Court Opinion

ID: 9791075
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:04:49.023941+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:33.768869
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice McINTYRE
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I join with my colleagues Chief Justice Parker and Justice Gray in holding that § 5 of Ch. 39, S.L. of Wyoming 1963, is unconstitutional and void.
I cannot, however, agree that the act itself is so divisible that the void portion can be deleted without a destruction of the remaining portions of the act. In other words, my answer to the district court would be that § 5 is unconstitutional; and this being so, the entire act should be held to be unconstitutional.
The question as to whether portions of a statute which are constitutional shall be upheld while other divisible portions are eliminated as unconstitutional is primarily one of intention. Steffey v. City of Casper, Wyo., 357 P.2d 456, 469, rehearing granted and opinion modified 358 P.2d 951; 82 C.J.S. Statutes § 93, p. 154.
In the statute with which we are now dealing, there is no severability clause expressing an intention on the part of the legislature that constitutional portions of the act should stand if the statute is found to contain unconstitutional portions. Also, the act is a criminal statute, and we should keep in mind that, inasmuch as penal statutes are always construed strictly, courts incline toward treating a penal or criminal statute as void in its entirety whenever one section or clause is clearly unconstitutional. 16 Am.Jur.2d, Constitutional Law, § 196, p. 431; State ex rel. White v. Board of County Com’rs of Wyandotte County, Kan., 140 Kan. 744, 39 P.2d 286, 291.
This rule has been adopted in our state, and I see no reason for departing from it here. McFarland v. City of Cheyenne, 48 Wyo. 66, 42 P.2d 413, 419. In the McFarland case, as in this case, the act under consideration made it a crime for any person to violate any of the provisions of the act and fixed a heavy penalty therefor. There is, of course, no way of telling whether the punishment prescribed would have been the same if the legislature had known it could not prohibit those things forbidden in the unconstitutional portion of the statute.
The general rule applicable here is that an entire statute will fall where constitutional and unconstitutional provisions are so connected in subject matter, meaning and purpose that it cannot be believed the legislature would have passed one without the other. In re Hendrickson, 12 Wash.2d 600, 123 P.2d 322; State ex rel. Marshall v. Consumers Warehouse Market, Inc., 185 Kan. 363, 343 P.2d 234; Millett v. Frohmiller, 66 Ariz. 339, 188 P.2d 457.
The legislature in this instance has attempted to do two things. It has (1) attempted to prohibit the matter of membership in and payment of dues to a union as a condition of employment; and (2) it has attempted to prohibit all other connections with a union as a condition of employment.
This is like a statute defining the crime of obtaining property by false pretenses, which covers money or any valuable thing. The purpose of such a statute is generally to cover “any valuable thing.” If those words were deleted from the statute, the purpose of the statute would be defeated. The legislative intent is not merely to prohibit the obtaining of money by false pretenses ; it is to prohibit the obtaining of any valuable thing by false pretenses.
*539In the case at bar, the legislative intent “was not merely to prohibit union membership as a condition of employment; it was to prohibit any connections with a union as a condition of employment. When § 5 is deleted, the purpose of the act is defeated.
In writing the opinion in McFarland v. City of Cheyenne, supra, at 42 P.2d 419, Justice Blume speaking for this court cited Butts v. Merchants’ & Miners’ Transportation Co., 230 U.S. 126, 33 S.Ct. 964, 965, 57 L.Ed. 1422, where Congress had passed a law intended to apply to all persons and all places within the jurisdiction of the United States. The assumption that the law could so apply was erroneous, and the •court said for that reason the “purpose failed.”
In my mind, Wyoming’s right-to-work law was intended to cover the entire field •of connections on the part of employees with labor organizations. If the assumption that it can so apply is erroneous, then -the purpose fails. In the McFarland case, at 42 P.2d 419, Justice Blume followed the rule that in seeking the legislative intent, the presumption is against any mutilation of a statute; and if the legislative intent cannot be given effect, the particular law ■must fall.
The legislative intent here was to pro-Tiibit “any connection” with a labor organization as a condition of employment- — not merely certain connections. This intent is ■destroyed when the over-all words of “any ■connection” are taken out. With the legislative intent thus mutilated and destroyed hy declaring § 5 unconstitutional, and in the absence of a severability clause, the rest of the act should fall. See State ex rel. Donaldson v. Hines, 163 Kan. 300, 182 P.2d 865; and Ex parte Blaney, 30 Cal.2d 643, 184 P.2d 892.

