Opinion ID: 1351389
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Preemption Under the National Labor Relations Act.

Text: As discussed previously, federal labor regulations, codified as the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 151-187, form a pervasive network of regulations intended to cover most, although not all, facets of labor relations in the United States. See Weber v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 348 U.S. 468, 480, 75 S.Ct. 480, 488, 99 L.Ed. 546, 557 (1955). Not surprisingly, the scope of the NLRA often results in preemption of state labor regulation, subject to the limited exceptions found in the act. The United States Supreme Court has articulated two approaches for determining whether preemption of a state labor law should occur. See Colfax Corp. v. Ill. State Toll Highway Auth., 79 F.3d 631, 633 (7th Cir.1996) (describing the two types of NLRA preemption, commonly referred to as  Garmon  and  Machinists  preemption). The Court also has stated, When a State owns and manages property... it must interact with private participants in the marketplace. In so doing, the State is not subject to pre-emption by the NLRA because pre-emption doctrines apply only to state regulation. Bldg. & Constr. Trades Council, 507 U.S. at 227, 113 S.Ct. at 1196, 122 L.Ed.2d at 576 (emphasis in original). Therefore, if we determine that the Board has operated in a proprietary mode, as opposed to a regulatory mode, in adopting the PLA, preemption does not apply. See id. Master Builders asserts that the Board's adoption of the PLA was a regulatory action. The appellants point in particular to a provision of the PLA providing, the owner may, at any time, and at its sole discretion, determine to build or modify additional projects under this agreement not currently proposed. This provision, they argue, is written in such a manner as to allow the Board to apply the terms of the Event Center PLA to subsequent labor contracts, thus making the PLA a regulatory scheme preempted under the NLRA. Master Builders also cites statements in the record by individual Board members that it believes indicate a regulatory purpose behind the passage of the PLA. The Board responds to these assertions by taking issue with Master Builders' characterization of the PLA clause and the statements of Board members, and by arguing that the Board's use of the PLA constitutes proprietary action. We conclude that the actions of the Board in adopting the PLA are proprietary and are not preempted by the NLRA. Master Builders strains to find regulatory motives in the words of the PLA and the actions of the Board that we simply believe do not exist. Although we agree that the language cited by the appellants as allowing for the extension of the PLA to other projects is ambiguous, the enabling resolution for the PLA limits its use to the Events Center project alone. Failure to so limit the PLA would be a serious breach of the public trust and likely also would be a violation of the law. See Iowa Code §§ 21.1-.11. We will not assume that the Board has integrated a clause in the PLA that would allow such a blatant action. Moreover, we do not consider the comments of the individual Board members to be sufficient evidence of regulatory intent. We join other courts in refusing to hunt for a regulatory motive if the ultimate action of the governmental entity is proprietary such as is the case here in the contracting for services on a specific project. See Colfax Corp., 79 F.3d at 634-35; Chamber of Commerce v. Reich, 74 F.3d 1322, 1335-36 (D.C.Cir.1996); Legal Aid Soc'y v. City of New York, 114 F.Supp.2d 204, 237 (S.D.N.Y.2000). Sanctioning the continual second-guessing of the actions of a political subdivision in situations such as this would undermine the very principles of discretion already discussed.