International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. National Labor Relations Board

Background

A general contractor hired subcontractors to do electrical and carpentry work on a private house. An electrical subcontractor had a prior dispute with the local electricians’ union. The union’s agent visited the site, picketed when the electrical workers were absent, told the carpenters that nonunion men had done the electrical work, and the carpenters then stopped work and left. The agent phoned the general contractor and said the electrical subcontractor must be replaced. The electrical subcontractor released the job and filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether peaceful picketing that persuades employees of a separate subcontractor to stop work—thereby pressuring the general contractor to drop the electrical subcontractor—is protected speech or an unlawful secondary boycott. The Court held that the statute’s words “induce or encourage” include peaceful picketing used to bring about that result. It concluded that the protection for expressing views in the law does not shield speech or picketing when the goal is an unlawful secondary boycott, and it sustained the Board’s finding and the enforcement order.

Real world impact

The ruling means unions and their agents may not lawfully use peaceful picketing to induce employees of one employer to strike as a way to force a contractor to stop doing business with another employer. The National Labor Relations Board can enjoin that kind of indirect pressure. The decision distinguishes protected advocacy from conduct aimed at accomplishing an unlawful objective and affirms federal authority over such labor practices.

Dissents or concurrances

Three Justices (Reed, Douglas, and Jackson) would have reversed the Court of Appeals and would not have upheld the Board’s order.