Court Opinion

ID: 9643506
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:31:40.49853+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:00.441911
License: Public Domain

BIGGS, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I wish to recapitulate briefly certain allegations of the bill of complaint as follows.
It is alleged that two of the appellees are incorporated under the laws of Pennsylvania and one is incorporated under the laws of New Jersey. These three corporations own and operate as a joint enterprise twenty-seven food stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, and two warehouses, situated respectively in Baltimore and Philadelphia. Food supplies purchased by the appellees are shipped in interstate commerce to these warehouses and a large proportion of the supplies so received by the two warehouses are shipped out again *827through channels of interstate commerce to the. stores.
The appellants,' unincorporated unions, local to Philadelphia but affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and their officers and members, caused the picketing of the stores and warehouses referred to. Such picketing served to prevent the appellees’ customers and delivery agents from entering the stores "and warehouses. The appellants informed the appellees that the pickets would be withdrawn if the appellees would sign an agreement naming the appellant unions as the exclusive bargaining agents for the appellees’ employees.
About this time another union, styled “United Retail and Wholesale Employees of America”, affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, informed the appellees that it represented more than a majority of the appellees’ employees and that it desired to act as the exclusive bargaining agent on behalf of such employees. The appellees allege that they were and are entirely willing to recognize as bargaining agent whatever union may be designated for that purpose by a majority of their employees. They state that they proposed that an election should be held among their employees to decide this question and that the United Retail and Wholesale Employees of America agreed that this- course should be followed but that the appellants refused to accede to it.
The bill also alleges that the appellees, yielding to “illegal coercion and force” exerted against them by the appellants, on April 2, 1938 signed an agreement to negotiate an agreement with the appellant unions. Th'e pickets were then withdrawn. The United Retail and Wholesale Employees of América thereupon filed a complaint against the appellees with the National Labor Relations Board alleging unfair labor practices by the appellees in violation of Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158. The Labor Board informed the appellees of the charges made in this complaint and requested an informal hearing with the hope that the controversy might be brought to • an end.
An informal hearing was held but no agreement was reached. The appellees then received another notice from the Board which is set out in full in the majority opinion. The appellees’ counsel construed this notice to be in the nature of a restraining order, prohibiting the appellees from entering into any agreement pending the certification by the Board of a bargaining agent for the appellees’ employees.
The appellants informed the appellees, pending the holding of an election by the Board, that they would endeavor to organize and unionize the appellees’ employees and reqttested the appellees’ cooperation to such end. The appellees replied that they would not intimidate, coerce or dominate their employees in the selection of a union as their bargaining agent, but that they would cooperate with the appellants to the extent permitted by law.
It further appears from the bill of complaint that following this request, and in the period from May 12 to June 1, 1938, the appellants succeeded in enrolling less than 1% of the appellees’ employees. The bill alleges that the appellants thereupon threatened the appellees that if they would not sign an immediate agreement constituting the appellant unions bargaining agents for the appellees’ employees, picketing would be resumed. The appellees refused to sign such an agreement and picketing was recommenced.
The bill of complaint also alleges that the appellants unlawfully “conspired and combined together to force, intimidate and coerce” the appellees into the signing of such an agreement, placed professional pickets around the stores and warehouses of the appellees, that these pickets coerced and intimidated customers and prevented supply agents from dealing with the appellees and carried false and misleading signs to the effect that the appellees were unfair to organized labor. The bill of complaint also alleges that the appellants contemplate the commission of other unlawful acts, including destruction of the appellees’ property and bodily harm to the appellees’ officers and employees.
The bill of complaint further alleges that the acts committed by the appellants and their agents constitute a burden and obstruction to interstate commerce, and that jurisdiction of the controversy at bar is conferred upon the District Court by virtue of the Sherman and Clayton Acts in conjunction with the Norris-LaGuardia Act and the National Labor Relations Act. The bill concludes with prayers that preliminary and perpetual injunctions issue to restrain the appellants from the commission of the acts complained of.
*828Upon motion for a preliminary injunction a hearing was had before the District Court. After two of the appellees’ witnesses had been heard the appellants filed a motion to dismiss the bill. After consideration an opinion was filed by the learned District Judge in which he held that the District Court had jurisdiction of the controversy because the appellees were engaged in interstate commerce. He also held that provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, hereafter specifically referred to, served to relieve the limitations placed upon the jurisdiction of the Courts of the United States to issue injunctions in labor disputes imposed by the Norris-LaGuardia Act.
