Court Opinion

ID: 9430697
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:30:21.928439+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:25.845935
License: Public Domain

Justice Brennan,
with whom Justice Marshall and Justice Blackmun join, dissenting.
The State of Michigan disqualifies an individual from receiving unemployment benefits for “financing” the labor dispute that causes his unemployment. Mich. Comp. Laws § 421.29(8)(a)(ii) (Supp. 1986). As construed by the Michigan *639Supreme Court, this means that an unemployed individual is denied benefits for making a significant financial contribution to a labor organization “in temporal proximity” to the labor dispute that caused his unemployment if that contribution was “for the purpose of assisting labor disputes which reasonably and foreseeably include the dispute that caused the [individual’s] unemployment.” 420 Mich. 463, 506, 363 N. W. 2d 602, 621-622 (1984). Because I believe that, as so construed, this statute conflicts with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in a way that Congress did not intend to permit, I respectfully dissent from the Court’s opinion and judgment.
In enacting Title IX of the Social Security Act, Congress left the States a “wide range” of discretion to establish qualifications for receiving unemployment benefits. Steward Machine Co. v. Davis, 301 U. S. 548, 593 (1937); see also Ohio Bureau of Employment Services v. Hodory, 431 U. S. 471, 482-489 (1977). We have previously found evidence in the legislative history of the Social Security Act indicating that Congress intended that this broad grant of authority should include power to authorize or deny unemployment benefits in ways that may interfere with the smooth operation of the federal labor laws. Thus, in New York Telephone Co. v. New York State Dept. of Labor, 440 U. S. 519 (1979), we held that the States were free to authorize or to prohibit payment of unemployment benefits to striking workers notwithstanding the impact of such payments on the collective-bargaining process. We based our conclusion on evidence in the legislative history of the Social Security Act specifically indicating that Congress intended to leave the States such authority. Id., at 540-546 (plurality opinion); see also, id., at 546-547 (Brennan, J., concurring in result); id., at 549 (Blackmun, J., concurring in judgment).
It is clear, however, that the States’ discretion to fashion qualifications for unemployment compensation is not boundless, and that state laws that conflict with the NLRA in ways *640that Congress did not intend to permit are pre-empted. For example, in Nash v. Florida Industrial Comm’n, 389 U. S. 235 (1967), petitioner filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that she had been laid off in retaliation for union activities. The Florida Industrial Commission determined that filing charges with the NLRB initiated a “labor dispute” within the meaning of the Florida statute denying benefits to individuals unemployed “due to a labor dispute.” We concluded that the effect of such a disqualification on national labor policy was too great:
“The action of Florida here, like the coercive actions which employers and unions are forbidden to engage in, has a direct tendency to frustrate the purpose of Congress to leave people free to make charges of unfair labor practices to the Board. ... It appears obvious to us that this financial burden which Florida imposes will impede resort to the Act and thwart congressional reliance on individual action. A national system for the implementation of this country’s labor policies is not so dependent on state law. Florida should not be permitted to defeat or handicap a valid national objective by threatening to withdraw state benefits from persons simply because they cooperate with the Government’s constitutional plan.” Id., at 239 (footnote omitted).
As the Court recognizes, ante, at 635, a “financing” disqualification such as Michigan’s implicates important rights that are protected by § 7 of the NLRA. In particular, such a disqualification may prevent workers from exercising their right to expend money in support of a strike, and, more generally, it will influence their willingness to contribute to a fund that will strengthen the union’s position in collective bargaining. The question we must answer in this case, then, is whether — as in New York Telephone Co. — there is reason to think that Congress intended to tolerate the conflict between Michigan’s “financing” provision and the NLRA, or *641whether — like the state law struck down in Nash — this conflict is one that Congress did not intend to permit.
