American Federation of Musicians of United States and Canada v. Carroll Carroll v. American Federation of Musicians of United States and Canada, s. 309

• Decision Date: 20 May 1968
• Docket Number: Nos. 309,310,s. 309
• Citation: 391 U.S. 99,88 S.Ct. 1562,20 L.Ed.2d 460
• Parties: AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS OF the UNITED STATES AND CANADA et al., Petitioners, v. Joseph CARROLL et al. Joseph CARROLL et al., Petitioners, v. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS OF the UNITED STATES AND CANADA et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

391 U.S. 99

88 S.Ct. 1562

20 L.Ed.2d 460

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS OF the UNITED STATES AND CANADA et al., Petitioners,

v Joseph CARROLL et al.

Joseph CARROLL et al., Petitioners,

v. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS OF the UNITED STATES AND CANADA et al.

Nos. 309, 310.

Argued March 4, 1968.

Decided May 20, 1968.

Rehearings Denied Oct. 14, 1968.

See 89 S.Ct. 64.

[Syllabus from pages 99-100 intentionally omitted] Ronald Rosenberg, Washington, D.C., for American Federation of Musicians of United States and Canada and others.

Godfrey P. Schmidt, New York City, for Joseph Carroll and others.

Mr. Justice BRENNAN delivered the opinion of the Court.

This action for injunctive relief and treble damages alleging violations of the Sherman Act, 26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 2, was brought in the District Court for the Southern District of New York against the petitioners in No. 309, American Federation of Musicians and its Local 802. ¹ The question is whether upon practices of the petitioners affecting orchestra leaders violate the Sherman Act as activities in combination with a 'non-labor' group, or are exempted by the Norris-LaGuardia Act as activities affecting a 'labor' group which is party to a 'labor dispute.'² After a five-week trial without a jury the District Court dismissed the action on the merits, holding that all of the petitioners' practices brought in question 'come within the definition of the term 'labor dispute' * * * and are exempt from the antitrust laws.' 241 F.Supp. 865, 894. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed on the issue of alleged price fixing, but in all other respects affirmed the dismissal. 372 F.2d 155. Both parties sought certiorari, in No. 309 the petitioners from the reversal of the dismissal in respect of alleged price fixing, and in No. 310 the respondents from the affirmance of the dismissal in the other respects. We granted both petitions, 389 U.S. 817, 88 S.Ct. 82, 19 L.Ed.2d 68. We hold that the District Court properly dismissed the action on the merits, and that the Court of Appeals should have affirmed the District Court judgment in its entirety.

I.

The petitioners are labor unions of professional musicians. The union practices questioned here are mainly those applied to 'club-date' engagements of union members. These are one-time engagements of orchestras to provide music, usually for only a few hours, at such social events as weddings, fashion shows, commencements, and the like.³ The purchaser of the music, e.g., the father of the bride, the chairman of the events, etc., makes arrangements with a musician, or with a musician's booking agent, for an orchestra of a conductor and a given number of instrumentalists, or 'sidemen,' at a specified time and place. The musician in such cases assumes the role of 'leader' of the orchestra, obtains the 'sidemen' and attends to the bookkeeping and other details of the engagement. Usually the 'leader' performs with the orchestra, sometimes only conducting but often also playing an instrument. When he does not personally appear, he designates a 'subleader' who conducts for him and often also plays an instrument.

A musician performing 'club-dates' may perform in different capacities on the same day or during the same week, at times as leader and other times as subleader or sideman. The four respondents, however, are musicians who usually act as leaders and maintain offices and employ personnel to solicit engagements through advertising and personal contacts. When two or more engagements are accepted for the same time, each of the respondents will conduct, and, except respondent Peterson, sometiomes play, at one and designate a subleader to perform the functions of leader at the other.⁴

The four respondents were members of the petitioner Federation and Local 802 when this suit was filed.⁵ Virtually all musicians in the United States and the great majority of the orchestra leaders are union members. There are no collective bargaining agreements in the club-date field.⁶ Club-date engagements are rigidly regulated by unilaterally adopted union bylaws and regulations. Under these bylaws and regulations

(1) Petitioners enforce a closed shop and exert various pressures upon orchestra leaders to become union members.

(2) Orchestra leaders must engage a minimum number of sidemen for club-date engagements.

(3) Orchestra leaders must charge purchasers of music minimum prices prescribed in a 'Price List Booklet.' The prices are the total of (a) the minimum wage scales for sidemen, (b) a 'leader's fee' which is double the sideman's scale when four or more musicians compose the orchestra, and (c) an additional 8% to cover social security, unemployment insurance, and other expenses. When the leader does not personally appear at an engagement, but designates a subleader and four or more musicians perform, the leader must pay the subleader one and one-half times the wage scale out of his 'leader's fee.'