After hearing further testimony, the District Judge filed another opinion in which the question of jurisdiction was again discussed. He then entered an order restraining the appellants in accordance with the prayers of the bill of complaint, and appointed a master to hold an election among the appellees’ employees.
It should be noted here that the National Labor Relations Board is engaged in holding an election to determine the representation of the appellees’ employees for the purposes of collective bargaining.
An appeal was taken from the decree of the District Court and an application was made to us for supersedeas of the decree referred to and for a writ staying all further proceedings in the court below pending the disposition of the appeal.
I concur in the holding of the majority opinion of this Court that the District Judge did not possess the power to appoint a master” who in effect was to hold an election to determine the representation of the appellees’ employees for the purposes of collective bargaining. When the National Labor Relations Board has taken jurisdiction of a labor dispute, its power to hold an election for the stated purpose must be deemed to be exclusive and may not be limited or circumscribed by decrees of court. I can find no decided case upon this point, but I think a sufficiently close analogy is supplied by those cases in which courts have refused to enjoin the holding of elections and other proceedings of the National Labor Relations Board. Heller Bros. Co. v. Lind, 66 App.D.C. 306, 86 F.2d 862, certiorari denied, 300 U.S. 672, 57 S.Ct. 611, 81 L.Ed. 878; Pratt v. Oberman & Co., 8 Cir., 89 F.2d 786; Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. v. Schauffler, 4 Cir., 91 F.2d 730, affirmed, 303 U.S. 54, 58 S.Ct. 466, 82 L.Ed. 646; Myers v. Bethlehem Corporation, 303 U.S. 41, 58 S.Ct. 459, 82 L.Ed. 638.
Jurisdiction in the case at bar does not rest upon diversity of citizenship, but is alleged to rest upon the Federal Acts heretofore referred to. I deem it unnecessary at this stage of the controversy to treat with the question of whether the appellees are engaged in interstate commerce as defined by the Sherman and Clayton Acts. I think it is obvious that the food supplies of the appellees are part of the current of commerce between the States and that a diminution of the appellees’ trade affects the flow of commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, 301 U.S. 1, 31, 32, 57 S.Ct. 615, 621, 81 L.Ed. 893, 108 A.L.R. 1352. But these questions are not raised directly by the parties and the questions here at issue may be disposed of by an examination of the provisions of the NorrisLaGuardia Act.
The major question presented for our consideration is summed up in the first opinion of the learned District Judge as follows: “The Wagner Act withholds from the Board the power to enforce its judgments but loans to it the ample power of enforcement of the Courts. To enable the Courts to function the provisions of the Norris Act are expressly withheld from cases of which the Labor Board has taken jurisdiction. It is true that its verbal terms apply only to decisions rendered but it is implicit in any Act of this character for the enforcement of the judgments of any tribunal, that the law which stands behind the tribunal in enforcing its judgments will and must stand behind it in reaching those judgments. This means that nothing in the Norris Act, can be construed to prevent a Court from exercising its equity powers to prevent interference with the Labor Board in exercising its functions, No friend of Labor, or at least organized Labor, could think otherwise.” He states in his second opinion, “The (National Labor Relations) Act provides for its enforcement in effect loaning the judicial powers of the Courts. The question then arose whether the Norris Act would not interfere with the enforcement of the Wagner Act. This anticipated difficulty was solved by the provi*829sion in the Wagner Act, expressly directing that in cases subject to the jurisdiction of the Labor Board, the Norris Act should have no application. It is true that the literal verbiage of the Act extends only to the enforcement of the orders of the Board. The Wagner Act had a very obvious motive and purpose. That was to provide a tribunal for the determination of all labor dispute controversies so as to avoid the necessity, and even the excuse, for a resort to force. The evident intent of Congress in consequence was that the Labor Board should have the exclusive jurisdiction in all such disputes * * *
The learned District Judge held in effect that under the circumstances of the case at bar there was a labor dispute and that the Board had taken jurisdiction of that dispute. Section 10 of the National Labor Relations Act, July 5, 1935, c. 372, Sec. 10, 49 Stat. 453 (29 U.S.C.A. § 160), provides for the prevention of unfair labor practices. Subsection (e) thereof provides for petitions to the Circuit Courts of Appeals for the enforcement of the orders of the Board. This is the “loan” of the power of enforcement referred to in the opinion of the court below. Subsection (h) of Section 10 provides that when the Circuit Courts of Appeals are “ * * * granting appropriate temporary relief or a restraining order, or making and entering a decree enforcing, modifying, and enforcing as so modified or setting aside in whole or in part an order of the Board, as provided in this section, the jurisdiction of courts sitting in equity shall not be limited * * * ” by the provisions of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, March 23, 1932, c. 90, Secs. 1-15, 47 Stat. 70-73 (29 U.S.C.A. §§ 101-115).
