673 (1966); United Association of Journeymen & Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry Local 48, 190 N.L.R.B. 415, 416-17 (1971)
See Connell, 421 U.S. at 622-23, 95 S. Ct. at 1835; St. Antoine, Connell: Antitrust Law at the Expense of Labor Law, 62 Va. L. Rev. 603 (1976). Labor unions also have a statutory exemption from the antitrust laws by virtue of sections 6 and 20 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 17, 29 U.S.C. § 52, and sections 4, 5 and 13 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 104, 105, 113. These statutes declare that labor unions are not combinations in restraint of trade and exempt specific union activities including secondary boycotts from the antitrust laws and from certain kinds of injunctive relief. These statutes do not, however, exempt concerted activity or agreements between unions and non-labor parties. Connell, supra, 622-23, 95 S. Ct. at 1835. See generally, R. Gorman, Basic Text on Labor Law, 621-31 (1976)
The briefs in Connell concentrated entirely on the distinction between the presence and absence of a collective bargaining relationship in determining the validity of subcontracting clauses. The policy of preventing jobsite friction was raised tangentially in the appendix to Local 100's brief which included a memorandum by the NLRB General Counsel explaining why he would not issue a complaint in a case factually similar to Connell. Significantly, that memorandum, dealing with Hagler Construction Co., was distinguished in the Connell opinion as being "... addressed to a different argument that a subcontracting clause should be allowed only if there is a pre-existing collective bargaining relationship with the general contractor or if the general contractor has employees who perform the kind of work covered by the agreement." 421 U.S. at 632 n. 10, 95 S. Ct. at 1839 n. 10. (Emphasis in original)
In Woelke, the union had entered a three-year collective bargaining agreement with the employer and the dispute arose during negotiations to renew the contract. In Pacific Northwest, the union had long had a continuous collective bargaining agreement with the Association of General Contractors. We therefore need not reach and express no opinion on the question whether a "prehire" agreement entered or sought pursuant to § 8(f) of the Act is a sufficient "collective bargaining relationship" to render permissible the entry of subcontracting agreements. We note that prehire agreements were held sufficient to legitimize subcontracting agreements in Donald Schriver Inc. v. NLRB, 635 F.2d 859 (D.C. Cir. 1980)
Senator Taft's remarks were part of a colloquy with Senator Ives on June 30, 1949, 95 Cong.Record 8709. Senator Taft was referring to the garment industry, but he cited for his proposition a case that involved the construction industry: Douds v. Metropolitan Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists & Technicians, Local 231, (Project Engineering Co.), 75 F. Supp. 672 (S.D.N.Y. 1948)
Indeed, National Woodwork contains a footnote reference succeeding the discussion of the "close community of interests" on the jobsite. 386 U.S. at 639 n. 32, 87 S. Ct. at 1265 n. 32. That footnote refers to Essex County and Vicinity District Council of Carpenters and Millwrights v. NLRB, 332 F.2d 636 (3d Cir. 1964), which does deal with shoulder-to-shoulder friction. It also refers, however, to a Yale Law Journal Comment. The Impact of the Taft-Hartley Act on the Building and Construction Industry, 60 Yale L.J. 673, 684-89 (1951), which discusses not only jobsite friction but also the additional considerations of interchangeability of workers, short time span, flexible contracting arrangements, and numerous other interests that a union representing a primary group of employees may have in the employment arrangements of other employees at the jobsite
Our reading of the quoted language in Connell as presenting disjunctive alternatives rather than conjunctive and cumulative requirements is supported by the District of Columbia Circuit and probably by the Third Circuit. Donald Schriver, Inc., supra; Larry V. Muko, Inc. v. Southwestern Pennsylvania Building & Construction Trades Council, 609 F.2d 1368, 1374-75 (3d Cir. 1979) (en banc). Lower courts and commentators have varied in their approach to the underlying issue. See Landscape Specialties, Inc. v. Laborers' International Union, Local 806, 477 F. Supp. 17 (C.D. Cal. 1979); Long v. Floorcraft Carpet Co., 82 Labor cases P 10,044 (D. Or. 1977); St. Antoine, supra, 62 Va. L. Rev. at 619; Janofsky & Hay, Connell Consistent with Past, Indicative of Future, Proceedings of N.Y.U. Twenty-Ninth Annual Conference on Labor 3, 21-22 (1976)
NLRB v. Yeshiva University, 444 U.S. 672, 691, 100 S. Ct. 856, 867, 63 L. Ed. 2d 115 (1980). Compare Beth Israel Hospital v. NLRB, 437 U.S. 483, 500-01, 98 S. Ct. 2463, 2473, 57 L. Ed. 2d 370 (1978), and NLRB v. International Association of Bridge, Structural & Ornamental Iron Workers, 434 U.S. 335, 350-51, 98 S. Ct. 651, 660-61, 54 L. Ed. 2d 586 (1978), with NLRB v. International Longshoremen's Association, 447 U.S. 490, 100 S. Ct. 2305, 65 L. Ed. 2d 289 (1980)
See International Union of Operating Engineers, Locals 542, 542-A and 542-B, (York County Bridge, Inc.), 216 N.L.R.B. 408, 409 (1975), enforced, 532 F.2d 902 (3d Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1072, 97 S. Ct. 808, 50 L. Ed. 2d 789 (1977); General Counsel Memorandum, note 25, supra
(Emphasis supplied). Section 8(b) (4) (ii) (A) appears supra note 4
The Conference Committee, after stating that it did not intend the proviso to change existing law regarding subcontractor agreements, stated: "Picketing to enforce such contracts would be illegal under the Sand Door case Local 1796, United Brotherhood of Carpenters v. NLRB, 357 U.S. 93 (78 S. Ct. 1011, 2 L. Ed. 2d 1186) (1958)." H.R.Rep. No. 1147, 86th Cong., 1st Sess. 39, (1959) U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, p. 2511; I Leg.Hist. 943. See also, 105 Cong.Rec. 17900, II Leg. Hist. 1433 (remarks of Sen. Kennedy). Senator Goldwater subsequently explained the proviso as follows: "The union may go into a court and sue (the contractor) if he fails to live up to that agreement. But they cannot strike or picket him to make him live up to it...." 105 Cong.Rec. A8359, II Leg.Hist. 1830