Building Service Employees International Union, Local 262 v. Gazzam

Citation70 S.Ct. 784,339 U.S. 532,94 L.Ed. 1045
Decision Date08 May 1950
Docket NumberNo. 449,449
PartiesBUILDING SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL 262, et al. v. GAZZAM
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

See 339 U.S. 991, 70 S.Ct. 1019.

Messrs. Daniel D. Carmell, Walter F. Dodd, Chicago, Ill., for petitioner.

Mr. Alfred J. Schweppe, Seattle, Wash., for respondent.

Mr. Justice MINTON delivered the opinion of the Court.

It is the public policy of the State of Washington that employers shall not coerce their employees' choice of representatives for purposes of collective bargaining. Do the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution permit the State, in reliance on this policy, to enjoin peaceful picketing carried on for the purpose of compelling an employer to sign a contract with a labor union which coerces his employees' choice of bargaining representative?

The State answered in the affirmative. an injunction was issued in narrow terms enjoining petitioners 'from endeavoring to compel plaintiff to coerce his employees to join the defendant union or to designate defendant union as their representative for collective bargaining, by picketing the hotel premises of plaintiff * * *.' The Supreme Court of Washington affirmed, 34 Wash.2d 38, 207 P.2d 699, and we granted certiorari. 338 U.S. 903, 70 S.Ct. 308.

At the time of the controversy, respondent employed about fifteen persons at Enetai Inn, a small hotel which he operates in Bremerton, Washington. Just prior to May 1, 1946, representatives of the petitioner union called upon respondent about organizing his employees and asked him to sign a contract with the union which would require his employees to join the union. None of the employees was a member of any union active in the area. Respondent replied that that was a matter for the employees to decide. He gave the union and its representatives permission freely to visit and solicit his employees for membership while he was absent on a brief trip to Los Angeles. Upon his return, the union representatives again approached him about signing a contract. The representatives admitted that they had not secured any members among the employees, and respondent again replied that it was a matter for the employees. On May 2, 1946, respondent was advised that the union proposed to have the Enetai Inn placed on the 'We Do Not Patronize' list, and a meeting for the purpose of attempting to reach a settlement was suggested. At the meeting held a few days later respondent was represented by his attorney. The union still insisted that respondent sign the contract, and respondent through his attorney still declined to sign on the ground that that would require him to coerce his employees to join a union, contrary to state law.

The union asked for and was granted a meeting with respondent's employees at which the union representatives might present their case. Six representatives of organized labor attended this meeting, held on May 10, 1946. Eleven of the employees attended. One was a bellboy whose work the union apparently did not wish to have covered. Respondent was again represented by his attorney. The union representatives were given complete and unhampered opportunity to present their arguments for unionization to the employees. No statement was made by anyone on behalf of respondent or the employees. After the union representatives had completed their presentation, all withdrew except the employees who then took a vote as to whether they wished to join the union. Of the eleven voting, nine voted against joining, one was undecided, and the bellboy, whose membership the union did not desire, voted to join. The result was immediately reported to the union representatives and to respondent's attorney. Several days latter respondent was notified that his hotel had been placed on the 'We Do Not Patronize' list and pickets began walking in front of his hotel bearing a sign reading: 'Enetai Inn—Unfair to Organized Labor.' The picket- ing was carried on by a single picket at a time and was intermittent and peaceful.

With the exception of refusing to sign to contract requiring his employees to join the union, respondent had complied with all of the requests and demands of the union. That single refusal was what caused the union to brand respondent's place of business as unfair. After the picketing started, respondent's attorney agreed to talk to respondent again to see if he would consider signing the contract. After consulting with respondent, the attorney wrote the union's attorney that respondent was willing to negotiate further with the union but would not sign the type of contract that had been tendered him. The union then offered a contract which provided that present employees should not be required to join the union as a condition of continued employment, but that any employees hired in the future would be required to join within fifteen days or be discharged. The new contract also provided that the union should be the bargaining representative for both union and nonunion employees. The second contract was just the first contract in slow motion. Respondent refused to sign it for the same reason he had refused to sign the previously tendered contract.

