Opinion ID: 1351389
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Right-to-Work Statute.

Text: The passage by Congress of the Labor Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act (Act) in 1947 altered the nature of labor relations in the United States and produced more than a half-century of social, political, and jurisprudential repercussions that form the battleground on which this appeal has developed. The Act constituted an all-encompassing revision of labor relations law meant to reform the labor practices that had arisen under previous labor relations acts. See 29 U.S.C. §§ 141, 151. In passing the Act, Congress reasserted its prominence in the field of labor relations, save for a few areas in which the states retained leeway to define the contours of labor relations within their borders. See id. One of these exceptions, found in § 14(b) of the Act and codified at 29 U.S.C. § 164(b), is integral to the first area of dispute between the parties in this appeal. Id. § 164(b). Section 164(b) provides, Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as authorizing the execution or application of agreements requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment in any State or Territory in which such execution or application is prohibited by State or Territorial law. Id. Prior to passage of the Act, some states, including Iowa, [2] had passed constitutional amendments or statutes barring discrimination in employment based on union affiliation. In adopting § 164(b), Congress refrained from preempting these state laws that protected the right to work. See H.R.Rep. No. 80-510 (1947), reprinted in 1947 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1135, 1166. Soon thereafter, in companion cases, the United States Supreme Court upheld three states' right-to-work laws against challenges by unions and union members that such laws denie[d] them freedom of speech, assembly or petition, impair[ed] the obligation of their contracts, or depriv[ed] them of due process of law. Am. Fed'n of Labor v. Am. Sash & Door Co., 335 U.S. 538, 540, 69 S.Ct. 258, 259, 93 L.Ed. 222, 224 (1949); see also Lincoln Fed. Labor Union v. N.W. Iron & Metal Co., 335 U.S. 525, 69 S.Ct. 251, 93 L.Ed. 212 (1949). Perhaps bolstered by the sanction of Congress and the Court, other states joined those that had already passed a right-to-work law, eventually bringing the total number of states with such a law to twenty-two. [3] The words of the principle Iowa statutory provision, unaltered since its initial adoption, mirror those of other states in stating: It is declared to be the policy of the state of Iowa that no person within its boundaries shall be deprived of the right to work at the person's chosen occupation for any employer because of membership in, affiliation with, withdrawal or expulsion from, or refusal to join, any labor union, organization, or association, and any contract which contravenes this policy is illegal and void. Iowa Code § 731.1 (2001). Additional provisions apply this same policy in particular fields or provide limited exceptions. See id. §§ 731.1-.9. The appellants argue that the Events Center PLA violates the letter and spirit of chapter 731. For this reason, they assert that any current contracts in which the PLA has been incorporated are void and future contracts cannot include its terms. The appellants particularly attack a provision of the PLA that dictates the method by which core employees of contractors working on the Events Center project would be referred to the job site for employment: