National Labor Relations Bd. v. United Brotherhood

• Decision Date: 14 August 1950
• Docket Number: No. 3969.,3969.
• Citation: 184 F.2d 60
• Parties: NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD v. UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA, DISTRICT COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY, MO., A. F. OF L., et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

184 F.2d 60 (1950)

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD v. UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA, DISTRICT COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY, MO., A. F. OF L., et al.

No. 3969.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

August 14, 1950.

Dominick L. Manoli, Washington, D. C. (Robert N. Denham, David P. Findling, and A. Norman Somers, all of Washington, D. C., on the brief), for petitioner.

Clif. Langsdale, Kansas City, Mo. (John J. Manning, Kansas City, Mo., on the brief), for respondents.

Before PHILLIPS, Chief Judge, and BRATTON and HUXMAN, Circuit Judges.

BRATTON, Circuit Judge.

In presently pertinent part, section 8(b) (4)(A) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, as amended by the Labor-Management Act, 61 Stat. 136, 29 U.S. C.A. § 158(b)(4)(A), provides in effect that the establishment of a secondary boycott shall constitute an unfair labor practice. And section 8(c), 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(c) provides in substance that the expressing of views, argument, or opinion, or the dissemination thereof, shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair labor practice, if such expression contains no threat of reprisal or force or promise of benefit.

Pursuant to a charge filed jointly by Klassen & Hodgson, Inc., hereinafter referred to as Klassen, and Wadsworth Building Company, Inc., hereinafter referred to as Wadsworth, the National Labor Relations Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board, issued its complaint in which it was charged that United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, District Council of Kansas City, Missouri, and vicinity, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, sometimes hereinafter referred to as Carpenters, and Walter A. Said, sometimes hereinafter referred to as Said, established a secondary boycott against Klassen for the purpose of compelling it to cease doing business with Wadsworth. Shortly after the issuance of the complaint, the regional director of the Board filed in the United States Court for Kansas his petition for injunctive relief pending final adjudication by the Board of the proceeding then pending before it. The court entered judgment granting relief substantially as prayed, and the judgment was affirmed. United Brotherhood of Carpenters, etc. v. Sperry, 10 Cir., 170 F.2d 863. By answer filed in the proceeding pending before the Board, Carpenters and Said denied that they had engaged or were engaged in any unfair labor practice and they pleaded that the complaint failed to state facts vesting the Board with jurisdiction of the subject matter and of the respondents. After a full hearing, the Board found that respondents induced and encouraged employees of Klassen and employees of other employers to engage in a concerted refusal to handle goods or perform services for Klassen, an object thereof being to force Klassen to cease doing business with Wadsworth. And the Board made subsidiary findings of fact. Among other things, it found in substance that Wadsworth was engaged at Overland Park, Kansas, in the business of manufacturing prefabricated houses; that during the year preceding the hearing Wadsworth purchased raw materials valued at approximately $200,000 and sold finished products valued at approximately $270,000; that from ninety to ninety-five per cent of such raw materials were shipped to Wadsworth from sources outside the State of Kansas and about fifty per cent of such finished products were shipped into the State of Missouri; that employees of Wadsworth who were represented by Carpenters went on strike and pickets were placed at the entrances to the Wadsworth plant; that sometime prior to the strike at the Wadsworth plant, Klassen entered into a contract with Wadsworth for the purchase of some fifteen prefabricated houses valued at approximately $55,000; that shortly after the strike at the Wadsworth plant, Klassen received and began the erection of one of the houses at Overland Park; that a carpenter belonging to the local union and other persons not belonging to a union were employed in connection with the erection of the house; that Said as the representative of Carpenters and others representing other local unions visited the premises and talked with Harry H. Klassen and George N. Hodgson, explaining the labor dispute with Wadsworth, urging Harry H. Klassen and George N. Hodgson to cease the purchase and erection of Wadsworth houses, and urging them to bring pressure on Wadsworth to come to terms with its employees represented by Carpenters; that after such conference Said talked with the carpenter belonging to the union and working at the Klassen job; that Said and the carpenter talked on the telephone that night; that the carpenter left the job the following morning; that Klassen was placed on a "we do not patronize list" which was given wide circulation among those interested in the building industry; that a picket was placed at the Klassen job; that truck drivers refused to cross the picket line and deliver materials; that prior to the hearing the erection of a second house was begun; and that the erection of the houses was hindered and delayed. The Board entered its order directing the respondents to cease and desist from such unfair labor practices, to withdraw support and sponsorship of the picketing of the Klassen building project, to notify the carpenter belonging to the union that he was free to work for Klassen without prejudice to his rights, privileges, and standing in the union, to post conventional notice of compliance with the order, to send copies of the notice to the local unions affiliated with Carpenters and certain other labor organizations, and to send a copy of the notice to the union carpenter. The Board petitioned this court for enforcement of its order, and respondents filed an answer resisting enforcement.

Respondents urge the contention that if section 8(b)(4)(A), supra, makes unlawful their activities involved in this proceeding, it contravenes the first, fifth, and thirteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The Contention is not well taken and does not call for extended discussion. It is sufficient to say that this court sustained the constitutional validity of the statute when applied to the facts involved here, United Brotherhood of Carpenters, etc. v. Sperry, supra; and other courts have expressly sustained its constitutional validity when applied to facts fairly comparable to...