Texas State Federation of Labor v. Brown & Root, Inc.

246 S.W.2d 938, 29 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2467, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1988
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 6, 1952
Docket9984
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 246 S.W.2d 938 (Texas State Federation of Labor v. Brown & Root, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Texas State Federation of Labor v. Brown & Root, Inc., 246 S.W.2d 938, 29 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2467, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1988 (Tex. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This appeal is from an order granting a temporary injunction, issued at the instance of Brown & Root, Inc., a construction firm, against fifty-six local unions which function in Beaumont, Houston and Austin, respectively, against the Building Trades Councils of the same cities, of which some of the local unions are constituents, against the Texas State Federation of Labor, which consists of local American Federation of Labor unions throughout the State of Texas, and against two carpenters’ councils and the Houston Labor and Trades Council.

Appellee, by its petition, sought monetary damages as well as injunctive relief upon allegations that appellants conspired, in violation of Texas statutes, for the purpose and with the object of destroying ap-pellee and its business through the use of unfair lists, pickets and secondary boycotts because appellee would not discriminate against nonunion workmen in the employment of labor, and because it would not deny to its employees the right to bargain with respect to wages, hours and working conditions, in violation of the Texas “Right To Work Act.” 1

The temporary injunction enjoined appellants from:

(a) Picketing Appellee.
(b) Placing the name of Appellee upon an unfair list.
(c) Entering into or continuing any agreement or combination to force appellee to deny employment on account of non-membership in a labor union.
(d) Boycotting appellee, provided, however, “that this does not preclude defendants from agreeing to refuse to work directly for and as employees of” appellee.
(e) Boycotting persons, or firms because they transact business with appellee.
(f) Agreeing or combining to boycott for the purpose of preventing third parties from transacting business with appellee by refusing or threatening to refuse to handle products of such third parties, or by refusing or threatening to' refuse to work for third parties.
(g) Refusing or threatening to refuse to work for third parties because appellee “is performing or may perform work in the same area or on the same construction project.”

Such restraint is subject to the following provision in the judgment: “If a bona fide labor dispute should hereafter arise between plaintiff and defendants, or one or more of them, or, because of changed conditions otherwise, defendants might be *941 legally entitled to engage in picketing or other activities herein enjoined, this court, upon application and proper showing to it, will modify this order or take such further action herein as may then appear necessary and proper to protect the rights of the parties.”

Appellants’ first point is that the trial court had no jurisdiction of this suit for the reason that Congress has vested exclusive jurisdiction of controversies of this nature in the National Labor Relations Board and the United States Courts.

We have thought this question to be before our Supreme Court in the case of Dallas General Drivers, Warehousemen & Helpers v. Houston & North Texas Motor Freight Lines, 245 S.W.2d 481 because of the notation made by the Court in granting writ of error on June 6, 1951. However, the Court made no express ruling on this point.

In International Molders & F. W. U. v. Texas Foundries, Tex.Civ.App., Beaumont, 241 S.W.2d 213, writ ref. N. R. E., the same contention was made and overruled. 2

Upon this authority and because the Supreme Court has taken jurisdiction of labor disputes several times since enactment of federal labor laws creating the National Labor Relations Board, 29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq., we hold that the Court j below had jurisdiction of this controversy.

Appellants’ second point is that appellee should have pursued its administrative remedy through the N. L. R. B. to exhaustion before resorting to the courts.

This point is overruled because neither'the N. L. R. B. nor the Federal. Court at the instance of N. L. R. B. could determine appellee’s claim for damages. Exhaustion of administrative remedies is required only when such agency can give adequate relief. 24 Tex.Jur., p. 130.

It is no answer to say that damages could have been sought in one forum and injunc-tive relief in another, for this “would involve the bringing of separate and independent suits, productive of multiplicity and vexation.” Berwald’s, Inc., v. Brown, Tex.Civ.App., Dallas, 69 S.W.2d 221, 223.

Then, too, there is no certainty that the N. L. R. B. would entertain a complaint by appellee. Its duty to do so is discretionary. National Labor Relations Board v. Denver Building and Construction Trades Council, 341 U.S. 675, 71 S.Ct. 943, 95 L. Ed. 1284, loc. cit. 1292, 1293.

Appellants’ third point is that appellee does not come into court with clean hands since it is engaged in a campaign to depress wages and working conditions, to flout the Federal Labor Laws, and to destroy labor organizations.

There is little, if any, evidence that ap-pellee does not maintain excellent working conditions. Affirmatively, the record shows .that it has received a credit on its workmen’s compensation insurance rate of 31.3%, indicating that its safety record is 31.3% better than the average.

There is some evidence that in all instances appellee does not pay union wages to employees of the same classification. Appellee explains .that this is due to the kind of construction work performed by it, which is heavy construction, such as dams, bridges, highways, etc.; and that in this type of construction carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other craftsmen need not have or exercise as great skill as is required in the construction of buildings, and that less skill being required less wages are paid.

We find no evidence that appellee is engaged in a campaign to flout the labor laws or to destroy labor organizations.

The evidence which we have summarized under this point is, in our opinion, insufficient to convict appellee of conduct so unconscionable or inequitable as to preclude its resort to a court of equity for relief from the wrongs alleged in its petition herein.

By the fourth point appellants assert that the court in enjoining picketing and other publication of appellee’s unfair conduct deprived them of their constitutional right of free speech.

*942 Peaceful picketing of and publicizing facts about an employer of labor are protected by the constitutional guaranty of free speech only so long as they are in furtherance of a lawful objective. Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co., 336 U.S. 490, 69 S.Ct.

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246 S.W.2d 938, 29 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2467, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1988, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-state-federation-of-labor-v-brown-root-inc-texapp-1952.