Opinion ID: 402462
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: THE LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF SECTION 14(b)

Text: 58 A fundamental tension in labor law, as indeed in constitutional law, exists between encouraging majority rule and protecting the rights of the minority. Congress faced this problem many times when it enacted the historic Wagner Act and amended it with the Taft-Hartley Act, and the genesis and scope of section 14(b) must be understood in light of this tension. 59 The Wagner Act, passed in 1935 during an explosive period in our social history, gave workers the right to organize unions and to bargain collectively with their employers. 8 The legislation was a factor in the doubling of union membership between 1933 and 1937, a period coinciding with the rise of the great industrial unions. It was also followed by dramatic and often violent strikes. World War II brought a momentary hiatus in industrial strife, but at its conclusion the no-strike era came to an end, and in 1947 the country experienced the largest strike wave in its history. Stone, The Post-War Paradigm in American Labor Law, 90 Yale L.J. 1509, 1523 (1981). Anti-union sentiment was widespread, and representatives on both sides of the aisle agreed that legislative reforms were required. 60 Congress could conceivably have pulled back from the labor issue entirely and returned the question to the hands of the states. Instead, the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 concentrated on amending the structure of the NLRB and revising methods for resolving representation disputes. Section 14(b) was not the most substantive change amidst these reforms. It did not enact a new policy, but simply made explicit a congressional understanding that had accompanied passage of the earlier Wagner Act concerning the general tension between rule by union majority and the rights of nonunion minorities. 61 A full discussion of section 14(b) must therefore begin with the broader problem, and the evolution in congressional attitudes toward the rights of the nonunion minority in a given bargaining unit. At the outset, it may help to define some of the terms that frequently arose in this context. An open shop allows the employer to hire without regard to union membership, and lets employees obtain or refuse membership in the union as they please. A closed shop requires the employer to hire union members only. A union shop allows the employer to hire without regard to union membership, but requires employees to become members of the union within a specified time after they have been hired. Preferential hiring requires the employer to give a preference to union members, although nonunion employees may be hired if union members are unavailable. Finally, maintenance-of-membership agreements let employees obtain or refuse membership in the union as they please, but require that employees who become union members maintain their membership for the duration of the agreement. The closed shop and the union shop played particularly important roles in shaping the congressional views about minority rights under a model of trade union democracy.
62 The Wagner Act, with its emphasis on collective bargaining, treated minority rights almost as an afterthought. Section 9(a) provided: 63 Representatives designated or selected for the purposes of collective bargaining by the majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for such purposes, shall be the exclusive representatives of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, or other conditions of employment, Provided, That any individual employee or group of employees shall have the right at any time to present grievances to their employer. 64 Ch. 372, § 9(a), 49 Stat. 453 (1935) (codified at 29 U.S.C. § 159(a)). Section 8(3) outlawed attempts by employers to force workers into company unions or discourage them from forming their own, but distinguished these practices from union bargaining with employers over means to control the problem of free riders: 65 It shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer by discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization, Provided, That nothing in this act ... shall preclude an employer from making an agreement with a (qualifying) labor organization ... to require as a condition of employment membership therein.... 66 Ch. 372, § 8(3), 49 Stat. 452 (1935) (codified at 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)). 67 Several Senators criticized the Act for ignoring the rights of employee minorities. See, e.g., 79 Cong.Rec. 7671 (1935) (Senator Tydings) (As I see this particular section (§ 9(a) ), it looks to me like an effort to force every man in America to join a certain kind of union, whether or not he wishes to join that union); id. (Senator Hastings) (Is it not true that the individual worker should be free to decline association with his fellows? Can that be true under this bill?). Senator Wagner responded: 68 The Senator is concerned with what happens to the minority. Under this proposed legislation ... there will be no advantage which a majority can have under an agreement to which the minority is not also entitled, and in order to have that advantage the minority need not join any organization. It can join or not join, either way. It cannot be discriminated against under any other provision of the law. 69 Id. at 7673. But Senator Hastings was unconvinced. He turned from section 9(a) to section 8(3), and reiterated the charge that the bill would require all workers to join a union regardless of their wishes. Senator Wagner again responded: 70 No, Mr. President; the Senator apparently does not understand that provision. It does no more than to legalize a closed-shop agreement, which is a matter of agreement between employer and employee where it is now sustained by the public opinion of the State.... The provision will not change the status quo. That is the law today; and wherever it is the law today that a closed-shop agreement can be made, it will continue to be the law. By this bill we do not change that situation. Closed-shop agreements are made all over the country, and they are matters of agreement. The question of compulsion is not involved in them. 71 Id. at 7673-74. 