I note at the outset that it is highly unusual to interpret one law by reference to the legislative history of a different law. However, because the NLRA and the Social Security Act were considered by Congress at the same time and were passed within five weeks of one another, it is sometimes appropriate to read them in pari materia. See New York Telephone Co., supra, at 540-541; ante, at 632-633. Nonetheless, the NLRA and the Social Security Act are distinct pieces of legislation that address very different concerns. Consequently, we cannot find that Congress intended to withdraw protections extended in the NLRA on the basis of the legislative history of the Social Security Act unless the expression of Congress’ intent to do so is especially clear. In this case, the available evidence is anything but clear in support of the conclusion that Congress intended to permit States to deny unemployment benefits to individuals for “financing” a labor dispute in the manner approved by the Michigan Supreme Court. Unlike the discussion in the legislative history concerning unemployment benefits for actual strikers that was relied upon in New York Telephone Co., supra, at 542-544, there is no comparable discussion at any point in the legislative history of benefits for individuals who “finance” a labor dispute. Nor does the Report of the Committee on Economic Security, which “ ‘became the cornerstone of the Social Security Act,’” ante, at 633 (quoting Ohio Bureau of Employment Services v. Hodory, supra, at 482), mention the subject of a “financing” disqualification. The sole support for the use of a financing disqualification is in “draft bills” prepared by the Social Security Board one year after the Social Security Act was passed as examples of what the Act permitted the States to do. These draft bills disqualified workers from receiving benefits if their unemployment was due to a labor dispute which they were “participating in or financing or directly interested in . . . .” United States *642Social Security Board, Draft Bills For State Unemployment Compensation of Pooled Fund and Employer Reserve Account Types §§ 5(d)(1) and (2), pp. 9, 10 (1936).
One could argue that, in light of this scant legislative history, there is no basis for concluding that Congress intended to authorize the States to utilize any kind of “financing” disqualification that interferes with rights protected by the NLRA. However, because the draft bills constitute a contemporaneous construction of an Act by those charged with the responsibility for setting it in motion, they are entitled to considerable deference. See Udall v. Tallman, 380 U. S. 1, 16 (1965) (quoting Power Reactor Development Co. v. Electrical Workers, 367 U. S. 396, 408 (1961)). We may therefore conclude that the States may enact some sort of “financing” disqualification even though this might conflict with the NLRA. The difficult question is what kind.
Unfortunately, the Social Security Board did not elaborate on its understanding of the permissible scope of its financing disqualification, so there is nothing in the draft bills from which to determine how broad the disqualification may be, consistent with the NLRA. It is at least clear, however, that the Social Security Board thought that there were limits on the scope of any financing disqualification. For within just a few years, the Board deleted this disqualification from its draft bills, explaining:
“The provision found in some laws extending the disqualification to individuals who are financing a labor dispute is not recommended since it might operate to disqualify an individual not concerned with the dispute solely on the basis of his payment of dues to the union that is conducting the strike.” United States Social Security Board, Bureau of Employment Security, Proposed State Legislation Providing for Unemployment Compensation and Public Employment Offices, Employment Security Memorandum No. 13, p. 56, note (Nov. 1940).
*643Insofar as the legislative history of the Social Security Act supports only the conclusion that Congress intended to leave the States authority to deny benefits to actual strikers, and does not indicate that Congress anticipated a distinct disqualification of individuals whose money is used to pay for a strike, such a disqualification can only be permitted to the extent that it is necessary to effectuate the State’s decision to disqualify actual strikers. Thus, a financing disqualification may be justified as necessary to prevent unions from circumventing the State’s disqualification of actual strikers, something unions might accomplish by striking a key group of employees — knowing that the resultant work stoppage will cause additional layoffs and that laid-off workers will be supported by unemployment benefits — while sharing the cost of financing the strike among all the workers.
Where this is true, i. e., where workers agree to pay special dues1 to finance a particular labor dispute that they *644know will result in their own layoffs, they voluntarily cause their own unemployment in the same sense as actual strikers. Therefore, I agree with the Court that “[t]o the extent that appellants may be viewed as participants in the decision to strike, or to expend funds in support of the local strikes, it is difficult to see how such a decision would be entitled to any greater protection than is afforded to actual strikers.” Ante, at 636-637. I also agree with the Court that, insofar as “the emergency dues decision was tantamount to a plantwide decision to call a strike in a bottleneck department that would predictably shut down an entire plant,” ante, at 637, Michigan could disqualify workers who paid the dues. In other words, to the extent that Michigan denies benefits to workers who agree to pay special dues to finance the very strike *645that caused their unemployment, I agree that the Michigan statute is not pre-empted.
As interpreted by the Michigan Supreme Court, however, the Michigan statute also denies benefits to individuals whose unemployment results from a labor dispute financed with money raised for a different labor dispute — so long as the dispute that caused the unemployment was “foreseeable” at the time the contribution was made. Michigan’s law thus denies benefits to an individual for “financing” a labor dispute even though he did not necessarily intend to finance that dispute. Yet, where this is the case, the disqualification cannot be justified as necessary to effectuate the disqualification of actual strikers. Therefore, to the extent that it interferes with rights protected by the NLRA, it is pre-empted. Moreover, in my view, an individual who did not intend to finance the labor dispute that led to his being laid off cannot be said to have “voluntarily” caused his own unemployment in the same sense as a striker; the Court’s unexplained equation of the two is simply wrong.