A Practical Consideration

With § 5 being held to be unconstitutional, there is good justification in equity for us to hold the rest of the act unconstitutional and void also. Such a holding would place in the hands of the legislature the question as to whether it would or would not reenact the remaining portion of the act without § 5.
The Thirty-seventh Legislature, which enacted the legislation originally, has been held by us and by a three-judge federal court not to have been properly apportioned according to constitutional requirements. See State ex rel. Whitehead v. Gage, Wyo., 377 P.2d 299, 301; and opinion in Schaefer v. Thomson, 240 F.Supp. 247.
If we declared all of Ch. 39 to be unconstitutional unless and until the legislature reenacts the remaining portion without § 5, it would afford an opportunity for a constitutionally apportioned legislature to pass upon the desirability of the law with § 5 deleted.
My answer to question “c” would be that the entire act (Ch. 39) is unconstitutional.
Mr. Justice HARNSBERGER:
My unwillingness to join the prevailing opinion in this case arises from my inability to find in the language used in § 5, Ch. 39, S.L. of Wyoming, 1963, the words upon which the majority bases its conclusion.
There is complete agreement on my part that collective bargaining by labor organizations, usually referred to as unions, is not only lawful but expressly authorized by applicable federal law and court decision. It is as firmly established that a properly designated or selected union becomes the exclusive bargaining agent for all employees of a work unit, and all employees thereof are bound by agreements reached by such union and management irrespective of whether the employee is or has been or ever shall become a member of the bargaining union. It is also conceded that such a union collective-bargaining agent may, by agreement, become and be constituted the exclusive employment referral agency or what is sometimes referred to as a “hiring hall,” although some court decisions, both state and federal, leave this question open as depending upon whether or not the terms of the agreement are discriminatory. Local *540357, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America v. National Labor Relations Board, 365 U.S. 667, 81 S.Ct. 835, 6 L.Ed.2d 11. It may not be inappropriate to note that in the instant case which gave rise to the submission of the constitutional questions, the issue as to whether the agreement was nondiscriminatory is important.
Where then, with so much of agreement between us, must our disharmony arise?
The court’s opinion asserts § 5 says, “no person is required to have ‘any connection with’ a labor organization in his employment.” I find in § 5 of the Act or in any other portion of the law no language which justifies that statement. Section 5 says, “No person is required to have any connection with, or be recommended or approved by, or be cleared through, any labor organization as a condition of employment or continuation of employment” (Emphasis supplied.) The court’s revised and altered statement would possibly inhibit the relationship between the union and a nonunion employee which results in the nonunion employee being required, bound and governed by the terms and conditions of a collective-bargaining agreement between union and management. But the actual unrephrased and unaltered section does not. It merely prohibits requiring that persons be connected with or recommended or approved by or be cleared through a labor organization as a condition of employment or continuation of employment.
It seems obvious that a person who has not yet become an employee cannot, under any existing law, be in any manner bound by a bargaining agreement between any union and any employer. In consequence the status of an applicant for employment has no connection with or relation to any agreement that may exist between a union and the prospective employer. Section 5 only affects and deals with the condition and status of the applicant for employment at the time employment is sought. Therefore, § 5 only prohibits requiring as a qualifying precedent condition for employment that there be a connection or relationship' with a labor organization. This is the plain, simple, certain, reasonable, and exclusive intendment, meaning, and purpose of the section. It bars making union membership a necessary qualification for employment. It does not exempt employees, whether union or nonunion, from being-subjected to the terms of labor-management agreements in their employment.
The conclusions of the court that § 5 is-unconstitutional but that the balance of the Act is constitutional presents more than a mere anomaly. It amounts to gross and irreconcilable inconsistency. Section 2 of the Act which the court finds constitutional says, “No person is required to become or remain a member of any labor organisation as a condition of employment or continuation of employment.” (Emphasis supplied.)
Now compare this with § 5: “No person is required to have any connection with * * * any labor organization as a condition of employment or continuation of employment.” (Emphasis supplied.)
Thus the difference between the constitutional and unconstitutional is that prohibiting requirement of union membership is-constitutional, but prohibiting connection-with a union as a required precedent condition for employment is unconstitutional.
