West Texas Utilities Co. v. National Labor R. Bd.

• Decision Date: 10 July 1950
• Docket Number: No. 10465.,10465.
• Citation: 87 US App. DC 179,184 F.2d 233
• Parties: WEST TEXAS UTILITIES CO. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD (INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS [A. F. L.], Intervenor).
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

87 US App. DC 179, 184 F.2d 233 (1950)

WEST TEXAS UTILITIES CO. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD (INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS A. F. L., Intervenor).

No. 10465.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued May 22, 1950.

Decided July 10, 1950.

Mr. Frank Cain, Dallas, Tex., of the Bar of the Supreme Court of Texas, pro hac vice, by special leave of Court, and Mr. Charles E. Rhetts, Washington, D. C., with whom Mr. Gerard D. Reilly, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for petitioner.

Mr. Frederick U. Reel, Washington, D. C., Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, of the Bar of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, pro hac vice, by special leave of Court, with whom Mr. A. Norman Somers, Washington, D. C., Assistant General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board, was on the brief, for respondent. Mr. Marcel Prevost, Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, also entered appearance for respondent.

Mr. Louis Sherman, Washington, D. C., with whom Mr. Philip R. Collins, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for intervenor.

Messrs. J. Albert Woll, James A. Glenn and Herbert S. Thatcher, all of Washington, D. C., filed a brief amicus curiae on behalf of the American Federation of Labor, urging enforcement of the order.

Before EDGERTON, WILBUR K. MILLER and BAZELON, Circuit Judges.

BAZELON, Circuit Judge.

Review is sought of a Board order requiring petitioner to cease and desist from refusing to bargain with three locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,¹ A. F. L. These locals had been certified as the representative of a majority of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit on August 12, 1946. During the period September 19, 1947 to October 18, 1947, petitioner refused to bargain, basing such refusal upon the expressed view of the Board's General Counsel that the officers of the American Federation of Labor² (with which the IBEW is affiliated) must first file non-Communist affidavits. The Board subsequently repudiated this interpretation³ and the Company agreed to resume collective bargaining. But once again, in early November of 1947, the Company refused to bargain — this time because the locals allegedly no longer represented a majority of the employees. A charge of unfair labor practice was then filed by the locals and a complaint was issued by the General Counsel on November 12.⁴ Meanwhile, on November 8, the federation officers had filed the affidavits allegedly required of them by 9(h), 29 U.S.C.A. § 159(h). The officers of the locals and of the IBEW were in compliance at all times relevant to this proceeding.

I

This case involves the construction of the non-Communist affidavit provision, § 9(h), of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C.A. § 159(h). That section reads:

"No investigation shall be made by the Board of any question affecting commerce concerning the representation of employees, raised by a labor organization under subsection (c) of this section, no petition under subsection (e) (1) of this section shall be entertained, and no complaint shall be issued pursuant to a charge made by a labor organization under subsection (b) of section 160 of this title, unless there is on file with the Board an affidavit executed contemporaneously or within the preceding twelve-month period by each officer of such labor organization and the officers of any national or international labor organization of which it is an affiliate or constituent unit that he is not a member of the Communist Party or affiliated with such party, and that he does not believe in, and is not a member of or supports any organization that believes in or teaches, the overthrow of the United States Government by force or by any illegal or unconstitutional methods." Emphasis supplied. The Board held that the key phrase — "national or international labor organization" — does not ordinarily include the American Federation of Labor,⁵ relying upon its prior decision in the Northern Virginia Broadcasters case.⁶ That decision was based on (1) the federation's lack of participation in the collective bargaining process, (2) the policy of § 9(h), and (3) the technical meaning of "national or international labor organization" as referring to the national and international unions which are the autonomous members of the federation.

The Supreme Court has admonished us many times to give "great weight" to an agency's interpretation of its governing statute, especially where the legislative intent is ambiguous.⁷ Such deference keeps the inexpertness of courts, which must deal with the whole gamut of the law, from distorting the policy of Congress in complex areas of the economy requiring specialized skills and scrutiny. It minimizes the danger that lay constructions will be given to words which are terms of art to those schooled in their special fields. The Board has drawn its conclusion that the federation is not a "national or international labor organization" from its familiarity with the terminology and the practices of the labor field. We think such a construction is consistent with both the history and the policy of 9(h). The Joint Committee on Labor-Management Relations — appointed by Congress to report upon the functioning of the new Act — appears to have been of like mind. In its annual report, the Committee analysed the Board's early decisions under the Act, specifically summarizing the Board's holding that federation officers were not ordinarily required to file affidavits. Although a number of criticisms and suggestions were made by the Committee, no objections were raised to the Board's construction of 9(h).⁸

The most authoritative discussion of 9 (h) is found in the Supreme Court's recent decision in American Communications Ass'n v. Douds, 1950, 339 U.S. 382, 70 S.Ct. 674. It was held therein that the constitutional justification for a non-Communist affidavit lay in its function as a deterrent to political strikes which might seriously burden interstate commerce. The emphasis throughout the opinion was that 9(h) was aimed at those who control the collective bargaining process and hence are in a position to call political strikes. Thus, Mr. Chief Justice Vinson, speaking for the Court, pointed out that Communists might carry their revolutionary objectives "into their conduct of union affairs by calling political strikes";⁹ that their beliefs "strongly indicate a will to engage in political strikes and other forms of direct action when, as officers, they direct union activities."¹⁰ It was expected, said Mr. Justice Jackson, concurring in part and dissenting in part, that when the Communist affiliation of union officers was called to the attention of the union membership, it would no longer "entrust its bargaining power, its records, and its treasury to such Communist hands. When it does * * its officers cease to be interested in correcting grievances but seek to worsen and exploit them; they care less for winning strikes than that they be long, bitter and disruptive."¹¹ To prevent such a distortion of the Act's overriding purpose — which is the promotion of peaceful collective bargaining — Congress could "protect a labor union from Communist Party domination * * * just as from employer domination."¹²

Analysis of the functions performed by the various entities involved here makes it clear that it is the locals and their parent nationals or internationals who calls strikes and who participate in the collective bargaining process.¹³ It is the officers of these organizations who are amenable to the pressure of the union membership via the election machinery.¹⁴ In contrast, neither the federation nor its officers, as such, have authority to call strikes; they do not participate in collective bargaining and have no individual members who can subject them to the pressure of the ballot, for their only members are unions.¹⁵ The position of the federation is not markedly different from that of a trade association made up of individual employers. Like the latter, it seeks to coordinate policy, provide encouragement, and perform certain staff functions such as research and publicity. Like the latter, it can hardly be described as a participant in or as in control of the collective bargaining process. This view is strongly supported by the Board's conclusion, drawn from the writings of labor economists, that the phrase in question has a distinct technical meaning which does not include federations. As one writer describes it, the national or international unions "are powerful, sovereign bodies, creating locals by charter at will, and revoking them likewise, reserving the power to suspend or otherwise discipline locals, calling strikes, and bargaining. They are the independent groups of which the American Federation of Labor is but a confederation or alliance."¹⁶ Emphasis supplied.

The definition of labor organization, which is the same in the new as in the old Act, reflects this concern with collective bargaining and the organizations involved therein. It reads:

"The term `labor organization' means any organization of any kind, or any agency or employee representation committee or plan, in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work." 29 U.S. C.A. § 152(5).

As we have already indicated, employees do not participate in the federation, its only members being unions. Nor does the federation deal "with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work." All such functions are performed by the national or international unions and their locals, except in the rare instances when the federation itself is functionally classed as a national or international.¹⁷

Two other factors tend to support our view that federations are not within 9(h)....