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Text: Section 8 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act provides in pertinent part:

"It shall be an unfair labor practice for a labor organization or its agents_x0097_(1) to restrain or coerce . . . (B) an employer in the selection of his representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining or the adjustment of grievances."
The basic import of this provision was explained in the Senate Report as follows:

"[A] union or its responsible agents could not, without violating the law, coerce an employer into joining or resigning from an employer association which negotiates labor contracts on behalf of its members; also, this subsection would not permit a union to dictate who shall represent an employer in the settlement of employee grievances, or to compel the removal of a personnel director or supervisor who has been delegated the function of settling grievances."[9]
For more than 20 years after § 8 (b) (1) (B) was enacted in 1947, the Board confined its application to situations clearly falling within the metes and bounds of the statutory language. Thus, in Los Angeles Cloak Joint Board ILGWU (Helen Rose Co.), 127 N. L. R. B. 1543 (1960), the Board held that § 8 (b) (1) (B) barred a union from picketing a company in an attempt to force the employer to dismiss an industrial relations consultant thought to be hostile to the union. See also Local 986, Miscellaneous Warehousemen, Drivers & Helpers (Tak-Trak, Inc.), 145 N. L. R. B. 1511 (1964); Southern California Pipe Trades District Council No. 16 (Paddock Pools of California, Inc.), 120 N. L. R. B. 249 (1958). Similarly, the Board held that § 8 (b) (1) (B) was violated by union attempts to force employers to join or resign from multi-employer bargaining associations, United Slate, Tile & Composition Roofers, Local 36 (Roofing Contractors Assn. of Southern California), 172 N. L. R. B. 2248 (1968); Orange Belt District Council of Painters No. 48 (Painting & Decorating Contractors of America, Inc.), 152 N. L. R. B. 1136 (1965); General Teamsters Local Union No. 324 (Cascade Employers Assn., Inc.), 127 N. L. R. B. 488 (1960), as well as by attempts to compel employers to select foremen from the ranks of union members, International Typographical Union & Baltimore Typographical Union No. 12 (Graphic Arts League), 87 N. L. R. B. 1215 (1949); International Typographical Union (American Newspaper Publishers Assn.), 86 N. L. R. B. 951 (1949), enforced, 193 F.2d 782 (CA7 1951); International Typographical Union (Haverhill Gazette Co.), 123 N. L. R. B. 806 (1959), enforced, 278 F.2d 6 (CA1 1960), aff'd by an equally divided Court, 365 U.S. 705 (1961).[10]

In 1968, however, the Board significantly expanded the reach of § 8 (b) (1) (B), with its decision in San Francisco-Oakland Mailers' Union No. 18 (Northwest Publications, Inc.), 172 N. L. R. B. 2173. In that case, three union-member foremen were expelled from the union for allegedly assigning bargaining unit work in violation of the collective-bargaining agreement. Despite the absence of union pressure or coercion aimed at securing the replacement of the foremen, the Board held that the union had violated § 8 (b) (1) (B) by seeking to influence the manner in which the foremen interpreted the contract:

"That Respondent may have sought the substitution of attitudes rather than persons, and may have exerted its pressures upon the Charging Party by indirect rather than direct means, cannot alter the ultimate fact that pressure was exerted here for the purpose of interfering with the Charging Party's control over its representatives. Realistically, the Employer would have to replace its foremen or face de facto nonrepresentation by them." 172 N. L. R. B. 2173.
Subsequent Board decisions extended § 8 (b) (1) (B) to proscribe union discipline of management representatives both for the manner in which they performed their collective-bargaining and grievance-adjusting functions, and for the manner in which they performed other supervisory functions if those representatives also in fact possessed authority to bargain collectively or to adjust grievances. See Detroit Newspaper Printing Pressmen's Union 13, 192 N. L. R. B. 106 (1971); Meat Cutters Union Local 81, 185 N. L. R. B. 884 (1970), enforced, 147 U. S. App. D. C. 375, 458 F.2d 794 (1972); Houston Typographical Union 87, 182 N. L. R. B. 592 (1970); Dallas Mailers Union Local 143 (Dow Jones Co., Inc.), 181 N. L. R. B. 286 (1970), enforced, 144 U. S. App. D. C. 254, 445 F.2d 730 (1971); Sheet Metal Workers' International Assn., Local Union 49 (General Metal Products, Inc.), 178 N. L. R. B. 139 (1969), enforced, 430 F.2d 1348 (CA10 1970); New Mexico District Council of Carpenters & Joiners of America (A. S. Horner, Inc.), 176 N. L. R. B. 797 and 177 N. L. R. B. 500 (1969), both enforced, 454 F.2d 1116 (CA10 1972); Toledo Locals Nos. 15-P & 272, Lithographers & Photoengravers International (Toledo Blade Co., Inc.), 175 N. L. R. B. 1072 (1969), enforced, 437 F.2d 55 (CA6 1971).[11]

