Opinion ID: 518812
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: State's General Police Power

Text: 24 The Division and the Fronton Owners contend that even if the notice provision interferes with the players' right to strike, the state lawfully adopted the rule to protect the public welfare. The NLRB concedes that Florida's police powers allow it to enjoin strike conduct under exigent circumstances. The NLRB contends, however, that the Division and the Fronton Owners have not established the requisite actual or imminent public danger to justify such state action. We agree with the NLRB that no emergency circumstances exist to support the notice provision. 25 The courts have strictly limited state regulation of strike conduct to emergency situations where a strike has caused violence or will inevitably harm the public welfare. See United A.A. & A.I.W. v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Board, 351 U.S. 266, 76 S.Ct. 794, 100 L.Ed. 1162 (1956) (state labor board could enjoin mass picketing which obstructed access to plant, prevented workers from entering plant, and threatened working employees with physical injury); see also Youngdahl v. Rainfair, 355 U.S. 131, 78 S.Ct. 206, 2 L.Ed.2d 151 (1957) (state court could enjoin conduct which state court found calculated to provoke violence and likely to do so unless promptly restrained). Thus, a state's police powers only allow it to react to existing emergency circumstances by enjoining strike conduct. The Division claims that its notice provision is necessary because a strike interrupting pari-mutuel performances would certainly cause violence. As support for this assertion, the Division relies on a fronton owner's affidavit describing a nearly chaotic situation in 1971 that resulted from the interruption of a jai alai match. We agree with the district court that this affidavit does not provide sufficient evidence of inevitable violence or public harm. In fact, since the strike has occurred, the Fronton Owners cannot point to any resulting violence or harm to public safety. This lack of violence buttresses our conclusion. 26 Because the Fronton Owners and the Division have not demonstrated actual or threatened imminent public harm, the notice provision constitutes an improper precautionary regulation of the section 7 right to strike. Case law clearly prohibits states from exercising their police powers to regulate strike conduct prior to the existence of actual or imminent danger or injury to the public. For example, the Supreme Court held that the NLRA preempted a Missouri law which allowed the governor to seize a public transit company and enjoin the employees from striking. Motor Coach Employees, 374 U.S. at 82, 83 S.Ct. at 1662, 10 L.Ed.2d at 768. The Court concluded that the NLRA preempted the seizure law because the law allowed Missouri to prohibit a peaceful strike. Motor Coach Employees, 374 U.S. at 82, 83 S.Ct. at 1662. The Court expressly stated that its decision did not preclude Missouri from regulating such conduct in an emergency situation. Motor Coach Employees, 374 U.S. at 82, 83 S.Ct. at 1662. 27 Adhering to this rationale, a district court prevented New York's attorney general from enjoining nursing home employees from striking. NLRB v. New York, 436 F.Supp. at 339. After finding the state action preempted, the court stated: 28 While the state may not prohibit the employees from going out on strike or engaging in peaceful picketing, when it appears that the lives and health of nursing home residents are threatened, the state remains free, in the exercise of local responsibility, to take whatever reasonable steps are necessary to protect the residents from the effects of strike activity. 29 NLRB v. New York, 436 F.Supp. at 339. Consequently, because the Fronton Owners cannot demonstrate actual or imminent danger to the public, the state may not regulate the strike conduct by imposing a fifteen-day pre-strike notice requirement on the players. 30