72 But Senator Wagner turned out to be wrong. Closed-shop agreements, which prohibited hiring any employee who was not already a union member, did involve compulsion. Between 1935 and 1947, the closed shop became notorious. Union leaders, with unreviewable authority to admit new union members and expel old ones, acted in a corrupt and undemocratic fashion to perpetuate their power. Articles in the popular press and legal journals condemned closed shops and the control they gave unions over the careers of workers. See, e.g., Newman, The Closed Union and the Right to Work, 43 Colum.L.Rev. 42 (1943) (arguing that unions operating under closed shops used restrictive admissions requirements to create labor monopoly, perpetuate union management, and protect social prejudices). The Senate Report accompanying the Taft-Hartley Act found: 73 Until the beginning of the war only a relatively small minority of employees (less than 20 percent) were affected by contracts containing any compulsory features. According to the Secretary of Labor, however, within the last 5 years over 75 percent now contain some form of compulsion. But with this trend, abuses of compulsory membership have become so numerous there has been great public feeling against such arrangements. It continued with specific examples: 74 In the maritime industry and to a large extent in the construction industry union hiring halls now provide the only method of securing employment.... Extension of this principle to licensed deck and engine officers has created the greatest problems in connection with the safety of American vessels at sea. 75 Numerous examples were presented to the committee of the way union leaders have used closed-shop devices as a method of depriving employees of their jobs, and in some cases a means of securing a livelihood in their trade or calling, for purely capricious reasons. In one instance a union member was subpenaed to appear in court, having witnessed an assault upon his foreman by a fellow employee. Because he told the truth upon the witness stand, the union leadership brought about his expulsion with a consequent loss of his job since his employer was subject to a closed-shop contract. 76 Numerous examples of equally glaring disregard for the rights of minority members of unions are contained in the exhibits received in evidence by the committee. 77 S.Rep.No. 105, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 6-7 (1947), I Legislative History of the Labor Management Relations Act 412-13 (1948) (hereinafter Leg. Hist.). 78 Animosity toward the closed shop was widespread in Congress. See, e.g., 93 Cong.Rec. 3453 (1947) (remarks of Representative Holifield); id. at A1223 (extension of remarks by Representative Landis). Representative Jonkman observed that the principle criticism of unions today is not directed at unionism itself but to the irresponsible and corrupt management and leadership into which many unions have drifted. It requires but little reading of the hearings on this bill to cause one to shudder at the tyranny and depredation committed by such union officers and leaders. Id. at 3560. Accordingly, Congress added section 8(a)(3) in the Taft-Hartley Act banning the closed shop. Ch. 120, tit. 1, § 8(a)(3), 61 Stat. 140 (1947) (codified at 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3)). That section continued: 79 no employer shall justify any discrimination against an employee for nonmembership in a labor organization (A) if he has reasonable grounds for believing that such membership was not available to the employee on the same terms and conditions generally applicable to other members, or (B) if he has reasonable grounds for believing that membership was denied or terminated for reasons other than the failure of the employee to tender the periodic dues and initiation fees uniformly required as a condition of acquiring or retaining membership. 80 Id., 61 Stat. at 141.
81 It is absolutely crucial to distinguish congressional revulsion toward the closed shop from the congressional treatment of other union security agreements. Congress abolished the closed shop, but it retained lesser forms of union security as subjects of mandatory bargaining under federal law. The closed shop and section 14(b) were thus viewed in different contexts because they focused on different forms of union security agreements. 82 The majority opinion obfuscates this distinction. The Senate Report that it quotes on page seven, which is said to demonstrate that Congress enacted section 14(b) in order to let the states make their own judgments on the issue of free riders, is not a discussion of section 14(b) at all. The Senate Report only addressed the decision to ban the closed shop, as demonstrated by the paragraphs immediately following the paragraph quoted by the majority: 83 The committee has taken into consideration these arguments in reaching what it considers a solution of the problem which does justice to both points of view. We have felt that on the record before us the abuses of the system have become too serious and numerous to justify permitting present law to remain unchanged. It is clear that the closed shop which requires preexisting union membership as a condition of obtaining employment creates too great a barrier to free employment to be tolerated.... This not only permits unions holding such monopolies over jobs to exact excessive fees but it deprives management of any real choice of the men it hires.... If trade-unions were purely fraternal or social organizations, such instances would not be a matter of congressional concern, but since membership in such organizations in many trades or callings is essential to earning a living, Congress cannot ignore the existence of such power. 84 S.Rep.No. 105, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 6-7 (1947), Leg.Hist. at 412-13. The Senate Report could not possibly have discussed section 14(b) in any event, because that section originated in the House, was not part of the Senate bill, and was adopted by the Senate only after conference. 