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Text: It is strenuously asserted, however, that to permit a union to discipline supervisor-members for performing rank-and-file work during an economic strike will deprive the employer of the full loyalty of those supervisors. Indeed, it is precisely that concern that is reflected in these and other recent decisions of the Board holding that the statutory language "restrain or coerce . . . an employer in the selection of his representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining or the adjustment of grievances" is not confined to situations in which the union's object is to force a change in the identity of the employer's representatives, but may properly be read to encompass any situation in which the union's actions are likely to deprive the employer of the undivided loyalty of his supervisory employees. As the Board stated in Wisconsin Electric:

"During the strike of the Union, the Employer clearly considered its supervisors among those it could depend on during this period. The Union's fining of the supervisors who were acting in the Employer's interest in performing the struck work severely jeopardized the relationship between the Employer and its supervisors. Thus, the fines, if found to be lawful, would now permit the Union to drive a wedge between a supervisor and the Employer, thus interfering with the performance of the duties the Employer had a right to expect the supervisor to perform. The Employer could no longer count on the complete and undivided loyalty of those it had selected to act as its collective-bargaining agents or to act for it in adjusting grievances. Moreover, such fines clearly interfere with the Employer's control over its own representatives.
"The purpose of Section 8 (b) (1) (B) is to assure to the employer that its selected collective-bargaining representatives will be completely faithful to its desires. This cannot be achieved if the union has an effective method, union disciplinary action, by which it can pressure such representatives to deviate from the interests of the employer." 192 N. L. R. B., at 78.
The Board in the present cases echoes this view in arguing that "where a supervisor is disciplined by the union for performing other supervisory or management functions, the likely effect of such discipline is to make him subservient to the union's wishes when he performs those functions in the future. Thus, even if the effect of this discipline did not carry over to the performance of the supervisor's grievance adjustment or collective bargaining functions, the result would be to deprive the employer of the full allegiance of, and control over, a representative he has selected for grievance adjustment or collective bargaining purposes." Brief for Petitioner in No. 73-795, p. 34.

The concern expressed in this argument is a very real one, but the problem is one that Congress addressed, not through § 8 (b) (1) (B), but through a completely different legislative route. Specifically, Congress in 1947 amended the definition of "employee" in § 2 (3), 29 U.S. C. § 152 (3), to exclude those denominated supervisors under § 2 (11), 29 U.S. C. § 152 (11), thereby excluding them from the coverage of the Act.[17] See NLRB v. Bell Aerospace Co., 416 U.S. 267 (1974). Further, Congress enacted § 14 (a), 29 U.S. C. § 164 (a), explicitly providing:

"Nothing herein shall prohibit any individual employed as a supervisor from becoming or remaining a member of a labor organization, but no employer subject to this subchapter shall be compelled to deem individuals defined herein as supervisors as employees for the purpose of any law, either national or local, relating to collective bargaining."
Thus, while supervisors are permitted to become union members, Congress sought to assure the employer of the loyalty of his supervisors by reserving in him the right to refuse to hire union members as supervisors, see Carpenters District Council v. NLRB, 107 U. S. App. D. C. 55, 274 F.2d 564 (1959); A. H. Bull S. S. Co. v. National Marine Engineers' Beneficial Assn., 250 F.2d 332 (CA2 1957), the right to discharge such supervisors because of their involvement in union activities or union membership, see Beasley v. Food Fair of North Carolina, Inc., 416 U.S. 653 (1974); see also Oil City Brass Works v. NLRB, 357 F.2d 466 (CA5 1966); NLRB v. Fullerton Publishing Co., 283 F.2d 545 (CA9 1960); NLRB v. Griggs Equipment, Inc., 307 F.2d 275 (CA5 1962); NLRB v. Edward G. Budd Mfg. Co., 169 F.2d 571 (CA6 1948), cert. denied, 335 U.S. 908 (1949),[18] and the right to refuse to engage in collective bargaining with them, see L. A. Young Spring & Wire Corp. v. NLRB, 82 U. S. App. D. C. 327, 163 F.2d 905 (1947), cert. denied, 333 U.S. 837 (1948).

The legislative history of §§ 2 (3) and 14 (a) of the Act clearly indicates that those provisions were enacted in response to the decision in Packard Motor Car Co. v. NLRB, 330 U.S. 485 (1947), in which this Court upheld the Board's finding that the statutory definition of "employee" included foremen, and that they were therefore entitled to the coverage of the Act in the absence of a decision by Congress to exclude them.[19] In recommending passage of this legislation, the Senate Report noted:

"It is natural to expect that unless this Congress takes action, management will be deprived of the undivided loyalty of its foremen. There is an inherent tendency to subordinate their interests wherever they conflict with those of the rank and file." Senate Report 5. (Emphasis supplied.)
A similar concern with this conflict-of-loyalties problem was reflected in the House Report:

"The evidence before the committee shows clearly that unionizing supervisors under the Labor Act is inconsistent with . . . our policy to protect the rights of employers; they, as well as workers, are entitled to loyal representatives in the plants, but when the foremen unionize, even in a union that claims to be `independent' of the union of the rank and file, they are subject to influence and control by the rank and file union, and, instead of their bossing the rank and file, the rank and file bosses them.
.....
"The bill does not forbid anyone to organize. It does not forbid any employer to recognize a union of foremen. Employers who, in the past, have bargained collectively with supervisors may continue to do so. What the bill does is to say what the law always has said until the Labor Board, in the exercise of what it modestly calls its `expertness', changed the law: That no one, whether employer or employee, need have as his agent one who is obligated to those on the other side, or one whom, for any reason, he does not trust." House Report 14-17.[20] (Emphasis supplied.)
It is clear that the conflict-of-loyalties problem that the Board has sought to reach under § 8 (b) (1) (B) was intended by Congress to be dealt with in a very different manner.[21] As we concluded in Beasley v. Food Fair of North Carolina, Inc., 416 U. S., at 661-662:

"This history compels the conclusion that Congress' dominant purpose in amending §§ 2 (3) and 2 (11), and enacting § 14 (a) was to redress a perceived imbalance in labor-management relationships that was found to arise from putting supervisors in the position of serving two masters with opposed interests."
While we recognize that the legislative accommodation adopted in 1947 is fraught with difficulties of its own, "[i]t is not necessary for us to justify the policy of Congress. It is enough that we find it in the statute." Colgate-Palmolive Peet Co. v. NLRB, 338 U.S. 355, 363 (1949).[22]

Congress' solution was essentially one of providing the employer with an option. On the one hand, he is at liberty to demand absolute loyalty from his supervisory personnel by insisting, on pain of discharge, that they neither participate in, nor retain membership in, a labor union, see Beasley v. Food Fair of North Carolina, Inc., supra. Alternatively, an employer who wishes to do so can permit his supervisors to join or retain their membership in labor unions, resolving such conflicts as arise through the traditional procedures of collective bargaining.[23] But it is quite apparent, given the statutory language and the particular concerns that the legislative history shows were what motivated Congress to enact § 8 (b) (1) (B), that it did not intend to make that provision any part of the solution to the generalized problem of supervisor-member conflict of loyalties.

For these reasons, we hold that the respondent unions did not violate § 8 (b) (1) (B) of the Act when they disciplined their supervisor-members for performing rank-and-file struck work. Accordingly, the judgment is

Affirmed.