NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. LOCAL 810, STEEL, METALS, ALLOYS AND HARDWARE FABRICATORS AND WAREHOUSEMEN, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, Respondent

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit1962-01-12No. No. 123, Docket 27062

299 F.2d 636

Summary · law.co

Holding. The court granted the Board's petition for enforcement of the order enjoining Local 810 from engaging in secondary boycott activity against neutral employers dealing with Fein Can Corporation, rejecting the union's "ally" defense and upholding the breadth of the injunction.

The National Labor Relations Board sought enforcement of an order prohibiting Local 810 from engaging in secondary boycott activity against Advance Trucking Corporation. The union had pressured Advance, through picketing, threats, and intimidation, to cease doing business with Fein Can Corporation, which was the target of a primary strike. The Board's findings that such coercive conduct violated the National Labor Relations Act were supported by substantial evidence.

The union argued that Advance should be treated as an "ally" of Fein rather than a neutral employer because a related company provided transportation services for non-striking workers. The court rejected this argument, finding that Advance did not perform struck work, there was no overlap in management between the two companies, and there was no domination or control sufficient to strip Advance of its separate status. Accordingly, the "ally" doctrine did not apply, and Advance remained a neutral secondary employer whom the union could not lawfully target.

The union also challenged the scope of the injunction as overly broad because it extended to any secondary employer doing business with Fein. The court upheld the order's breadth, reasoning that once the Board established secondary activity against one neutral party, it could reasonably anticipate and prevent similar conduct against other secondary employers.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

Whether secondary employer was a neutral party or an "ally" of the struck employer
Whether activities of a related company could transform a neutral employer into an ally subject to primary strike measures
Whether an injunction against secondary activity could extend beyond one employer to cover all secondary employers doing business with the struck company

Procedural posture

The National Labor Relations Board petitioned a court of appeals for enforcement of an administrative order prohibiting the union's secondary boycott activities.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion · public domain

majority opinion

PER CURIAM.

The National Labor Relations Board petitions for enforcement of an order enjoining the respondent, Local 810, from continuing certain activities in violation of Section 8(b) (4) (i) and (ii) (B) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158.

Specifically, the Board found that Local 810 attempted to coerce Advance Trucking Corporation into refus ing to deal with Fein Can Corporation, against whom the union was conducting a strike. In addition, it was found that agents of Local 810, through picketing, threats, and violence encouraged employees of Advance to cease performing work for that company in connection with its contract with Fein. We believe that these findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence, and should not be disturbed. N. L. R. B. v. Biscuit & Cracker Workers, 222 F.2d 573 (2nd Cir. 1955).

Respondent argues that nevertheless there was no violation of the Act because Advance was not a “neutral” employer. It claims that activities of a related company, which we shall assume arguendo are imputed to Advance, in leasing automobiles and drivers to carry nonstriking employees between the manufacturing plant and a railroad station, caused Advance to become an “ally” of Fein and subject to lawful primary strike measures. However, in the instant case Advance did not undertake “struck work,” Drivers and Chauffeurs Local Union 816, etc. v. N. L. R. B., 2nd Cir., No. 26375, July 5, 1961, 292 F.2d 329; N. L. R. B. v. Business Machine and Office Appliance Mechanics etc., 228 F.2d 553 (2nd Cir. 1955), cert. denied, 351 U.S. 962, 76 S.Ct. 1025, 100 L.Ed. 1483 (1956); Douds v. Metropolitan Federation of Architects, 75 F.Supp. 672 (S.D.N.Y. 1948), there was no overlapping of management functions between Fein and Advance, Truck Drivers and Helpers Local Union No. 728, etc. v. Empire State Express, Inc., 293 F.2d 414, (5th Cir. 1961), and there was no domination and control which would justify a refusal to recognize the separate status of each of them as in Local 24, International Bhd. of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America v. N. L. R. B., 105 U.S.App.D.C. 271, 266 F.2d 675 (1959). Under these circumstances we do not think that the “ally” doctrine is applicable.

Respondent also contends that the Board’s order is too broad because it requires the union to stop its unlawful conduct not only against Advance but any other secondary employer doing business with Fein as well. We believe that the Board, having found that the union engaged in secondary activity against Advance, could anticipate that the union might engage in similar conduct against other neutral employers and was entitled to prevent it. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 501 v. N. L. R. B., 341 U.S. 694, 71 S.Ct. 954, 95 L. Ed. 1299 (1951).

Enforcement granted.

. The non-strikers were employed by Commercial Can Corporation, which is, along with Fein, part of the Can Division of U. S. Hoffman Machinery Corporation, and therefore they are treated as a single employer. N. L. R. B. v. National Shoes, Inc., 2 Cir., 208 F.2d 688 (1953).