Finally, denying benefits to an individual who paid special dues merely because the strike that caused his unemployment was foreseeable when the decision to pay the dues was made interferes with rights protected by the NLRA in a much more pervasive manner than a disqualification of actual strikers. Consider the decision that must be made by a union member asked to vote on whether to collect special dues to finance an anticipated strike. If he agrees to pay the special dues and the strike results in his being laid off, he will not receive unemployment benefits under state law. This possibility will certainly influence his decision whether or not to vote in favor of the special dues, and, to that extent, the state law conflicts with a federally protected right. However, as explained above, because the union member’s decision in this regard is essentially identical to the decision of an actual striker, I agree with the Court that it is reasonable to conclude that Congress was willing to tolerate this conflict. *646But under Michigan’s statute, the union member must think about other “foreseeable” strikes in addition to the particular strike under consideration. Thus, it may be that the strike under consideration will not cause layoffs among nonstrikers, or that the union member feels strongly enough about that dispute that he is willing to tolerate the loss of unemployment compensation if he is laid off. But under the Michigan statute, the union member’s decision whether to vote to authorize the collection of special dues is coerced still further by the possibility that some other strike, that might be financed by these dollars and that might result in layoffs, will leave him without unemployment compensation.2 I do not see that there is any justification for this additional interference with rights protected by the NLRA; certainly the Court has offered none. It would be one thing if the legislative history showed that Congress intended to tolerate a conflict with the NLRA such as is created by Michigan’s financing provision. But it does not. Therefore, I would hold that States may disqualify unemployed individuals for “financing” a labor dispute only where they agree to pay special dues specifically to finance the particular strike that caused their unemployment. To the extent that the Michigan statute exceeds this limitation, it is pre-empted by the NLRA.
Because of its construction of the Michigan statute, the Michigan Supreme Court did not find it necessary to consider whether the local foundry strikes were expressly contemplated by the UAW in its decision to collect the emergency dues. Accordingly, I would vacate the judgment below and remand the case to the Michigan Supreme Court to consider this question.

 The Michigan statute provides that “[t]he payment of regular union dues, in amounts and for purposes established before the inception of the labor dispute, shall not be construed as financing a labor dispute . . . .” Mich. Comp. Laws § 421.29(8)(a)(ii) (Supp. 1986). The Court therefore limits its opinion approving Michigan’s statute to disqualifications based on the payment of “special” dues. Although, for the reasons stated in text, I believe that Michigan’s disqualification is overbroad even as limited to special dues, there is really no question that a state law denying unemployment benefits on the basis of regular dues payments is pre-empted by the NLRA. The Social Security Board’s 1940 decision to delete the financing disqualification because it might operate to deny benefits solely on the basis of an individual’s payment of dues to a union indicates that the Board thought that States could not deny unemployment benefits simply because unemployment is due to a labor dispute financed from a strike fund that includes contributions from the individual’s ordinary union dues. Moreover, this conclusion is entirely sensible in that a disqualification based upon the payment of ordinary dues would seriously interfere with basic organizational rights protected by the NLRA: In order to bargain effectively, a union must be able to present a credible strike threat. This, in turn, requires the union to maintain an adequate strike fund, and without such a fund, the union’s ability to bargain effectively would be greatly impaired. Consequently, unions typically use a portion of every member’s *644ordinary dues to finance a standing fund to support strikes authorized by the union. Because the maintenance of a strike fund from ordinary dues is standard union practice, disqualifying workers whose unemployment results from a strike financed with ordinary union dues would, as a practical matter, mean disqualifying workers simply for being members of the union that authorized that labor dispute. Such a disqualification would severely impair the long-term capability of unions to organize workers. If some members of a union wanted to strike, other members having no direct stake in the strike would have a powerful incentive to oppose it, namely, the possibility that the strike might cause their own layoffs and leave them without financial resources. The union would consequently come under pressure to split into smaller units in order to avoid these conflicts — a result that is contrary to the most basic thrust of the NLRA. Moreover, this tendency would be more pronounced in industries that are functionally integrated, because strikes are more likely to cause layoffs among non-strikers in such industries; yet it is in precisely these industries that workers have the greatest need to combine in labor organizations that can present management with a unified front. It is inconceivable that the Congress that passed the NLRA and the Social Security Act would have found such a state of affairs acceptable, and therefore, in the absence of contrary evidence in the legislative history, I conclude that States are prohibited from denying benefits to individuals on the ground that their ordinary union dues were used to finance the labor dispute that caused their unemployment.

 This concern is somewhat alleviated under the Michigan statute by the additional requirement that the labor dispute which causes the unemployment occur “in temporal proximity” to the making of the financial contribution.