Opinion ID: 702607
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: nlra pre-emption

Text: 9 In deciding whether a federal law pre-empts a state statute, our task is to ascertain Congress' intent in enacting the federal statute at issue. 'Pre-emption may be either express or implied, and is compelled whether Congress' command is explicitly stated in the statute's language or implicitly contained in its structure and purpose.'  Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U.S. 724, 738, 105 S.Ct. 2380, 2388, 85 L.Ed.2d 728 (1985) (citations omitted). The NLRA has no specific pre-emption provision. Where the pre-emptive effect of federal law is unclear, courts will uphold local regulation unless it conflicts with federal law or would frustrate the federal scheme, or unless the courts discern from the totality of the circumstances that Congress sought to occupy the field to the exclusion of the States. Id. at 747-48, 105 S.Ct. at 2393. The issue in the present case is whether the Ordinance is pre-empted because it frustrates the purpose of the Act. 10 The Supreme Court has recognized two pre-emption doctrines under the NLRA. The first, referred to as Garmon pre-emption, articulated in San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959), prohibits state regulation that impinges on the regulatory jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in regulating activities that are protected by Section 7 or constitute an unfair labor practice under Section 8 of the NLRA. The second, known as Machinists pre-emption, prohibits state regulation of conduct that Congress intended to be left to be controlled by the free-play of economic forces. Machinists v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Comm'n, 427 U.S. 132, 147, 96 S.Ct. 2548, 2556, 49 L.Ed.2d 396 (1976). The Supreme Court has explained that [w]hen we say that the NLRA pre-empts state law, we mean that the NLRA prevents a State from regulating within the protected zone, whether it be a zone protected and reserved for market freedom, see Machinists, or for NLRB jurisdiction, see Garmon.  Building Trades v. Associated Builders, 507 U.S. ----, ----, 113 S.Ct. 1190, 1196, 122 L.Ed.2d 565, 575-76 (1993). The present case implicates Machinists pre-emption.