Opinion ID: 458754
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Interpretations of coercion.

Text: 31 Apart from Bill Johnson's, our previous interpretations of section 8(b)(4)(ii) support the Board's finding. Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(D) of the NLRA makes it an unfair labor practice for a union to threaten, coerce, or restrain any person with the objective of forcing or requiring any employer to assign particular work to employees in a particular labor organization. 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(b)(4)(ii)(D). We have interpreted the scope of section 8(b)(4)(ii) pragmatically, looking to the coercive nature of the conduct, whether it be picketing or otherwise, NLRB v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 405 F.2d 159, 162 (9th Cir.1968) (quoting NLRB v. Fruit and Vegetable Packers and Warehousemen, Local 760, 377 U.S. 58, 68, 84 S.Ct. 1063, 1069, 12 L.Ed.2d 129 (1964)), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 921, 89 S.Ct. 1772, 23 L.Ed.2d 237 (1967), and finding an unfair labor practice when there is proof which if viewed realistically tends to show a coercive effect. 405 F.2d at 162. See Associated General Contractors of California, Inc. v. NLRB, 514 F.2d 433, 438-39 (9th Cir.1975) (coerce was intended to reach any form of economic pressure of a compelling or restraining nature). 32 Under this standard, we have held that a union may not enforce an arbitrator's award of in-lieu payments when the effect is to encourage a neutral employer to pressure the primary employer to hire union employees. Id. at 436, 438. Similarly, we have found that the mere filing of a retaliatory lawsuit by a union against its own members may amount to coercion under section 8(b)(1)(A), even if the suit is prosecuted in good faith or would be barred on the merits by res judicata. United Stanford Employees, Local 680 v. NLRB, 601 F.2d 980, 983 (9th Cir.1979); see Sheet Metal Workers, 716 F.2d at 1261 (noting the attendant monetary cost, anxiety, and loss of time, associated with defending against a retaliatory lawsuit, and finding that bringing a bad-faith action amounts to coercion under section 8(b)(1)(A)). Our holding that the union's section 301 suit against Jones Washington amounts to secondary coercion of Weyerhaeuser is consistent with our established view of the meaning of coercion. 33