Allen v. Southern Railway Company

107 S.E.2d 125, 249 N.C. 491, 1959 N.C. LEXIS 398, 43 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2652
CourtSupreme Court of North Carolina
DecidedFebruary 25, 1959
Docket237
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 107 S.E.2d 125 (Allen v. Southern Railway Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allen v. Southern Railway Company, 107 S.E.2d 125, 249 N.C. 491, 1959 N.C. LEXIS 398, 43 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2652 (N.C. 1959).

Opinions

Bobbitt, J.

Decision depends upon whether the evidence, considered in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, was sufficient to withstand the motion by defendant Unions for judgment of involuntary nonsuit.

Upon adoption of the Railway Labor Act, 20 May, 1926, 44 Stat. 577, Congress “made a fresh start toward the peaceful settlement of labor disputes affecting railroads.” Virginia Ry. Co. v. System Federation No. 40, 300 U.S. 515, 57 S. Ct. 592, 81 L. ed. 789. This Act, as amended, is now codified as 45 USCA §§ 151 et seq. The basic principle underlying this Act is embodied in these provisions: “Employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing. The majority of any craft or class of employees shall have the right to determine who shall be the representative of the craft or class for the purposes of this chapter!” 45 USCA § 152, Fourth. In the case cited, the Supreme Court of the United States sustained the constitutionality of the Railway Labor Act, both under the commerce clause and as to the Fifth Amendment, in relation to the requirement that the carrier treat exclusively with the employees’ duly chosen bargaining representative. •

[497]*497Defendant Unions, duly chosen a® such by (the majority, are the exclusive bargaining representatives of all employees of the respective crafts or classes to which plaintiffs belong. Under the collective bargaining agreements between defendant Unions and Southern, plaintiffs acquire and have the same rights in respect of seniority, rates of pay, rules, working conditions, etc., under their employment by Southern, as Southern’s employees who become and are members of defendant Unions by their free choice.

The validity of the Union shop agreement of February 27, 1953, depends solely upon the authority granted by the Union Shop Amendment to the Railway Labor Act. Act of Congress, January 10, 1951, 64 Stat. 1238, 45 USCA § 152, Eleventh, hereafter called Union Shop Amendment. The agreement contains provisions expressly authorized by the Union Shop Amendment.

Absent the Union Shop Amendment, the union shop agreement would be void under the North Carolina “Right to Work” Act, Session Laws of 1947, Ch. 328, G.S. 95-78 et seq.

In Hudson v. R. R., 242 N.C. 650, 89 S.E. 2d 441, certiorari denied, 351 U.S. 949, 100 L. ed. 1473, 76 S. Ct. 844, the action was to restrain the carrier -and the unions from entering into .a proposed union shop agreement as permitted, 'but not required, by the Union Shop Amendment. Plaintiffs therein based their case primarily upon the North Carolina “Right to Work” Act. The constitutional questions now raised were not presented.

In Hudson, it was noted that the North Carolina “Right to Work” Act superseded the common law rule approved by this Court in S. v. Van Pelt, 136 N.C. 633, 49 S.E. 177, 68 L.R.A. 760, 1 Ann. Oas. 495. The North Carolina “Right to Work” Act was recognized as valid and in full force and effect “except to the extent Congress, in enacting labor legislation related to interstate commerce, has pre-empted the field”; and that the Union Shop Amendment, which relates only to labor relations between carriers and their employees, was in conflict with and superseded the North Carolina “Right to Work” Act. Reference to the opinion will disclose the several questions then considered and discussed.

Prior to Hudson, the Supreme Court of Nebraska decided Hanson v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., 160 Neb. 669, 71 N.W. 2d 526, an action to restrain the carrier and the unions from putting into effect provisions of union shop agreements containing provisions expressly authorized by the Union Shop Amendment.

For reasons fully set forth by Justice Wenke, the Supreme Court of Nebraska held that the enforcement of contract provisions author[498]*498ized by the Union Shop Amendment would deprive plaintiffs of specific constitutional rights, to wit: (1) “. . . the freedom of association, the freedom to join or not to join in association with others for whatever purposes such association is lawfully organized, . . guaranteed by the First Amendment; and (2) due process of law, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, in that, by requiring an employee who does not desire to j oin a union to pay initiation fees, dues and assessments, such employee “is required to' pay for many things besides the cost of collective bargaining,” that is, “all of the varied objects and undertakings in which such labor organizations are or may become engaged.” The opinion states: “. . . it is apparent that some of these labor organizations advocate political ideas, support political candidates, and advance national economic concepts which may or may not be of an employee’s choice.”

In Hudson, we expressly reserved the constitutional questions decided by the Supreme Court of Nebraska.

In Railway Employes’ Dept. A. F. L. v. Hanson, 351 U.S. 225, 100 L. ed. 1112, 76 S. Ct. 714, the United States Supreme Court reversed the Nebraska decision. Plaintiffs, citing Looper v. Georgia, Southern & Florida Railway Co., 213 Ga. 279, 99 S.E. 2d 101, contend the questions now presented were not decided but reserved. Defendant Unions contend the identical questions were considered and decided. If the contention of defendant Unions is correct, the decision of the United States Supreme Court, referred to hereafter as Hanson, controls.

Mr. Justice Douglas, referring to the decision of the Supreme Court of Nebraska, said: “It held that the union shop agreement violates the First Amendment in that it deprives the employees of their freedom of association and violates the Fifth Amendment in that it requires the members to pay for many things besides the cost of collective bargaining. The Nebraska Supreme Court, therefore, held that there is no valid federal law to supersede the 'right to work’ provision of the Nebraska Constitution.”

Before considering further what was decided in Hanson an analysis of plaintiffs’ action seems appropriate.

Plaintiffs have made no tender of dues, initiation fees or assessments. The Hudson and Hanson decisions determined adversely to plaintiffs the cause of action originally alleged. See Allen v. Southern Ry. Co., 114 F. Supp. 72. All original defendants were restrained by interlocutory orders until February 1, 1957, on the basis of facts originally alleged. Allegations that enforcement of the union shop agreement would deprive them of constitutional rights guaranteed by the First, Fifth and Ninth Amendments were first made in amendment [499]*499to complaint filed February 1, 1957; and on the basis of these new allegations all original defendants were restrained by interlocutory order until the trial at April Term, 1958.

Whatever the legal relationship between plaintiffs, a minority of the emplojmes of their respective crafts or classes, and defendant Unions, their duly chosen collective bargaining representatives, such relationship is involuntary on the part of plaintiffs. They do not want defendant Unions to represent them. They do not want to become members of defendant Unions. They do not want to pay any amount as dues, initiation fees or assessments.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Allen v. Southern Railway Co.
124 S.E.2d 871 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1962)
Hostetler v. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen
183 F. Supp. 281 (D. Maryland, 1960)
Allen v. Southern Railway Company
107 S.E.2d 125 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1959)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
107 S.E.2d 125, 249 N.C. 491, 1959 N.C. LEXIS 398, 43 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allen-v-southern-railway-company-nc-1959.