Opinion ID: 779933
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Garmon Preemption & Machinists Preemption

Text: 25 Garmon preemption, the older of the two doctrines, derives its name from San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959), which held that states may not regulate behavior covered by § 7 or § 8 of the NLRA or behavior arguably covered by either of those two sections. See also Belknap, Inc. v. Hale, 463 U.S. 491, 498, 103 S.Ct. 3172, 77 L.Ed.2d 798 (1983) (articulating Garmon preemption boundaries). Sections 7 and 8 of the Act regulate concerted activities and unfair labor practices, respectively, seeking to protect the former and stamp out the latter. 29 U.S.C. §§ 157, 158 (codifying § 7 and § 8 of the NLRA). Garmon preemption protects the Board's primary jurisdiction to decide what conduct is protected or prohibited in labor-management relations under the NLRA. Such preemption thereby assures a coherent national labor policy. See Metro. Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U.S. 724, 748, 105 S.Ct. 2380, 85 L.Ed.2d 728 (1985); Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. San Diego County Dist. Council of Carpenters, 436 U.S. 180, 187-88, 98 S.Ct. 1745, 56 L.Ed.2d 209 (1978); see also Air Transp. Ass'n of Am. v. Prof'l Air Traffic Controllers Org., 667 F.2d 316, 323 (2d Cir.1981) ( Garmon rests primarily on the need to ensure a consistent body of federal labor law by preempting potentially inconsistent state court adjudication.). 26 The Supreme Court articulated the doctrine now known as Machinists preemption in Lodge 76, International Ass'n of Machinists v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, 427 U.S. 132, 96 S.Ct. 2548, 49 L.Ed.2d 396 (1976). While Garmon preemption focuses on conduct arguably within the scope of § 7 or § 8 of the NLRA, this later form of preemption protects employers' and unions' use of economic weapons that Congress aimed for them to have freely available. See id. at 150-51, 96 S.Ct. 2548. Even though no section of the NLRA expressly protects these economic weapons, they are integral parts of the legislative scheme and cannot be subject to regulation by the states or the courts or even the Board. The rationale behind Machinists preemption is that government interference with these economic weapons would upset the delicate balance of interests established in the NLRA. See id. at 149-50, 96 S.Ct. 2548. In the design and enactment of that Act, Congress assumed that employers and unions would engage in economic self-help to the extent that such conduct is not expressly prohibited. Id. at 146-47, 96 S.Ct. 2548. The Supreme Court has construed Machinists preemption broadly to bar state interference with conduct that Congress aimed to be unregulated in furtherance of policies implicated by the structure of the [Act] itself. Derrico v. Sheehan Emergency Hosp., 844 F.2d 22, 28 (2d Cir.1988) (quoting Metro. Life Ins., 471 U.S. at 749, 105 S.Ct. 2380).