85 It is true that several members of Congress saw no real difference between the closed shop and the union shop, and urged that both be abolished. Representative Fisher declared that (t)he union shop and the closed shop are Siamese twins. In either case a man cannot work unless he belongs to the union, whether he wants to belong or not. 93 Cong.Rec. 3555 (1947). He observed that the right to work is one of the most sacred rights a man has, and called the union shop a form of involuntary servitude. Id. Representative Hoffman also urged that 86 a man should have the right to join or not to join, to be bound by or not to be bound by, union rules. If this Congress wants to forsake the American principle that the man who must live by toil, who must work if he would eat, have clothing, a home, and be able to provide for his family-if this Congress wants to turn its back upon that principle and say that no man shall work when the employer and the bare majority of the employees say he cannot work unless he conforms to their rules and restrictions-it has the power to do so. 87 Id. at 3554. Representative Abernathy condemned a system that would have workers paying tribute to someone else in order to work. Id. at 3555. Representative Jonkman said: 88 I have, I dare say, thousands of labor constituents in my district who cannot conscientiously become members of certain unions because they cannot and dare not accept joint responsibility for the conduct of leaders of such type. They should not be compelled by the union-shop provision in this bill to accept that stigma but have the right to refrain from joining any union whose leaders engage in disreputable practices. 89 It is, of course, true that all legislation is the result of compromise. But to compromise on this principle is as I said at the outset a further frittering away of a fundamental American freedom. 90 Id. at 3560. 91 These criticisms were unavailing, of course. Congress added provisions making it more difficult for workers to obtain a union shop, 9 but it retained the union shop as a mandatory subject of bargaining in section 8(a). Several members emphasized that this policy was required by simple equity. See, e.g., 93 Cong.Rec. 3546-47 (remarks of Representative Celler); id. at 3558 (remarks of Representative Robsion). It is significant, however, that when Representative Hoffman offered an amendment designed to make it clear that a worker could not be denied employment unless he joins, he was persuaded to withdraw that amendment after Representative Barden called his attention to section 14(b). Id. at 3561-62.
92 Section 14(b) was not a controversial aspect of the Taft-Hartley Act because Congress considered it merely to restate the law under the Wagner Act. The Senate Report to the 1935 Wagner Act had explained that the bill does nothing to facilitate closed-shop agreements or to make them legal in any State where they may be illegal. S.Rep.No.573, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. 11 (1935); see H.R.Rep.No.1147, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. 19-20 (1935). By enacting section 14(b) in 1947, Congress reiterated the point that it had not been the intention of the earlier Congress to override State laws regulating the closed shop. S.Rep.No.105, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 6 (1947), Leg.Hist. at 412; see H.R.Rep.No.245, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 44 (1947), Leg.Hist. at 335. 93 It was never the intention of the National Labor Relations Act, as is disclosed by the legislative history of that act, to preempt the field in this regard so as to deprive the States of their powers to prevent compulsory unionism. Neither the so-called closed shop proviso in section 8(3) of the existing act nor the union shop and maintenance of membership proviso in section 8(a)(3) of the conference agreement could be said to authorize arrangements of this sort in States where such arrangements were contrary to the State policy. To make certain that there should be no question about this, section 13 was included in the House bill. The conference agreement, in section 14(b), contains a provision having the same effect. 94 H.R.Conf.Rep.No. 510, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 60 (1947), Leg.Hist. at 564. 95 It may be inferred, of course, that the decision to spell out the existing law in the Taft-Hartley Act was prompted by the same reaction against union abuses that had led Congress to ban the closed shop. The legality of the union shop had been preserved over the vehement objections of many opponents, but only after Congress took steps to correct the abuses of the union shop as well. The House Report was careful to explain these limitations in detail: 96 The bill bans the closed shop. Under carefully drawn regulations it permits an employer and a union voluntarily to enter into an agreement requiring employees to become and remain members of the union a month or more after the employer hires them or after the agreement is signed. Such agreements are lawful, however, only if the employees by secret ballot have selected the union as their bargaining agent, and if the majority of all the employees, by a separate secret ballot, authorize the union to enter into the agreement, and if agreement is not prohibited by State law. An employee may be expelled from the union and thus forced to leave his job only if the expulsion is by reason of his failing to pay fees and dues imposed upon employees generally. Under this clause, employers may select their own employees. Employees have 30 days to decide whether or not to join the union. Unions may not cause the discharge of employees by discriminating against them. The agreement must be voluntary. Unions may not strike to compel employers to enter into such agreements. They are subject to loss of bargaining rights if they do. 97 H.R.Rep.No.245, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 9 (1947), Leg.Hist. at 300 (emphasis added). Clearly, the predominant if not the only purpose of section 14(b) was to provide yet one more check on the abuses that could exist under compulsory unionism. 