Hotel Employees Union, Local No 255 v. Sax Enterprises Hotel Employees Union, Local No 255 v. Levy

• Decision Date: 12 January 1959
• Docket Number: 6,Nos. 5,s. 5
• Citation: 358 U.S. 270,3 L.Ed.2d 289,79 S.Ct. 273
• Parties: HOTEL EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL NO. 255, et al., Petitioners, v. SAX ENTERPRISES, Inc.; Leevlans Corporation; R. S. Levy, Daniel Lifter and J. S. Lansburg, as Trustee, et al. HOTEL EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL NO. 255, et al., Petitioners, v. Harry LEVY et al., doing business as Sherry Frontenac Hotel, Stuyvesant Corporation, Abe Allenberg, et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

358 U.S. 270

79 S.Ct. 273

3 L.Ed.2d 289

HOTEL EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL NO. 255, et al., Petitioners,

v SAX ENTERPRISES, Inc.; Leevlans Corporation; R. S. Levy, Daniel Lifter and J. S. Lansburg, as Trustee, et al.

HOTEL EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL NO. 255, et al.,

Petitioners,

v. Harry LEVY et al., doing business as Sherry Frontenac

Hotel, Stuyvesant Corporation, Abe Allenberg, et al.

Nos. 5, 6.

Argued Nov. 10, 1958.

Decided Jan. 12, 1959.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 24, 1959.

See 359 U.S. 921, 79 S.Ct. 576.

Messrs. Arthur J. Goldberg and David E. Feller, Washington, D.C., for the petitioners.

Marion E. Sibley, Miami Beach, Fla., and Thomas H. Anderson, Miami, Fla., for the respondents.

PER CURIAM.

The judgments of the Supreme Court of Florida in these twelve consolidated cases must be reversed. They all concern the power of the courts of Florida to enjoin organizational picketing at twelve Florida resort hotels. After a series of decisions in regard to these and related cases,^* the Florida Supreme Court, in identical per curiam opinions, affirmed the issuance of permanent injunctions against the picketing.

The Florida courts were without jurisdiction to enjoin this organizational picketing, whether it was activity protected by § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C § 157, 29 U.S.C.A. § 157, Hill v. Florida ex rel. Watson, 325 U.S. 538, 65 S.Ct. 1373, 89 L.Ed. 1782, or prohibited by § 8(b)(4) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4), Garner v. Teamsters Union, 346 U.S. 485, 74 S.Ct. 161, 98 L.Ed. 228. See Weber v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 348 U.S. 468, at 481, 75 S.Ct. 480, 488, 99 L.Ed. 546. This follows even though the National Labor Relations Board refused to take jurisdiction, Amalgamated Meat Cutters v. Fairlawn Meats, 353 U.S. 20, 77 S.Ct. 604, 1 L.Ed.2d 613. The record does not disclose violence sufficient to give the State jurisdiction under United Automobile Workers, etc., v. Wisconsin Board, 351 U.S. 266, 76 S.Ct. 794, 100 L.Ed. 1162. In none of the twelve cases did the Florida trial courts make any finding of violence, and in some an affirmative finding of no violence was made.

Since it was stipulated below that a witness would testify that interstate commerce was involved in the Florida resort hotel industry, and since the parties asked that 'Final Decree be entered by the Chancellor upon the record as now made in the light of this Stipulation,' we find it unnecessary to remand for consideration of that question. See Hotel...