Congress of Industrial Organizations v. City of Dallas

198 S.W.2d 143, 1946 Tex. App. LEXIS 782
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided October 25, 1946·No. No. 13719.·Published·Cited by 31 cases

Opinions

*144 LOONEY, Justice.

’ This is an appeal from the refusal of the trial court to grant a temporary injunction sought by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), a national labor union with headquarters in Washington, D. C., its local affiliate, and Jas. R. Howell, employe of the City of Dallas, member of said local, representing himself and other employes similarly situated, against the City of Dallas and its officials because they threatened to dismiss certain City employes who organized and became members of a local labor union in violation of an ordinance of the City of Dallas adopted in December 1942.

The points of error urged for reversal, in our opinion, may appropriately be summarized as follows:

1.Appellants contend that the City ordinance sought to be annulled is unconstitutional and void, in that it would deprive the individual involved — employes of the City of Dallas, of their right of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right of petition guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Federal Constitution and protected against invasion by the Fourteenth Amendment thereof; that said ordinance is contrary to the laws and public policy of the United States, giving and guaranteeing the right of workers to form and join labor unions of their own choosing; that said ordinance abridges and deprives appellants of their privileges and immunities, denies to them equal protection of the laws, is arbitrary, unreasonable, and constitutes an improper exercise of the police power by the City of Dallas.

2. That said ordinance is in conflict with and contrary to the laws of the State of Texas, particularly Articles 5152 and 5154A, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St., making it lawful for all employes to organize and become members of labor unions; and, particularly, is in conflict with Article 11, section 5, of the Constitution of the State, Vernon’s Ann. St., that prohibits cities from enacting ordinances contrary to the general laws of the State of Texas.

3. Appellants also contend that the ordinance in question is not applicable to them, in that it specifies the type of labor organizations or clubs made unlawful for an officer, agent or employe of the City of Dallas to organize or join; contending, in this connection, that affiliation with the National Labor organization did not in any way place the local union within the category of excluded organizations, within the meaning of said ordinance.

4.And, finally, appellants contend that the court erred in not suspending the order ■denying to appellants the relief sought and in not permitting them to supersede said order.

These points of error will be .considered in the order named; but it should be understood at the beginning that the status of governmental employes, National, State and Municipal, is radically different from that of employes in private business or industry. This distinction has repeatedly been recognized in legislation, such as the National Relations Act by the Congress. Title 29 U.S.C.A. ch. 7, § 152, provides that the Act shall have no application to either Federal, State or Municipal employes; and the Seventy-ninth Congress, Second Session, in the First Supplemental Appropriations Act, Í947, Public Law No. 663, sec. 301, 60 Stat. 910, 918, provides: “Sec. 301. No part of any appropriation contained in this Act shall be used to pay the salary or wages of any person who engages in a strike against the Government of the United States or who is a member of an organization of Government employees that asserts the right to strike against the Government of the United States, or who advocates, or who is a member of an organization that advocates, the overthrow of the Government of the United States by force or violence: * *

In this connection we do not deem it inappropriate to quote the late President Roosevelt, as no one can truthfully say he was in any sense inimical to labor. In a letter to the National Federation of Federal Employees, dated August 16, 1937, the late president is quoted as saying: “All government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplan *145 ted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.The very nature and purpose of government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative employees and officials alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters.”

The intent and purpose of the ordinance of the City of Dallas under review, in our opinion, is not out of harmony, but is in accord with the legislative expressions above referred to and the ideas expressed by the late president.

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Congress of Industrial Organizations v. City of Dallas, 198 S.W.2d 143, 1946 Tex. App. LEXIS 782 (Tex. Ct. App. 1946).

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