National Labor Relations Board v. Brown

Background

Five operators of six retail food stores in Carlsbad, New Mexico, had bargained together for years with a local union. When one employer, Food Jet, was struck on March 16, the other employers locked out their union-represented employees and kept stores open using management, relatives, and temporary helpers. Bargaining continued and an agreement was reached on April 22; the temporary workers were then released and regular employees returned to work.

Reasoning

The National Labor Relations Board found the lockouts and use of temporary replacements unlawful, inferring antiunion motive from the conduct. The Court reviewed prior decisions, especially the Buffalo Linen case, and concluded the Board misapplied the law by treating the use of temporary replacements as carrying its own badge of unlawful intent. The Court held that, where the harm to union membership is slight and the employer’s actions reasonably serve a legitimate business purpose (preserving the multiemployer bargaining unit), independent evidence of antiunion motive is required to prove a violation.

Real world impact

The decision leaves in place the ability of nonstruck employers in a multiemployer unit to use temporary replacements to preserve the unit during a whipsaw strike unless there is separate evidence of antiunion intent. The Court affirmed the lower court’s refusal to enforce the Board’s order because it rested on an erroneous legal foundation. The Court did not decide whether permanent replacements would change the outcome.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Goldberg (concurring) agreed the temporary replacements were justified; Justice White (dissenting) argued the Board properly found the conduct destructive of union rights and should have been upheld.