Court Opinion

ID: 9422979
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:05:23.939589+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:40.738022
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Goldberg,
whom The Chief Justice joins,
concurring.
I agree with the Court that, given the Buffalo Linen case, Labor Board v. Truck Drivers Union, 353 U. S. *29387, and applying it in light of the actualities of industrial relations, the employers’ conduct here is shown to be justified and necessary to preserve the integrity of the employers’ bargaining unit. After the union attempted a whipsaw strike against one member of the multiemployer bargaining unit, the other members locked out their employees. The struck employer attempted to carry on business by using management personnel, relatives of such personnel, and a few temporary employees. To avoid the whipsaw effect of the strike, the nonstruck employers then did the same. During the period of the lockout, all of the employers, struck as well as nonstruck, bargained with the union and, when agreement was reached, in all cases the temporary employees were dismissed and the union employees returned to their jobs.
As the Court seems to recognize, ante, p. 292, n. 6, this would be an entirely different case had the nonstruck employers locked out their employees and hired permanent replacements even if the struck employer had exercised his right to hire permanent replacements under the doctrine of Labor Board v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., 304 U. S. 333. If the Labor Board determined in such a case that the interference with employee rights was not justified by the legitimate economic interests of the employer, the Labor Board determination might well be controlling. See my concurring opinion in American Ship Building Co. v. Labor Board, post, at 327. Cf. Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., 373 U. S. 221. There would be grave doubts as to whether the act of locking out employees and hiring permanent replacements is justified by any legitimate interest of the nonstruck employers, for Buffalo Linen makes clear that the test in such a situation is not whether parity is achieved between struck and nonstruck employers, but, rather, whether the nonstruck employers’ actions are necessary to counteract the whipsaw effects of the strike and to preserve the em*294ployer bargaining unit. Since in this case the nonstruck employers did nothing more than hire temporary replacements, an activity necessary to counter whipsawing by the union and to preserve the bargaining unit, I agree that, applying Buffalo Linen, the judgment of the Court of Appeals should be affirmed.