State v. Whitaker

• Decision Date: 19 December 1947
• Docket Number: 78.
• Citation: State v. Whitaker, 228 N.C. 352, 45 S.E.2d 860 (N.C. 1947)
• Parties: STATE v. WHITAKER et al.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

45 S.E.2d 860

228 N.C. 352

STATE v. WHITAKER et al.

No. 78.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

December 19, 1947

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

This is a criminal action in which the defendants were charged with a violation of Section 2, 3, and 5 of Chapter 328 of the Session Laws of 1947.For convenience of reference the statute is reproduced here in full.

"An Act to protect the right to work and to declare the public policy of North Carolina with respect to membership or non-membership in labor organizations as affecting the right to work; to make unlawful and to prohibit contracts or combinations which require membership in labor unions organizations or associations as a condition of employment to provide that membership in or payment of money to any labor organization or association shall not be necessary for employment or for continuation of employment and to authorize suits for damages.

"The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

"Section 1.The right to live includes the right to work.The exercise of the right to work must be protected and maintained free from undue restraints and coercion.It is hereby declared to be the public policy of North Carolina that the right of persons to work shall not be denied or abridged on account of membership or non-membership in any labor union or labor organization or association.

"Sec 2.Any agreement or combination between any employer and any labor union or labor organization whereby persons not members of such union or organization shall be denied the right to work for said employer, or whereby such membership is made a condition of employment or continuation of employment by such employer, or whereby any such union or organization acquires an employment monopoly in any enterprise, is hereby declared to be against the public policy and an illegal combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce in the State of North Carolina.

"Sec. 3.No person shall be required by an employer to become or remain a member of any labor union or labor organization as a condition of employment or continuation of employment by such employer.

"Sec. 4.No person shall be required by an employer to abstain or refrain from membership in any labor union or labor organization as a condition of employment or continuation of employment.

"Sec. 5.No employer shall require any person, as a condition of employment or continuation of employment, to pay any dues, fees, or other charges of any kind to any labor union or labor organization.

"Sec. 6.Any person who may be denied employment or be deprived of continuation of his employment in violation of Sections 3, 4, and5 or of one or more of such Sections, shall be entitled to recover from such employer and from any other person, firm, corporation, or association acting in concert with him by appropriate action in the courts of this State such damages as he may have sustained by reason of such denial or deprivation of employment.

"Sec. 7.The provisions of this Act shall not apply to any lawful contract in force on the effective date hereof but they shall apply in all respects to contracts entered into thereafter and to any renewal or extension of any existing contract.

"Sec. 8.If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this Act or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, shall, for any reason, be adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder of this Act, and the application thereof to other person or circumstances, but shall be confined to the part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered and to the person or circumstance involved.

"Sec. 9.All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

"Sec. 10.This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification."

Chapter 75 of the General Statutes makes combinations, conspiracies and contracts in restraint of trade illegal and punishable as misdemeanors.

The defendant, George Whitaker, was a building contractor of the City of Asheville.The defendant, A.M. DeBruhl, was an officer and agent of the Asheville Building and Construction Trades Council of that City.The other defendants were officers and agents of local trade unions or organizations affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, as was set out in the warrant.The defendants were convicted in the Police Court of the City of Asheville, in which the case had been duly instituted and tried, and from the judgment and sentence in this casedefendants gave notice of appeal to the Superior Court, where the case was tried de novo.When the case was called for trial in the Superior Court, the Solicitor announced that he would try the defendants on the original warrant issued in the Police Court.

The warrant charged the defendants, George Whitaker, an employer, and A.M. DeBruhl, an officer and agent of the Asheville Building and Construction Trades Council, T.G. Embler and the other defendants as officers and agents of local trade unions and organizations "did unlawfully and willfully enter into an illegal combination or conspiracy in restraint of the right to work and of trade or commerce in the State of North Carolina and against the public policy of the State of North Carolina, by executing a written agreement or contract by and between said employer and said Labor Unions and Organizations or combinations, whereby persons not members of said unions or organizations are denied the right to work for said employer, or whereby membership is made a condition of employment or continuation of said employment by said employer and whereby said named unions acquired an employment monopoly in any and all enterprises which may be undertaken by said employer are required to become or remain a member of a labor union or labor organization as a condition of employment or continuation of employment by said employer whereby said unions acquire an employment monopoly in any and all enterprises entered into by said employer in violation of House Bill.# 229, Session 1947, General Assembly of North Carolina, Chapter 328, 1947 Session Laws of North Carolina, and particularly sections 2, 3and5 thereof, and Chapter 75 of the General Statutes of North Carolina."

In the Superior Courtthe defendants made a motion to quash the warrant on the alleged grounds that the warrant did not charge a criminal offense and that Chapter 328 of the Session Laws of 1947 was enacted in violation of Article I, Section 17, of the Constitution of North Carolina and in violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution; and it was further alleged that the Act was in violation of freedom of speech in assembly guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Federal Constitution and protection from State invasion by the Fourteenth Amendment.

The defendants also alleged the Act was in conflict with the Labor Management Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C.A. § 141 et seq., and Article VI, Clause 2, of the Federal Constitution, but this argument was not pressed on appeal to this Court.

The motion to quash was overruled, to which the defendants excepted.

All of the defendants were convicted by the jury on the offenses charged in the warrant.The defendants thereupon made a motion for an arrest of judgment, assigning as grounds therefor the same reasons set out in the motion to quash.

This motion was overruled and sentence was imposed by the Court that each of the defendants pay a fine of $50 and also pay one-seventh of the costs.From this judgment and sentence the defendants appealed to this Court.

The charge of the Court to the jury was not sent up with the record and it is, therefore, to be taken that the Judge fully complied with the statute, G.S. § 1-180, and stated in a plain and correct manner and evidence given in the case and declared and, explained the law arising thereon.

In the brief of the defendants filed in this case, it is conceded that if the statutes alleged to have been violated are valid, the warrant properly charges the offenses alleged, and that there was adequate evidence of the violation of the statute.The defendants in their brief abandoned their assignments of error Nos. 1, 2 and 3, except as to their contention that a violation of Section 3 of the 1947 Act did not constitute a criminal offense.

From the State's evidence it appeared that the defendant, George Whitaker, was a local building contractor engaged in local construction work and had been such for many years.The defendant, A.M. DeBruhl, was an officer and agent of the Asheville Building and Construction Trades Council.The defendant, T.G. Embler, was an officer and agent of the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers, Local UnionNo. 238;H.E. Setzer, an officer and agent of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local UnionNo. 384;J.E. Rogers, an officer and agent of the Brotherhood of Painters, Paper Hangers, and Decorators of America, Local UnionNo. 839;Fred Black, an officer and agent of the Bricklayers, Masons and Plasterers International Union of America, Local UnionNo. 1; and R.B. Robertson, an officer and agent of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, Asheville Local UnionNo. 487.

These labor unions or organizations are all affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, with a total membership of approximately 1,260.

These defendants, by their own admission, had entered into a written contract dated the 25th of May, 1947, which was offered in evidence.This contract provided that the...