Chamber of Commerce v. National Labor Relations Board

574 F.2d 457
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMarch 8, 1978
DocketNos. 75-2064, 75-2166 and 75-2770
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 574 F.2d 457 (Chamber of Commerce v. National Labor Relations Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chamber of Commerce v. National Labor Relations Board, 574 F.2d 457 (9th Cir. 1978).

Opinion

TRASK, Circuit Judge:

This case arises out of the continuing battle by labor unions against prefabricated building materials that limit on-site construction work.1

The National Labor Relations Board found that the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local No. 112 (the Union) violated Section 8(b)(4)(B) and 8(b)(4)(D)2 of the National Labor Relations Act3 in its activities attempting to enforce a work preservation clause.

The matter comes to this court on a petition by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America (the Chamber), for and on behalf of its member Boise Cascade Corp. (Boise Cascade), a petition by Summit Valley Industries, Inc. (Summit), and a petition by the Union. The Board is seeking enforcement of its order. The court ordered consolidation of these matters.

I.

Many years of peaceful collective bargaining agreements between the Union and the Silver Bow Employers Association in Butte, Montana, were disrupted in 1969 by the introduction of modular houses into the building construction market.

These modular houses were viewed with alarm by the Union and the local Building Trades Council because their use potentially reduced the amount of carpentry work needed at new home sites. When negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement commenced in 1971 between the Union and Silver Bow Employers Association, the Union demanded a broad work preservation clause. No agreement could be reached initially and a three-month strike ensued. A limited work preservation clause, Article XXII, was eventually agreed upon,4 bringing the strike to an end.

[460]*460Subsequently, Silver Bow Employers Association filed charges that Article XXII violated Section 8(e) and that the Union violated Section 8(b)(4)(A) by striking to obtain it. The Board rejected these arguments, finding that Article XXII was a valid work preservation clause. United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Local # 112 (Silver Bow Employers Assn.), 200 NLRB 205 (1972).

After, the validity of the clause had been established, the Union attempted to enforce the clause. It is the method of enforcement and the parties at whom the enforcement was directed that create the basic issues here.

A Butte contractor, Jovick Construction Co., a signatory of the Union agreement, contracted to build a house foundation and garage. These were for a Summit modular house. The Union’s business agent, Cadi-gan, went to the site and ordered a worker off the job because the work was for a modular house. Jovick, a member of the Union, continued to work on the house. The Union brought charges against him, suggesting the maximum penalty.

Cadigan similarly approached Union members working for Perusich Construction, ordering them not to work on a Boise Cascade modular house.

Lutey Construction Co., another Butte contractor, was working on foundations for a Boise Cascade homesite. Lutey had been hired by Jack McLeod & Associates (McLeod), the Boise Cascade home franchise dealer in Butte. Cadigan ordered William Lutey, a carpenter employee, off the job, telling him Union members were not to work on modular houses. Lutey then left the job.

Other incidents involved Union pressure against parties who were not signatories to the collective bargaining agreement. Boise Cascade had contracted with Reed Lem-mons, a house mover, to deliver houses to the Butte area. Cadigan visited a site where Lemmons and his crew were placing a house on its foundation. Cadigan was told that Lemmons' employees were not unionized. Cadigan threatened to picket the site if they did not leave, because he said placing the houses on the foundations was work belonging to the carpenters’ union.

Cadigan also confronted McLeod about the placing of modular houses on foundations. Cadigan made it clear to McLeod that (1) placing the houses on foundations was work belonging to the carpenters, (2) that no houses were to come into Butte unless partially finished as provided in Article XXII, and (3) that if McLeod was becoming a contractor, he would have to sign the Union contract or the Union would move to bar Boise Cascade houses from Butte.

Boise Cascade sent two employees, Garry and Pratt, to Butte from Pocatello, Idaho, to finish a Boise Cascade modular house. The two were members of the carpenters’ local in Pocatello. Before starting work, they went to Cadigan to secure a clearance to work in the Union’s jurisdiction. Cadi-gan refused to allow Garry and Pratt to work on the Boise Cascade house because Boise Cascade was not a signatory to the Union’s agreement. Cadigan also threatened to picket if the men did start to work. The men then informed McLeod, the Boise Cascade franchise dealer, that they would not be allowed to work and returned to Pocatello.

Summit had a contract with its employees through the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local No. 2, Butte, Montana (Teamsters). After the Union pressured Jovick away from finishing Summit houses, Summit’s employees began to do the finishing work. As a result, the Union started to picket a Summit model home informing passers-by that carpenters had not been employed in constructing the building.5

[461]*461Thereafter, Summit filed charges with the Board alleging that the Union was violating Section 8(b)(4)(D) by attempting to force Summit to reassign modular home work from the Teamsters to the Union. Pursuant to Section 10(k), the Board made a work jurisdiction dispute determination against the Union.6

As a result of that award to the Teamsters, the Union advised the Board that it would not require Summit to assign work in violation of its Teamsters contract, but added:

That the Union affirms that it has the right, and will under some circumstances use its rights under the National Labor Relations Act, to truthfully advise the public, whether by picketing or other publicity that the Summit Valley Industries, Inc., does not employ members of, or have a contract with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Local 112, AFL-CIO, if, in fact, such is the truth and such picketing or publicity is for the sole purpose of advising the public of the situation.

The Board found that these actions of the Union violated Section 8(b)(4)(B) and 8(b)(4)(D) of the Act. Specifically, it was found that the Union violated Sections 8(b)(4)(i) and (ii)(B) when it instructed employees of Jovick, Perusich and Lutey to leave their jobsites. This constituted inducement to refuse to perform services with the object of exerting pressure against the modular house manufacturers. The Board further found that the Union violated Section 8(b)(4)(i) and (ii)(B) by encouraging or inducing Garry and Pratt, and Summit employees to cease working on modular houses and by threatening Lemmons, McLeod, Boise Cascade and Summit in order to cause the manufacturers to conform to Article XXII or cease bringing modular houses into Butte. In addition, the Board determined that the Union violated Section 8(b)(4)(D) by failing to comply with the Board’s Section 10(k) award by refusing to unequivocally waive picketing to effect reassignment of Summit factory and jobsite work from Teamster-represented employees.

The Board ordered the Union to cease and desist the unfair methods of enforcing Article XXII.

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Bluebook (online)
574 F.2d 457, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chamber-of-commerce-v-national-labor-relations-board-ca9-1978.