Radio and Television Broadcast Technicians Local Union 1264 v. Broadcast Service of Mobile, Inc

• Decision Date: 15 March 1965
• Docket Number: No. 61,61
• Citation: 85 S.Ct. 876,13 L.Ed.2d 789,380 U.S. 255
• Parties: RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCAST TECHNICIANS LOCAL UNION 1264, etc., et al., Petitioners, v. BROADCAST SERVICE OF MOBILE, INC
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

380 U.S. 255

85 S.Ct. 876

13 L.Ed.2d 789

RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCAST TECHNICIANS LOCAL UNION 1264, etc., et al., Petitioners,

v BROADCAST SERVICE OF MOBILE, INC.

No. 61.

Argued March 2, 3, 1965.

Decided March 15, 1965.

Mr. J. R. Goldthwaite, Jr., Atlanta, Ga., for petitioners.

Willis C. Darby, Jr., Mobile, Ala., for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

The union, Radio and Television Broadcast Technicians, challenged the Alabama Circuit Court's jurisdiction over a suit by Broadcast Service of Mobile, the corporate name of Radio Station WSIM, to restrain peaceful picketing by the union and its solicitation of advertisers aimed at persuading them to cease doing business with the station. It contended that although the annual gross receipts of WSIM are below the National Labor Relations Board's jurisdictional minimum of $100,000 per year for radio stations, WSIM is an integral part of a group of radio stations owned and operated by Charles W. Holt and the Holt Broadcasting Service and that the annual receipts of the common enterprise are in excess of $100,000, which is determinative under the Board's standards. Stating that every court has judicial power to determine its jurisdiction and that the union failed to allege 'that the appellant's (WSIM) gross business exceeded $100,000 per annum,' the Alabama Supreme Court held that the state courts had jurisdiction over WSIM's complaint. 276 Ala. 93, 159 So.2d 452. We granted certiorari. 379 U.S. 812, 85 S.Ct. 30, 13 L.Ed.2d 26. The judgment below must be reversed.

Although a state court may assume jurisdiction over labor disputes over which the National Labor Relations Board has, but declines to assert, jurisdiction, 29 U.S.C. §§ 164(c)(1) and (2) (1958 ed., Supp. V), there must be a proper determination of whether the case is actually one of those which the Board will decline to hear. Hattiesburg Building Trades Council v. Broome, 377 U.S. 126, 84 S.Ct. 1156, 12 L.Ed.2d 172. The Board will assert jurisdiction over an employer operating a radio station if his gross receipts equal or exceed $100,000 per year, Raritan Valley Broadcasting Co. 122 N.L.R.B. 90, and in determining the relevant employer, the Board considers several nominally separate business entities to be a single employer where they comprise an integrated enterprise, N.L.R.B Twenty-first Ann.Rep. 14—15 (1956). The controlling criteria, set out and elaborated in Board decisions, are interrelation of operations, common management, centralized control of labor relations and common ownership. Sakrete of Northern California, Inc., 137 N.L.R.B. 1220, aff'd 332 F.2d 902 (C.A.9th Cir.), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 961, 85 S.Ct. 649, 13 L.Ed.2d 556; ...