These decisions reflected a further evolution of the Oakland Mailers doctrine. In Oakland Mailers, the union had disciplined its supervisor-members for an alleged misinterpretation or misapplication of the collective-bargaining agreement, and the Board had reasoned that the natural and foreseeable effect of such discipline was that in interpreting the agreement in the future, the supervisor would be reluctant to take a position adverse to that of the union. In the subsequent cases, however, the Board held that the same coercive effect was likely to arise from the disciplining of a supervisor whenever he was engaged in management or supervisory activities, even though his collective-bargaining or grievance-adjustment duties were not involved. Through the course of these decisions, § 8 (b) (1) (B) thus began to evolve in the view of the Board and the courts "as a general prohibition of a union's disciplining supervisor-members for their conduct in the course of representing the interests of their employers." Toledo Locals Nos. 15-P & 272, Lithographers & Photoengravers International, 175 N. L. R. B., at 1080, or for acts "performed in the course of [their] management duties," Meat Cutters Union Local 81 v. NLRB, 147 U. S. App. D. C., at 377, 458 F.2d, at 796.[12]

In the present cases, the Board has extended that doctrine to hold that § 8 (b) (1) (B) forbids union discipline of supervisors for performance of rank-and-file work on the theory that the performance of such work during a strike is an activity furthering management's interests.[13] We agree with the Court of Appeals that § 8 (b) (1) (B) cannot be so broadly read. Both the language and the legislative history of § 8 (b) (1) (B) reflect a clearly focused congressional concern with the protection of employers in the selection of representatives to engage in two particular and explicitly stated activities, namely collective bargaining and the adjustment of grievances. By its terms, the statute proscribes only union restraint or coercion of an employer "in the selection of his representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining or the adjustment of grievances," and the legislative history makes clear that in enacting the provision Congress was exclusively concerned with union attempts to dictate to employers who would represent them in collective bargaining and grievance adjustment.

The specific concern of Congress was to prevent unions from trying to force employers into or out of multi-employer bargaining units.[14] As Senator Taft, cosponsor of the legislation, explained:

"Under this provision it would be impossible for a union to say to a company, `We will not bargain with you unless you appoint your national employers' association as your agent so that we can bergain nationally.' Under the bill the employer has a right to say, `No, I will not join in national bargaining. Here is my representative, and this is the man you have to deal with.' I believe the provision is a necessary one, and one which will accomplish substantially wise purposes." 93 Cong. Rec. 3837.
That the legislative creation of this unfair labor practice was in no sense intended to cut the broad swath attributed to it by the Board in the present cases is pointed up by the further observation of Senator Taft:

"This unfair labor practice referred to is not perhaps of tremendous importance, but employees cannot say to their employer, `we do not like Mr. X, we will not meet Mr. X. You have to send us Mr. Y.' That has been done. It would prevent their saying to the employer, `You have to fire Foreman Jones. We do not like Foreman Jones, and therefore you will have to fire him, or we will not go to work.' " 93 Cong. Rec. 3837.[15]
Nowhere in the legislative history is there to be found any implication that Congress sought to extend protection to the employer from union restraint or coercion when engaged in any activity other than the selection of its representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining and grievance adjustment. The conclusion is thus inescapable that a union's discipline of one of its members who is a supervisory employee can constitute a violation of § 8 (b) (1) (B) only when that discipline may adversely affect the supervisor's conduct in performing the duties of, and acting in his capacity as, grievance adjuster or collective bargainer on behalf of the employer.

We may assume without deciding that the Board's Oakland Mailers decision fell within the outer limits of this test, but its decisions in the present cases clearly do not. For it is certain that these supervisors were not engaged in collective bargaining or grievance adjustment, or in any activities related thereto, when they crossed union picket lines during an economic strike to engage in rank-and-file struck work.[16]