(4) Orchestra leaders are required to use a form of contract, called the Form B contract, for all engagements. In the club-date field, however, Local 802 accepts assurances that the terms of club-date engagements comply with all union regulations and provide for payment of the minimum wage. Union business agents police compliance.

(5) Additional regulations apply to traveling engagements. The leader of a traveling orchestra must charge 10% more than the minimum price of either the home local or of the local in whose territory the orchestra is playing, whichever is greater.

(6) Orchestra leaders are prohibited from accepting engagements from or making any payments to caterers.

(7) Orchestra leaders may accept engagements made by booking agents only if the booking agents have been licensed by the unions under standard forms of license agreements provided by the unions.

The District Court assumed, and the Court of Appeals held, that orchestra leaders in the club-date field are employers and independent contractors.⁷ Respondents argue that petitioners' involvement of the orchestra leaders in the promulgation and enforcement of the challenged regulations and bylaws creates a combination or conspiracy with a 'non-labor' group which violates the Sherman Act. Allen Bradley Co. v. Local Union No. 3, etc., 325 U.S. 797, 800, 65 S.Ct. 1533, 1535, 89 L.Ed. 1939; Los Angeles Meat & Provision Drivers Union, etc. v. United States, 371 U.S. 94, 83 S.Ct. 162, 9 L.Ed.2d 150; United Mine Workers of America v. Pennington, 381 U.S. 657, 85 S.Ct. 1585, 14 L.Ed.2d 626. But the Court of Appeals concurred in the finding of the District Court that such orchestra leaders, although deemed to be employers and independent contractors, constitute not a 'non-labor' group but a 'labor' group. 372 F.2d, at 168.⁸

The criterion applied by the District Court in determining that the orchestra leaders were a 'labor' group and parties to a 'labor dispute' was the 'presence of a job or wage competition or some other economic inter-relationship affecting legitimate union interests between the union members and the independent contractors. If such a relationship existed the independent contractors were a 'labor group' and party to a labor dispute under the Norris-LaGuardia Act.' 241 F.Supp., at 887. The Court of Appeals held, and we agree, that this is a correct statement of the applicable principles. The Norris-LaGuardia Act took all 'labor disputes' as therein defined outside the reach of the Sherman Act and established that the allowable area of union activity was not to be restricted to an immediate employer-employee relation. United States v. Hutcheson, 312 U.S. 219, 229—236, 61 S.Ct. 463, 464—468, 85 L.Ed. 788; Allen Bradley Co. v. Local Union No. 3, supra, 325 U.S. at 805—806, 65 S.Ct. at 1538; Los Angeles Meat & Provision Drivers Union v. United States, supra, 371 U.S. at 103, 83 S.Ct. at 167; Milk Wagon Drivers' Union etc. v. Lake Valley Farm Prods., 311 U.S. 91, 61 S.Ct. 122, 85 L.Ed. 63. 'This Court has recognized that a legitimate aim of any national labor organization is to obtain uniformity of labor standards and that a consequence of such union activity may be to eliminate competition based on differences in such standards.' United Mine Workers of America v. Pennington, 381 U.S. 657, 666, 85 S.Ct. 1585, 1591, 14 L.Ed.2d 626.

The District Court found that the orchestra leaders performed work and functions which actually or potentially affected the hours, wages, job security, and working conditions of petitioners' members.⁹ These findings have substantial support in the evidence and in the light of the job and wage competition thus established, both courts correctly held that it was lawful for petitioners to pressure the orchestra leaders to become union mem- bers, Los Angeles Meat Drivers, supra, and Milk Wagon Drivers', supra, to insist upon a closed shop, United States v. American Federation of Musicians, 318 U.S. 741, 63 S.Ct. 665, 87 L.Ed. 1120, affirming D.C., 47 F.Supp. 304, to refuse to bargain collectively with the leaders, see Hunt v. Crumboch, 325 U.S. 821, 65 S.Ct. 1545, 89 L.Ed. 1954, to impose the minimum employment quotas complained of, United States v. American Federation of Musicians, supra, to require the orchestra leaders to use the Form B contract, see Local 24, International Brotherhood of Teamsters etc. v. Oliver, 362 U.S. 605, 80 S.Ct. 923, 4 L.Ed.2d 987 (Oliver II), and to favor local musicians by requiring that higher wages be paid to musicians from outside a local's jurisdiction, Rambusch Decorating Co. v. Brotherhood of Painters, etc., 2 Cir., 105 F.2d 134.

The District Court also sustained the legality of the 'Price List' stating, 'In view of the competition between leaders and sidemen and subleaders which underlies the finding that the leaders are a labor group, the union has a legitimate interest in fixing minimum fees for a participating leader and minimum engagement prices equal to the total...