10 98 The crucial point to be drawn from the legislative history of section 14(b), however, is that Congress never specifically defined what it meant by compulsory unionism. The paragraph from the House Report quoted above is the entire passage of a section headed compulsory unionism. The Conference Report stated that section 14(b) would prevent any closed shop, union shop, maintenance of membership, or other form of compulsory unionism agreement in any State where the execution of such agreement would be contrary to State law. Many States have enacted laws or adopted constitutional provisions to make all forms of compulsory unionism in those States illegal. H.R.Conf.Rep.No.510, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 60 (1947), Leg.Hist. at 564. But this too leaves the content of the term undefined. 99 The best evidence of the congressional intent may therefore lie in the kinds of compulsory unionism that members of Congress understood had been banned by the state right-to-work laws. Representative Holifield, a defender of closed shops as well as union shops and maintenance-of-membership agreements, noted that 100 of the 77 percent of all employees in unions (that worked) under some form of union security, 30 percent were under closed-shop contracts, 15 percent under union-shop contracts, 29 percent under maintenance-of-membership contracts, and 3 percent under preferential-hiring contracts-another form of union security provision. 93 Cong.Rec. 3453. He observed: 101 Under existing law all of these types of shops are legal excepting in some few States in which hysterical legislatures, reckless of constitutional consequences, have banned the closed shop. Id. Representative Barden contended that 102 in view of the fact that many of the States have passed laws dealing with the closed shop, why, then, the committee felt, and I am sure the whole House will feel, that the States should be recognized and their laws should certainly be given full power and effect as far as a State is concerned. 103 Id. at 3562. Representative Case of South Dakota urged adoption of section 14(b) because 104 it strengthens the provisions of the bill so far as bans on the closed shop are concerned in the States which have taken action. I think now that there are about 12 States that have taken formal action and another dozen that have that kind of action under consideration. 105 Id. at 3559. Similarly, in the Senate, the emphasis was on state laws prohibiting the closed shop. Senator Taft defended the section 8(3) proviso, noting that it did not in any way prohibit the enforcement of State laws which already prohibited closed shops. Id. at 6520. His summary of the bill explained that section 14(b) would allow states to prevent compulsory union membership agreements where such agreements violated state laws against compulsory unionism. Id. at 6445. Senator Barkley denounced the bill because union shops would be prohibited in any State where a legislature has passed what we call a nonunion or closed-shop bill, id. at 6532, and Senator Morse objected to the antilabor bias of the bill: 106 Thus, we lay down in the bill a very full and complete national policy as to closed- and union-shop agreements. At the same time, the bill provides in section (14(b) ), however, that the national policy may be entirely disregarded and superseded by the States if they desire to impose a more restrictive policy on the same subject matter. 107 Id. at 6456 (emphasis added). At no time, in the committee reports or during the debates, was it intimated that compulsory unionism meant anything more than the closed shop, union shop, and conceivably contracts requiring maintenance of membership or preferential hiring of union members. 11 108 One final observation, if an obvious one, should be made about the legislative history of section 14(b). The debates make it clear that Congress knew that several states had banned the closed and union shop, but the legislative history does not suggest that Congress knew these laws sometimes prohibited payment of any dues, fees or charges of any kind to any labor union as well. Congress emphatically did not intend to give the states a free hand in amending federal labor law. Representative Kearney suggested, and Representative Hoffman moved, that section 14(b) be amended by inserting a period and striking out the rest of the section, to read: 109 Nothing in this act shall be construed to invalidate any State law or constitutional provision. 110 93 Cong.Rec. 3559, 3562. The objections to this amendment were obvious. As Representative Case of South Dakota stated: 111 Of course, if you put a period there, it would be pretty broad because it would deal with subjects other than the right of the employer to make closed-shop agreements. You might nullify much of the bill, because you would establish State rights to deal with all phases of industrial relations in spite of any provisions whatsoever in the act. 112 Id. at 3559. The amendment was withdrawn. 113 Had Congress chosen, it could have framed section 14(b) in terms identical to existing state right-to-work laws. Employers could have been precluded from making agreements requiring membership in or payments of any kind to a labor organization, rather than those simply requiring membership in a labor organization. On its face, section 14(b) is by no means as broad as the more restrictive state laws that the majority opinion now suggests it incorporated. Congressional attention focused on closed shops and union shops, which were said to place workers at the mercy of capricious or corrupt treatment by labor organizations. Section 14(b) was meant to extend associational freedom to employees in states that had passed legislation dealing with this subject. But the Taft-Hartley Act did not adopt the philosophy that labor unions should be destroyed. Nothing in the legislative history of section 14(b) suggests that Congress meant to give this power to the states. 114