Hugo Black

“ The exclusion of those whose loyalty is to a rival union or hostile organization is one of the most common and most understandable or practices, designed to defend the union against undermining, spying, and discord, and possible capture and delivery over to a rival. Some unions have battled to exclude Communists, some racketeers, and all to exclude those deemed disloyal to their purposes. ”

“ Of course the closed shop is well known in labor relations. Its essential philosophy is that once the employees have chosen their representative union, it is entitled to bargain for the employer's help to maintain its control. Other employer aids to a dominant union, such as the check-off, are also conceded to unions by bargaining on behalf of a majority when they would not be at all permissible for the employer to use in the first place to influence the workmen to choose a particular union because he favored it. ”

“ By its selection as bargaining representative, it has become the agent of all the employees, charged with the responsibility of representing their interests fairly and impartially. Otherwise, employees who are not members of a selected union at the time it is chosen by the majority would be left without adequate representation. No employee can be deprived of his employment because of his prior affiliation with any particular union. The Labor Relations Act was designed to wipe out such discrimination in industrial relations. ”

“ Each union has insisted on its freedom to fix its own qualifications of applicants, to determine the vote by which individual admissions will be granted, to prescribe the initiation or admission fees, to fix the dues, to prescribe the duties to which members must be faithful and to decide when and why they may be expelled or disciplined. ”

“ That resistance to closed-shop unions will likely be stiffened if employers must underwrite the fairness of closed-shop unions to applicants and members, and that a good deal labor has fought for may be jeopardized if the price of obtaining it is to have the union policed by the employer, are considerations beyond our concern. ”

“ We do not mean to preclude the power of the Board, when the contract settling the strike, withdrawing charges against the company, and consenting to an election with a closed shop to the winner was brought to the Board, to have refused to dismiss charges and undertake an election unless each union agreed that, if it won a closed shop, it would open the union to membership from the losers on terms the Board deemed fair. ”

“ It follows therefore, the company argues, that, inasmuch as such agreements contemplate discharge of those who are not members of the contracting union, and inasmuch as the company has no control over admission to union membership, the contract is valid and the company must discharge non-union members, regardless of the union's discriminatory purpose, and the company's knowledge of such purpose. This argument we cannot accept.
The duties of a bargaining agent selected under the terms of the Act extend beyond the mere representation of the interests of its own group members. ”

“ In an attempt to settle a labor dispute at the plant of petitioner company, an agreement approved by the Board was signed by a C.I.O. union, an Independent union, and the company. At a consent election held pursuant to this agreement, Independent won a majority of the votes cast, [1] and was certified by the Board as bargaining representative. The company then signed a union shop contract with Independent, with knowledge-so the Board has found that Independent intended, by refusing membership to C.I.O. employees, to oust them from their jobs. ”

“ The Board orders an election only when it is satisfied, after considering all evidence, respecting the employer's compliance with a prior order concerning unfair labor practices that 'an election free from all employer compulsion, restraints and interference, can be held. ”

“ Christmas' talk with you and mine over the telephone could only be directed to the sense of fairness which we believe exists in the minds of your members.
'Entirely aside from the fact that having to lay off this large number of experienced people will badly cripple our production which is urgently needed, we feel that it is indeed a sad situation where, account of some individual differences of opinion, people who have perhaps been friends and neighbors for many years cannot work together. ”

“ This and the other cases before us give ground for belief that the labor movement in the United States is passing into a new phase. The struggle of the unions for recognition and rights to bargain, and of workmen for the right to join without interference, seems to be culminating in a victory for labor forces. ”

“ The letter of the Act makes it a forbidden practice for an employer to 'interfere with' or 'restrain' employees in the 'right to self-organization.' We assume this employer knew the Independent would exercise its power over admission privileges to some extent to protect itself against infiltration of hostile elements. ”

“ Holding that execution and performance of the closed-shop agreement after the settlement and certification by the Board were 'unfair labor practices,' the Board held them effective also to revive the old charges settled by the agreements and election and it went back to those events to find grounds on which to hold that the employer dominates the Independent. ”

“ The company, it is said, bargained with Independent because it was compelled to do so by law. The union shop contract to which the company at first objected, but into which it entered against the advice of counsel, was the result of that bargaining. The company, it is pointed out, persistently though unsuccessfully sought to persuade Independent to admit C.I.O. workers as members of Independent. ”