The peaceful picketing continued, and on June 29, 1946, respondent filed this suit for an injunction and damages. On the first hearing the trial court granted petitioners' motion for a nonsuit and dismissed the complaint. The Supreme Court of Washington reversed on appeal. 29 Wash.2d 488, 188 P.2d 97. Upon remand the trial court on September 20, 1948, entered judgment for respondent for damages for the 'wrongful picketing' in the sum of $500 and permanently enjoined petitioners in the previously quoted language. This judgment the Supreme Court of Washington affirmed on July 1, 1949, by a divided court. 34 Wash.2d 38, 207 P.2d 699.

The State of Washington has what is sometimes referred to as a 'Little Norris—LaGuardia Act,'1 which provides that no injunction shall issue in a 'labor dispute,' as defined in the Act, except in conformity with the provisions of the Act; nor shall any injunction issue contrary to the public policy declared in the Act. No 'labor dispute' as determined by the law of Washington was held to exist in this case. There was no injunction against picketing generally. It was held that the objective of the picketing was violative of the public policy against employer coercion of employees' choice of bargaining representative, and that the picketing should be enjoined on that narrow ground.2

Does the injunction, limited as it is to restraining petitioners from picketing respondent's hotel for the purpose of compelling him to coerce his employees' choice of bargaining representative, constitute an abridgment of the right of free speech under the First and Fourteenth Amendments?

This Court has said that picketing is in part an exercise of the right of free speech guaranteed by the Federal Con- stitution. Cafeteria Employees Union, Local 302 v. Angelos, 320 U.S. 293, 64 S.Ct. 126, 88 L.Ed. 58; Bakery & Pastry Drivers & Helpers Local 802 of International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Wohl, 315 U.S. 769, 62 S.Ct. 816, 86 L.Ed. 1178; American Federation of Labor v. Swing, 312 U.S. 321, 61 S.Ct. 568, 85 L.Ed. 855; Carlson v. People of State of California, 310 U.S. 106, 60 S.Ct. 746, 84 L.Ed. 1104; Thornhill v. State of Alabama, 310 U.S. 88, 60 S.Ct. 736, 84 L.Ed. 1093; Senn v. Tile Layers Protective Union, Local No. 5, 301 U.S. 468, 57 S.Ct. 857, 81 L.Ed. 1229. But since picketing is more than speech and establishes a locus in quo that has far more potential for inducing action or nonaction than the message the pickets convey, this Court has not hesitated to uphold a state's restraint of acts and conduct which are an abuse of the right to picket rather than a means of peaceful and truthful publicity. Thus in Milk Wagon Drivers Union of Chicago, Local 753 v. Meadowmoor Dairies, 312 U.S. 287, 61 S.Ct. 552, 85 L.Ed. 836, 132 A.L.R. 1200, the picketing in issue, considered in isolation, was peaceful, but had been found to be enmeshed with and set in such a background of violence that it was a part of a pattern of violence. This Court held that peaceful picketing under such circumstances might properly be enjoined by the State.

In Hotel & Restaurant Employees' International Alliance, Local No. 122 v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Board, 315 U.S. 437, 62 S.Ct. 706, 86 L.Ed. 946, this Court upheld the right of Wisconsin through its Employment Relations Board to issue a cease and desist order against violence in picketing and boycotting by the union unvolved. Carpenters & Joiners Union of America, Local No. 213 v. Ritter's Cafe, 315 U.S. 722, 62 S.Ct. 807, 86 L.Ed. 1143, upheld a decree enjoining the union from picketing a cafe having no business connection with the place where the industrial dispute centered. And in Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co., 336 U.S. 490, 69 S.Ct. 684, the Court sustained a decree enjoining picketing which was peaceful and informative but was carried on for the purpose of coercing the employer to violate the antitrust law of Missouri.

The public policy of any state is to be found in its constitution, acts of the legislature, and decisions of its courts. 'Primarily it is for the lawmakers to determine the public policy of the...

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