Building Service Employees International Union, Local 262 v. Gazzam

Background

A small hotel owner in Bremerton, Washington refused to sign a union contract that would require his employees to join the union. The union solicited employees, held a meeting, and after most workers voted against joining, the union placed the hotel on a "We Do Not Patronize" list and began intermittent, peaceful single-person picketing. The union later offered a revised contract that would force future hires to join within fifteen days; the owner again refused. He sued; after an initial nonsuit and reversal, a trial judge awarded him $500 in damages and entered a permanent injunction narrowly blocking picketing aimed at making him coerce employees. The Washington Supreme Court affirmed.

Reasoning

The Court considered whether the First and Fourteenth Amendments prevent Washington from stopping picketing that seeks to induce an employer to violate the State's declared public policy protecting workers from employer coercion. Relying on the State statute and the Washington courts’ construction, the Court held that peaceful picketing loses constitutional protection when its objective is to compel the employer to coerce employees’ choice of a bargaining representative. The Court affirmed a narrowly tailored injunction that bars picketing whose purpose is to force the owner to make employees join the union.

Real world impact

The decision allows states to restrain peaceful picketing when its object is to produce employer coercion of workers’ choice of representative. Ordinary organizing, informational picketing, and picketing not aimed at inducing employer coercion remain allowed. The ruling balances free speech with a state's interest in protecting employees’ free choice in collective bargaining.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Black concurred, agreeing the case fit earlier precedent; Justice Douglas did not participate.