Nat'l Labor Relations Bd. v. Int'l Ass'n of Bridge

891 F.3d 1182
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJune 8, 2018
DocketNos. 88-07283; 89-70522; 90-70053; 98-70929
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 891 F.3d 1182 (Nat'l Labor Relations Bd. v. Int'l Ass'n of Bridge) 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
Nat'l Labor Relations Bd. v. Int'l Ass'n of Bridge, 891 F.3d 1182 (9th Cir. 2018).

Opinion

Separate Statement by Judge Wallace *1184ORDER

This appeal is the latest in a series of disputes between the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Ironworkers Union Local 433 (Ironworkers) regarding Ironworkers' right to engage in secondary picketing of government entities under Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B)1 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).2 Because the constitutionality of the challenged statute is not affected by the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Reed v. Town of Gilbert , --- U.S. ----, 135 S.Ct. 2218, 192 L.Ed.2d 236 (2015), we deny Ironworkers' motion to modify the extant consent decree.

I. Statutory Background

Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B) describes as an unfair labor practice any action to "threaten, coerce, or restrain any person engaged in commerce ... where ... an object thereof is ... forcing or requiring any person ... to cease doing business with any other person." 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4)(ii)(B). Such conduct is regarded as impermissible secondary boycotting, being "directed at parties who are not involved in the labor dispute." See Retail Property Trust v. United Bhd. of Carpenters & Joiners of Am. , 768 F.3d 938, 943 (9th Cir. 2014). Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B) proscribes the creation of "a separate dispute with the secondary employer" in order to coerce the primary employer. National Labor Relations Bd. v. Fruit & Vegetable Packers & Warehousemen, Local 760 , 377 U.S. 58, 72, 84 S.Ct. 1063, 12 L.Ed.2d 129 (1964) ; see also Constar, Inc. v. Plumbers Local 447 , 748 F.2d 520, 521 (9th Cir. 1984). Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B) does not preclude picketing that results in an "incidental injury to the neutral [parties]," so long as the picketing was not "reasonably calculated to induce customers not to patronize the neutral parties at all." National Labor Relations Bd. v. Retail Store Employees Union, Local 1001 (Safeco ), 447 U.S. 607, 614, 100 S.Ct. 2372, 65 L.Ed.2d 377 (1980) (citation omitted).

II. Factual Background

Before us is a consolidated motion filed by Ironworkers seeking to modify under Rule 60(b)(5) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure a prior contempt adjudication. Between 1988 and 1989 the Board issued three orders finding that Ironworkers engaged in impermissible secondary boycotts in violation of the NLRA. See Ironworkers Local 433 (Chris Crane) , 288 NLRB 717 (1988) ; Ironworkers Local 433 (Chris Crane) , 294 NLRB 182 (1989) ; Ironworkers Local 433 (United Steel) , 293 NLRB 621 (1989). In 1991, Ironworkers entered into a consent decree after we upheld the Board's orders. See *1185National Labor Relations Bd. v. Ironworkers Local 433 , 169 F.3d 1217, 1218 (9th Cir. 1999). As to each of the Board's orders, Ironworkers agreed to refrain from engaging in further "secondary boycott activities." Id .

In 1999, the Board issued a contempt order against Ironworkers after finding that Ironworkers engaged in secondary picketing similar to the conduct addressed by the 1991 consent contempt adjudication. See id. We upheld the Board's order and, consistent with Ironworkers' settlement, entered a new consent contempt adjudication enforcing the same prohibitions on secondary picketing as articulated in the prior adjudication. Almost two decades later, Ironworkers filed four separate motions under Rule 60(b)(5) seeking to modify the language contained in the 1991 and 1999 consent contempt adjudications prohibiting secondary picketing under Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B). In each, Ironworkers argued that in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Reed , Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B) should be analyzed as a content-based restriction on speech that could not survive strict scrutiny review.

We consolidated these four actions and stayed proceedings pending the outcome of National Labor Relations Board v. Teamsters Union Local No. 70, Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of Am. , 668 Fed.Appx. 283 (9th Cir. 2016), which presented a substantively similar challenge to the NLRA. In Teamsters , we held that Reed did not undermine the Supreme Court precedent upholding Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B), and that the Union failed to demonstrate a significant change in the law, as required under Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk Cty. Jail , 502 U.S. 367, 112 S.Ct. 748

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891 F.3d 1182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/natl-labor-relations-bd-v-intl-assn-of-bridge-ca9-2018.