Opinion ID: 1931324
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: union security.

Text: The Company next contends that the Order of the Board awarding a modified union shop is in conflict with the Federal Labor-Management Relations Act, 1947. We are in accord with this contention. The Company is engaged in interstate commerce, albeit the services rendered by it are predominantly intrastate, and accordingly, the Federal Act is applicable to it. The Federal Act is predicated upon the philosophy of collective bargaining which is the antithesis of compulsion. Section 8(a) (3) of the Federal Act provides that under certain conditions therein delineated, the employer shall not be precluded from making an agreement with a labor organization, where the qualified number of employees have voted to authorize such labor organization to make such an agreement for a union shop. Clearly the expressed attitude of Congress is that a union shop to be lawful must result from an agreement. It necessarily follows that the creation of a union shop by compulsion is repugnant to the letter and the spirit of the Federal Act. Even under the National Labor Relations Act, popularly known as the Wagner Act, an employer could not be required to enter into a union security agreement. In labor disputes which arose during the war, in which the union security question was raised, the matter was usually disposed of by the National War Labor Board's issuing a directive order for maintenance of membership and check-off. It is observed that directive orders of the National War Labor Board were merely advisory and not mandatory. See Employers Group, etc., v. National War Labor Board, 143 F. 2d 145, 148 ( C. of A.D.C. 1944); National Labor Relations Board v. Andrew Jergens Co., 175 F. 2d 130, 134 ( C. of A., Ninth Circuit, 1949). It is also noted that under section 302 of the Federal Labor-Management Relations Act, 1947, it is made illegal for an employer to check-off union dues or for a labor union to accept the same except pursuant to written assignment from the employee. The award of the Board in the present case requires, in addition to maintenance of membership and check-off, that all employees with less than 10 years of service at the date of the Order become members of the Union and that all new employees (including any former employees who shall be re-engaged) become members of the Union within 30 days of employment. The only employees excluded from the requirement that membership in the Union be a condition of continued employment are those, not presently members of the Union, with service of 10 or more years. The award, thus, is but a very slightly modified version of a full union shop, under which some employees possibly against their own wishes as well as those of the Company are compelled to become members of the Union. We do not find in our state statute any provision specifically authorizing the submission of the question of union security as one of the labor disputes subject to compulsory arbitration, nor do we find any direct authority therein for the Board to determine this question. The statute defines labor dispute as any controversy between employer and employees as to hours, wages, and working conditions. It is true that the question of union security is generally considered to be included as a working condition in the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements but it is not clear that the Legislature intended to include it as a working condition in the present statute which requires compulsory arbitration of labor disputes in public utilities where necessary to preserve a continuous flow of services essential to the health and welfare of the people of the State. A construction of the term working conditions to include the question of union security in our compulsory arbitration statute would of necessity result in the statute's being pro tanto in conflict with the federal act which premises the question of union security on collective bargaining and not compulsion. The design of the statute is to empower the State to perform such acts as are necessary to maintain essential services in the public interest. A requirement that employees be compelled to become or remain members of a labor organization is not deemed to be a necessary act incident to the maintenance of essential services. Accordingly, it is our judgment that the statute does not contemplate compulsory arbitration of the union security question. This leads to the conclusion that the question of union security was not a proper issue before the Board and that the Board's order awarding union security was without jurisdiction under the statute and is in conflict with the letter and the spirit of the federal act which premises the question of union security upon collective bargaining and not compulsion.