William Howard Taft

“ The employees, or at least those who are members of the labor unions, contend that they have a lawful right to select their own representatives, and that it is not within the right of the company to restrict them in their selection to employees of the company or to forbid selection of officers of their labor unions qualified to deal with and protect their interests. ”

“ The evident thought of Congress in these provisions is that the economic interest of every member of the public in the undisturbed flow of interstate commerce and the acute inconvenience to which all must be subjected by an interruption caused by a serious and widespread labor dispute, fastens public attention closely on all the circumstances of the controversy and arouses public criticism of the side thought to be at fault. ”

“ It instituted a trade organization with which the company proposed to deal and has dealt, although the evidence conclusively showed that it did not, at the time of the election certainly, represent a majority of the employees. The company and the employees whom it recognized as the representatives of their employees came to an agreement in respect to wages and working conditions and have induced many employees to sign such agreement. ”

“ The Pennsylvania Railroad System and Allied Lines Federation No. 90 is a trades union of 50,000 employees or more affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and embracing those crafts which have to do with the mechanical part of railroad service. It contains as members only workers, or those who have been workers, in the employ of the Pennsylvania Company or its Allied Lines. Our statement of the case and the opinion in what we shall call the Labor Board Case show the dealings between the company and Federation No. ”

“ It does not require employees to deal with their employers through their fellow employees. But we think it does vest the Labor Board with power to decide how such representatives ought to be chosen with a view to securing a satisfactory co-operation and leaves it to the two sides to accept or reject the decision. ”

“ First, for certain employees who, being on furlough when they were notified to return to work on a scale of wages made effective by the company July 1, 1921, refused to return, except on old scale prevailing September 1, 1920. They seek wages on the old scale, though they did not work. ”

“ The District Court dismissed the bill (296 F. 220) , and the decree was affirmed in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (1 F. [2d] 171) . The issues involve the construction and application of title 3 of the Transportation Act of 1920, 41 Stat. 456, 469, c. 91 (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, §§ 10071 1/4ee-10071 1/4jj) . ”