Selles v. Local 174 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters of America

314 P.2d 456, 50 Wash. 2d 660, 1957 Wash. LEXIS 402, 40 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2573
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 8, 1957
Docket33527
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 314 P.2d 456 (Selles v. Local 174 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters of America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Selles v. Local 174 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters of America, 314 P.2d 456, 50 Wash. 2d 660, 1957 Wash. LEXIS 402, 40 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2573 (Wash. 1957).

Opinions

Schwellenbach, J.

Dell L. Selles commenced action in the superior court for King county seeking damages for the alleged refusal of defendants, through the union’s hiring hall, to send him out to work as a teamster. The jury awarded him $6,572.15. A motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict was denied, and this appeal follows.

At the times in question, Selles was, and still is, a member of Local 174 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America. He had been a truck driver in the beverage and brewing industries and for several years had secured employment through the teamsters’ hiring hall with companies engaged in interstate commerce.

For some time prior to April 3, 1952, there had been a controversy within the local with respect to the method of electing officers and the accessibility of information relative to union funds. Selles and others arranged for a meeting of members sympathetic with their views for the purpose of discussing their grievances. At about the time the meeting was to get under way, approximately one hundred fifty other members, not sympathetic, marched into the hall five abreast and broke up the meeting.

A few days later when Selles went to the hiring hall he was told that there would be no work for him. This was done in retaliation against him for his activities in helping to organize the meeting of April 3, 1952. He was without [662]*662work for over a year, except for two short periods of time, and was ultimately compelled to leave the industry and find less remunerative work in another field.

Selles filed a complaint with the national labor relations ■'board, alleging the facts above related. The board took jurisdiction and issued a complaint. However, before a hearing could be had, he withdrew his charge and instituted this action in the state court to enforce a common-law tort liability for interference with his employment.

Appellant contends that the action complained of constitutes an unfair labor practice under the labor management relations act of 1947; that Congress, by that act, pre-empted the field; and the state court had no jurisdiction of the cause.

Section 8 (b) of the act (chapter 120, Eightieth Congress, Sess. I [61 Stat. 141] approved June 23, 1947), 29 U. S. C. A. (Sup.) § 158 (b) provides in part:

“ (b) It shall be an unfair labor practice for a labor organization or its agents—
“(1) to restrain or coerce (A) employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in section 7: . . . ”

Section 7 provides:

“Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities except to the extent that such right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment as authorized in section 8 (a) (3).”

The right of self-organization includes the right to attempt to change the leadership and policies of a union. Brown v. National Union of Marine Cooks & Stewards, 104 F. Supp. 685.

In Joanna Cotton Mills Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, 176 F. (2d) 749, the court said:

“Not all activities in which employees act together are 'concerted activities’ within the meaning of the statute,
[663]*663“The words ‘concerted activities’ are limited in meaning by the words with which they are associated (noscitur a sociis), which have relation to. labor organization and collective bargaining, and by the purpose of such ‘concerted activities’, which is expressly limited by the immediately succeeding language to concerted activities ‘for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection,’
“We agree that the ‘concerted activities’ protected by the act are not limited to cases where the employees are acting through unions or are otherwise formally organized. It is sufficient that they are acting together for mutual aid or protection. See N. L. R. B. v. Peter Cailler Kohler Swiss Chocolates Co., Inc., 2 Cir., 130 F. (2d) 503. Thus, an employee may not be discharged for concerted activities to get pay for overtime work, N. L. R. B. v. Schwartz, 5 Cir., 146 F. (2d) 773, 774; nor for concerted activities in protesting the employment of a cashier whose employment the employees think will affect their earnings, N. L. R. B. v. Phoenix Mutual Life Ins. Co., 7 Cir., 167 F. (2d) 983, nor for demonstrating in protest over the firing of a union president, Carter Carburetor Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 8 Cir., 140 F. (2d) 714. As said by Judge Duffy in N. L. R. B. v. Phoenix Mutual Life Ins. Co., supra [167 F. (2d) 988], ‘A proper construction is that the employees shall have the right to engage in concerted activities, for their mutual aid or protection even though no union activity be involved, or collective bargaining be contemplated.’ It is clear, however, that to be protected the purpose of the concerted activities must be the mutual aid or protection of the employees.”

Respondent and his companions, in- organizing the meeting in question, were acting together, “for mutual aid and protection,” within the meaning of the act.

Section 8 (b) (2) makes it an unfair labor practice for a labor organization or its agents “to cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against an employee in violation of subsection (a) (3) . . . ” That subsection refers to “discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization. ...”

The proof showed that the union, through its officers, controlled employment in respondent’s field of work, [664]*664and that without approval of its officials no work could be obtained. The refusal to dispatch respondent for work, in retaliation for the part he played in organizing the meeting, constituted “discrimination in regard to hire.”

The facts reasonably bring the controversy within the purview of the act. However, that alone is not determinative of the problem confronting us. Does the national labor relations board have exclusive jurisdiction over matters involving conduct which constitutes an unfair labor practice under the act, so as to preclude a state court from hearing and determining a common-law tort action for damages resulting from interference with employment based on such conduct?

Concerning pre-emption in the field of labor relations, the United States supreme court said, in International Union v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Board, 336 U. S. 245, 93 L. Ed. 651, 662, 69 S. Ct. 516:

“Congress has not seen fit in either of these Acts to declare either a general policy or to state specific rules as to their effects on state regulation of various phases of labor relations over which the several states traditionally have exercised control. . . .

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314 P.2d 456, 50 Wash. 2d 660, 1957 Wash. LEXIS 402, 40 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/selles-v-local-174-of-the-international-brotherhood-of-teamsters-of-wash-1957.