Byron White

“ Just because a union might be free, under the proviso, to expel a member for crossing a picket line does not mean that Congress left unions free to threaten their members with fines. Even though a member may later discover that the threatened fine is only enforceable by expulsion, and in that sense a 'lesser penalty,' the direct threat of a fine, to a member normally unaware of the method the union might resort to for compelling its payment, would often be more coercive than a threat of expulsion. ”

“ The real reason for the Court's decision is its policy judgment that unions, especially weak ones, need the power to impose fines on strikebreakers and to enforce those fines in court. It is not enough, says the Court, that the unions have the power to expel those members who refuse to participate in a strike or who fail to pay fines imposed on them for such failure to participate; it is essential that weak unions have the choice between expulsion and court-enforced fines, simply because the latter are more effective in the sense of being more punitive. ”

“ A court-enforced fine is certainly coercive, certainly affects the employee's job, and certainly is not a traditional method of internal union discipline. When applied by a union to an employee who has joined it as a condition of obtaining employment in a union shop, it defeats the provisions of the Act designed to prevent union security clauses from being used for purposes other than to compel payment of dues. ”

“ It is one thing to say that Congress did not wish to interfere with the union's power, similar to that of any other kind of voluntary association, to prescribe specific conditions of membership. It is quite another thing to say that Congress intended to leave unions free to exercise a courtlike power to try and punish members with a direct economic sanction for exercising their right to work. ”

“ Few employees forced to become 'members' of the union by virtue of the union security clause will be aware of the fact that they must somehow 'limit' their membership to avoid the union's court-enforced fines. ”

“ The National Labor Relations Act, as originally passed and amendmed from time to time, is the work product of draftsmen skilled by long experience in labor affairs. These draftsmen thoroughly understood labor legislation terminology, especially the oft-used words 'restrain or coerce.' Sections 7 and 8 together bespeak a strong purpose of Congress to leave workers wholly free to determine in what concerted labor activities they will engage or decline to engage. ”

“ Despite these emphatic guarantees of the Act, the union filed charges against the employees and imposed fines against those who had crossed its picket lines to go back to work. Though the proviso to § 8 (b) (1) (A) preserves the union's 'right * * * to prescribe its own rules with respect to the * * * retention of membership therein,' the union did not attempt to exercise its right under the proviso to expel the disciplined members when they refused to pay the fines. Instead, it brought legal proceedings in state courts to compel the payment of the fines. ”

“ When Senator Pepper replied that Senator Taft was overlooking 'the fact that the workers elect their own officers, whereas they do not elect their employers'-precisely the fact that the Court points to in finding the parallel between unions and employers inapplicable-Senator Taft replied:
'I think it is fair to say that in the case of many of the unions, the employee has a good deal more of an opportunity to select his employer than he has to select his labor-union leader ”

“ And Senator Taft noted: 'There are plenty of methods of coercion short of actual physical violence.' [13] Examples were given of cases where unions threatened to double the dues of employees who waited until later to join. [14] It is difficult to see how fining a member is less coercive than doubling his dues, or how the one is 'within the ambit of internal union affairs' and the other is not. ”

“ He clearly stated that the bill was designed to warn unions 'that they do not have the right to interfere with or coerce employees, either their own members or those outside their union.' 93 Cong.Rec. 4025, II Leg.Hist. 1032. (Emphasis added.)
It is true that the Senate sponsors of § 8 (b) (1) (A) were primarily concerned with coercive organizational tactics of unions and that most of the examples of abuse referred to in the debates concerned threats of violence by unions against nonmember employees. ”

“ In the first place, ' (w) hat legislativema terials there are dealing with § 8 (b) (1) (A) ' are only the remarks of a few Senators during the debate on the floor. The section was added on the floor after the bill had cleared the Senate Committee. ”