Now by the terms of subsection (h) it is apparent that the relief there provided from the limitation of jurisdiction imposed by the Norris-LaGuardia Act for the issuance of injunctions in labor disputes is applicable only to Circuit Courts of Appeals and then only when they are engaged in enforcing, modifying or setting aside the orders of the Board. I concur in the conclusion of the maj ority to such effect.
But here occurs what I deem to be the anomaly expressed in the majority opinion. Such orders of the Board as the Circuit Courts of Appeals are called upon to enforce may be made lawfully by the Board only when jurisdiction is conferred upon it by the existence of a labor dispute or of unfair labor practices tending to impose or imposing a burden upon commerce between the States as defined by the National Labor Relations Act. If there is no labor dispute within the definition of subsection (9) of Section 2 of the Act, 29 U.S.C. A. § 152(9), as the majority opinion holds, under the circumstances of the case at bar and upon the record before us, the iToard would have no power to hold that election to determine employee representation to which the majority opinion looks and the destructive conflict between warring unions must continue uncontrolled by the very agency, the Labor Board, designed by Congress to aid in putting an end to industrial strife.
I think it is very clear, however, that the controversy between the unions is a labor dispute within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
Subsection (9) of Section 2 of the Act 29 U.S.C.A. § 152(9), defines the term “labor dispute” as including . “ * * * any controversy concerning terms, tenure or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee.” In the case at bar the disputants, the rival unions, are engaged in a controversy as to which of them shall represent the appellees’ employees in negotiation with the appellees as to terms and conditions of employment. The disputants do not stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee. Their relation to the employer is that of persons who seek to negotiate with him. That is their connection with the situation and that is why there is a labor dispute. The phrase regarding proximate relationship used in the Act and quoted above is not one of inclusion as the majority opinion holds, but one of exclusion. It simply makes plain that the dispute need not be between employer and employees. In my opinion the controversy in the case at bar is precisely within the definition of a labor dispute as defined by the National Labor Relations Act.
An examination of the case of Lauf v. E. G. Shinner & Co., 303 U.S. 323, 58 S.Ct. 578, 82 L.Ed. 872, I think serves to confirm this conclusion. Section 13(c) of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 47 Stat. 73, 29 U.S.C. A. § 113(c), under discussion in the cited *830case, is substantially similar1 in terms with subsection (9) of Section 2 of the National Labor Relations Act. In the Lauf Case the jurisdiction of the District Court was bottomed upon the diversity of citizenship of the parties. The respondent, Shinner & Co., maintained meat.markets in Milwaukee, ^Wisconsin. The petitioners were an unincorporated labor union ajnd its business manager. None of the respondent’s employees was a member of the petitioning union. The petitioners demanded of the respondent that it require its employees, under penalty of discharge, to join the union. The respondent informed its employees that they were free to do this if they wished, but the latter refused to join. The union did not represent the employees in any capacity, they having their own organization. The petitioners caused false and misleading signs to be placed before the respondent’s markets, hired persons not the respondent’s employees to picket the markets, and falsely accused the respondent of being unfair to its employees and to organized labor. By molestation, threats and intimidation the petitioners prevented the respondent’s customers from patronizing the markets, causing the respondent company to suffer irreparable damage. Upon this state of facts the District Court held that there was no labor dispute and enjoined the petitioners from continuance of the acts complained of. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed this decree. The Supreme Court reversed the court below, holding that there was a labor dispute within the definition of the Norris-LaGuardia Act.