What a strange juggling of words, meanings, and interpretations is this ?
Section 5 is unconstitutional because it prohibits requiring there be a “connection” or “relationship” between the union and an as-yet-non-employed person who could not, until employed, be subjected to union-management agreements, yet § 2 is constitutional even though it prohibits requiring as a condition of employment the “connection” or “relationship” necessarily arising from union membership.
The intention of the legislature in enacting Ch. 39, S.L. of Wyoming, 1963, is clearly expressed in the title of the Act, “that employment shall not be conditioned upon membership or non-membership in * * * a labor organization.” By these words,, it *541clearly appears the legislature recognized the right of workers to organize and through and by their organization into unions to collectively bargain respecting all aspects of employment. It is just as clear that it was the legislative purpose to ensure that all workers, whether union or nonunion members, should have equal right of employment. The Act itself does not spell out in detail recognition of the right of workers to so organize, to collectively bargain or that such bargaining would not only inure to the benefit of all employees irrespective of their union membership or that it might impose upon all employees, both union and nonunion, conditions and obligations assumed in their behalf and made obligatory upon them. But such specific action is unnecessary as it must be assumed the state legislature was aware of what was and is now the law of the land and that its acts would be within the purview of that law.
This court has repeatedly held that it is the judicial purpose and function to uphold legislative acts wherever and whenever that is possible and to give legislative expressions such meaning and interpretation as will, if possible, leave them valid and constitutional. The Constitutions of this State and of this Nation are not judicial swords to suspend over the heads of coordinate bodies. They are merely restrictive tenets to be applied when and only when it clearly and unmistakably appears within the body of legislative or executive acts that constitutional limitations have been violated. The words and phrases used in legislation should not be given strained or special meanings nor by inference, innuendo or paraphrase should they be added to or subtracted from. Even more, if by any fair or reasonable interpretation the legislative enactments may be so construed or interpreted as to leave them valid, that is a judicial must.
In this case, the court’s opinion clashes violently with these precepts. Courts do not concern themselves with the wisdom of legislative action even though it may offend their own philosophies. If laws unacceptable to the people are enacted, the public, which holds the final say, will in due season repudiate them. The courts, however, may not.
Finally, while my views and disagreement with the majority cannot restore § 5 of the questioned Act to validity, it may be that by upholding the balance of the Act the legislative purpose to erase discrimination among those who seek a livelihood through being given equal rights to employment may be accomplished in part.
The right of every person to earn a living is a paramount right, and that right will be preserved in time no matter how current legislation or court decision may regulate or impair the enjoyment of that right. In this country the will of the majority is accepted as controlling. So it is that when employees of a work unit, by their majority vote, have designated a union as their bargaining representative, that decision is binding upon all employees whether union or nonunion, and they must abide by that decision. But even the largest majority may not punish and discipline those who do not see fit to agree with and join with the majority by denying them an equal right to be employed and earn a living. Congress has recognized this by the enactment of § 14 (b) of the National Labor Management Relations Act, 61 Stat. 151 (1947), 29 U.S.C.A. § 164(b) (1952), and Ch. 39, S.L. of Wyoming, 1963, has implemented the protection of that right. The fact that all who labor within a work unit become subject to agreements made between the bargaining union selected by the employee-majority and the employer does not justify or authorize discrimination of opportunity to become employed against those who want to work but who fail or refuse to become members of a labor organization. Therefore it is difficult to itnderstand a decision which strikes down a section which only requires that opportunity for employment must not be conditioned upon such membership in or association or connection with the union selected by a majority of employees as a *542bargaining' agent for the entire employee personnel.
The most careful reading of § S will not discover one word, one phrase, one sentence, or any expression, taken either in or out of context, which denies the right of collective bargaining; which denies a labor organization the right to become an exclusive employment referral agency; or which denies either union or nonunion employees the benefits or exempts them from the obligations of a union-management collective-bargaining agreement between the lawfully designated employee-bargaining agent and management. The only prohibition contained in § 5 is levied against imposing as a precedent condition to becoming ■employed that the applicant be a union member. This does not run counter to either State or Federal Constitution nor does it in the least offend against any state or federal law or court decision. The Act as a whole is constitutional. Accordingly, I would answer both questions “a” and “c” in the negative.