Court Opinion

ID: 9466670
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:22:47.448489+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:52.026307
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
The five persons who resigned from the local union were notified by letter that charges had been filed against them. There was no statement in the letter that sanctions would be imposed by the union disciplinary committee hearing the charges. Under the union constitution, the disciplinary committee could impose a reprimand, a fine, a suspension or an expulsion. Since expulsion or suspension are lawful penalties under § 8(b)(1)(A) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(1)(A), N.L. R.B. v. District Lodge No. 99, 489 F.2d 769 (1st Cir. 1974); Local 1255, Int. Ass’n of Mach. & Aero. Wkrs. v. N.L.R.B., 456 F.2d 1214 (5th Cir. 1972); Pattern Makers' Ass'n of Los Angeles (Lietzau Pattern Co.), 199 N.L.R.B. 96, 81 L.R.R.M. 1177 (1972), neither the National Labor Relations Board nor this Court has a right to assume that the union would impose unlawful fines on the employees. Moreover, an employee’s resignation from a union is not effective until it is received by the union. Local 1012, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers (General Electric Co.), 187 N.L. R.B. 375, 76 L.R.R.M. 1038 (1970).
Until a resignation is effective, a union may lawfully fine and discipline members who cross its picket line. A disciplinary charge is nothing more than a charge. The view adopted by the Board and the majority deprives a union of any opportunity to determine whether the resignation was effective and assumes that the union will not determine this question honestly and fairly. By holding that the filing of a charge is violative of § 8(b)(1)(A), one necessarily assumes that a union disciplinary committee will not recognize the effectiveness of a *716resignation even if the resignation was timely. Neither the Board nor this Court has a right to make such an assumption.
The cases relied on by the Board to support its claim that the filing of charges was violative of the Act are not persuasive. In Local Union No. 13, United Ass’n of Plumbers and Pipefitters (Mechanical Contractors Ass’n), 212 N.L.R.B. 477, 87 L.R.R.M. 1249 (1974); International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 34 (Protection Alarms, Inc.), 208 N.L.R.B. 639, 85 L.R.R.M. 1351 (1974); Penzel Construction Co., Inc. (Carpenters Local 1770), 185 N.L.R.B. 544, 75 L.R.R.M. 1051 (1970), the Board found violations of § 8(b)(1)(A) based on a threatened or actual filing of charges against members. In each case, however, the charges were filed in response to a member bringing an unfair labor practice charge or giving damaging testimony against the union to the Board.1 The curtailment of employee access to Board proceedings and protection impairs the national labor policy and involves more than the internal affairs of a union. Scofield v. N.L.R.B., 394 U.S. 423, 89 S.Ct. 1154, 22 L.Ed.2d 385 (1969); N.L. R.B. v. Shipbuilding Local 22, 391 U.S. 418, 88 S.Ct. 1717, 20 L.Ed.2d 706 (1968).
The Board also cites Communications Workers of America, Local 1122 (New York Tele. Co.), 226 N.L.R.B. 97, 93 L.R.R.M. 1161 (1976); Communications Workers of America, Local 1170 (Rochester Tele. Corp.), 194 N.L.R.B. 144, 79 L.R.R.M. 1113 (1972), in support of its holding here. Neither case is on point. Both cases involved charges against an employee for violation of a union rule found by the Board to be unlawful under § 8(d) and § 8(b)(3) of the Act. In the latter case, the enforcing Court noted that the charge did not stem from a violation of a lawful union rule dealing with a purely internal matter. N.L.R.B. v. Communications Workers of Amer., Local 1170, 474 F.2d 778, 782 (2d Cir. 1972), enforcing Communications Workers of America, Local 1170 (Rochester Tele. Corp.), supra.
The Board is establishing a mischievous precedent by holding that simply preferring charges against a “recently resigned member” for crossing a picket line is coercive within the meaning of the Act, and this Court is compounding the mischief by agreeing with it.

. Similarly, in United Steelworkers of America, Local Union 5550 (Redfield Co.), 223 N.L.R.B. 854, 92 L.R.R.M. 1062 (1976), the disciplinary proceedings were threatened when a member indicated that he was about to testify against a union at an arbitration proceeding.