It will be observed that in the facts of the cited case and those of the case at bar there exist but few pertinent distinctions in so far as the question now under discussion is concerned. True, in the Lauf Case the Wisconsin Labor Act had been construed wrongly by the courts below in view of the decision of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin in Senn v. Tile Layers Protective Union, 222 Wis. 383, 268 N.W. 270, 872, 873, and of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Senn v. Tile Layers Protective Union, 301 U.S. 468, 57 S.Ct. 857, 81 L.Ed. 1229. The decisión in the Lauf Case corrected this error as the majority opinion of this Court points out, but the Supreme Court of the United States also, had before it the question of injunction by a Court of the United States in a labor dispute in view of the NorrisLaGuardia Act and its adjudication went to this issue as well. It is also the case as pointed out in the majority opinion that in the Lauf Case there were no contesting unions. There was but one union seeking to compel the employees of Shinner & Co. to join its rolls. In the case at bar, there are a number of unions seeking to compel the appellees’ employees to join their respective organizations. In the cited case, there were no unfair labor practices upon the part of the employer, the union in fact not representing the employees of Shinner & Co. in any capacity. In the case at bar, as stated in the majority opinion, no unfair labor practice appears upon the part of the appellees unless it consists in their refusal to treat with United Retail and .Wholesale Employees of America as an exclusive bargaining agent, a union which the Board has not certified as the bargaining agent for the employees. In both cases there was a refusal upon the.„part of the employer to coerce its employees into forming a union for the purpose of making it a bargaining agent. In both cases there was picketing.
Relief to the employer or to employees is afforded by the National Labor Relations Act if there be a labor dispute or unfair labor practices. The fundamental purposes of the National Labor Relations Act are to put an end to labor disputes which tend to burden commerce and to terminate unfair practices which lead to labor disputes. The fundamental purpose of the Norris-LaGuardia Act is to preserve to labor the rights specified therein. Neither the National Labor Relations Act nor the NorrisLaGuardia Act should be circumscribed or limited by fine distinctions as to relationships of disputants. So far as the issue of the existence of a labor dispute is concerned, in my opinion the Lauf Case rules' the case at bar.
The District Court exercised its jurisdiction because it found that there was a *831labor dispute within the terms of the National Labor Relations Act, but held that the provisions of subsection (h) of Section 10 of the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 160(h), operated to relieve its jurisdiction- of the limitations imposed upon it by reason of Section 7 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 107. This was erroneous, but even if the decree of the District Court is sought to be supported as an exercise of equity jurisdiction under the provisions of the Sherman or Clayton Acts to relieve an oppressive burden upon interstate commerce nowhere in the' record can be found any findings of fact by the court below as required by subsections (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) of Section 7 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act. The denial of authority to a court of the United States to issue an injunction in any case “involving or growing out of a labor dispute” is conditioned as these subsections of the statute provide. Without making the findings of fact required by the statute, the District Court lacked the power to issue its injunction. Lauf v. E. G. Shinner & Co., supra, at pages 329, 330, 58 S.Ct. at pages 581, 582.
Moreover, without regard to the failure of the court below to support its preliminary injunction by findings of fact as required by the Norris-LaGuardia Act, those portions of the decree enjoining picketing without fraud or violence on the part of the appellants are within the express prohibition of subsection (e) of Section 4 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 104(e). Picketing or patrolling without fraud or violence is expressly included within the specific acts which may not be enjoined by Courts of the United States. Levering & Garrigues Co. v. Morrin, 2 Cir., 71 F.2d 284, certiorari denied, 293 U.S. 595, 55 S.Ct. 110, 79 L.Ed. 688.
In my opinion the question here presented is not one for the exercise of our discretion to grant or refuse a supersedeas. The question presented is the fundamental one of jurisdiction which must be determined in limine. In view of the fact that there is insuperable objection to the maintenance of the preliminary injunction in pgint of jurisdiction, the decree of injunction should be reversed and the cause remanded with appropriate instructions. Meccano, Limited v. John Wanamaker, 253 U.S. 136, 141, 40 S.Ct. 463, 465, 64 L.Ed. 822. See, also, Myers v. Bethlehem Corporation, 303 U.S. 41, 52, 58 S.Ct. 459, 464, 82 L.Ed. 638.

 The definition of a “labor dispute” in tbe National Labor Relations Act contains tbe word “tenure” which is not included in the definition of "labor dispute” in the Norris-LaGuardia Act, and tbe definition of tbe National Labor Relations Act omits tbe pbrase “or not” contained in tbe last dause of subsection (c) of Section 13 of tbe Norris-LaGuardia Act.