Collins v. Merritt-Chapman & Scott
Collins v. Merritt-Chapman & Scott
Opinion of the Court
1. The correctness of sustaining the general demurrers by the court is dependent upon the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act as found in 29 U. S. C. A. §§ 158, 160. If this act preempts the State courts of jurisdiction, as set out in the allegations of the petition, the sustaining of the demurrers is without error, otherwise not. 29 U. S. C. A. § 160, as amended, reads in part as follows: “(a) The Board is empowered, as hereinafter provided, to prevent any person from engaging in any unfair labor practice (listed in Section 158)
Unquestionably the activity of the employer defendant constitutes what is defined as “affecting commerce”, and therefore is subject to the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U. S. C. A. § 152 (7), which reads: “The term 'affecting commerce’ means in commerce, or burdening or obstructing commerce or the free flow of commerce, or having led or tending to lead to a labor dispute burdening or obstructing commerce or the free flow of commerce.” See, in this connection, N. L. R. B. v. Austin Co., 165 Fed. 2d 592. If the employer defendant engaged in any unfair labor practice towards the plaintiff, the remedy was before the National Labor Relations Board, as set out in 29 U. S. C. A. § 151 et seq., and not before the Superior Court of Lowndes County. In Garner v. Teamsters, Chauffeurs and -Helpers Local Union, 346 U. S. 485 ( 74 Sup. Ct. 161, 98 L. ed. 228), the following is said by the United States Supreme Court: “Congress,did not merely lay down a substantive rule of law to1 be enforced by any tribunal competent to apply law generally to the parties. It went on to confide primary interpretation and application of its rules to a specific and specially, constituted tribunal and prescribed a particular procedure for investigation, complaint and notice, and hearing and decision, including judicial relief pending a final administrative order. Congress evidently considered that centralized administration of specially designed procedures was necessary to obtain uniform application of its substantive rules and to avoid these diversities and conflicts likely to result from a variety of local procedures and attitudes toward labor controversies. Indeed, Pennsylvania passed a statute the same year as its labor relations act reciting abuses of the injunction in labor litigations attributable more to procedure and usage than to substantive rules. A multiplicity of tribunals and a diversity of procedures are quite as apt to produce incompatible or conflicting adjudications as are different rules of substantive law. The same reasoning which prohibits federal courts from intervening in such cases, except by way of review or on application of the Federal Board, precludes state courts from doing so.”
“Decisions touching the subject under inquiry, of which there are many, have quite uniformly adhered to the view that the Act’s provisions for a comprehensive remedy preclude other action by way of a different or additional remedy for the correction of the same grievance. It would be a work of supererogation to cite or to review these authorities. A very late decision of the Supreme Court, namely Garner v. Teamsters, Chauffeurs and Helpers, Local Union No. 776 (A. F. L.), 346 U. S. 485, 74 S. Ct. 161, is illustrative of the general trend of thought in that tribunal. The discussion there shows the imminent likelihood of conflict where the attempt is made to apply different remedies on the basis of an assumed distinction between rights which are public and those which are claimed, as here, to be purely private.”
What we have quoted above from Born v. Laube is parallel with the situation here under consideration—the only difference which we have been able to discern being that the unfair labor practice and the acts which constituted same were alleged in the Born case to be on the part of the union and its agents, while in the instant case it is alleged that the acts were on the part of individuals who were acting as agents for both the union and the employer defendant. According to these authorities, if the plaintiff had been treated wrongfully under the allegations of his petition, he should have taken his complaint to the National Labor Relations Board. That board has full power to order him reinstated, to require that he be made whole for any loss sustained, and to prevent the recurrence of the unfair practice. This power the National Labor Relations Board may exercise against the employer, the employee, the Union or either.
The plaintiff, in support of his contention, cites and relies al
• The court did not err in sustaining the demurrers of the defendants to the petition.
Judgment affirmed.
Concurring Opinion
concurring specially. I cannot agree with the decision in this case holding that the courts of Georgia are without jurisdiction of the subject matter for the reason that exclusive jurisdiction is vested in the National Labor Relations Board under 29 U. S. C. A. § 151 et seq. The case is here on demurrer, and, under the allegations of the petition, the N. L. R. B. has no jurisdiction of the action for the reason that it does not appear
Accordingly, I think that the petition shows jurisdiction in the State court, and that the demurrer must be decided on its merits. The petition alleged that the plaintiff was employed by Merritt-Chapman & Scott “by and at the direction of the Union”, and was paid up until the date of his discharge. He seeks, in addition to exemplary damages and attorney fees, a decree of court that the defendants issue him a union book “entitling him to work on union jobs,” plus damages equal to his previous weekly salary up to the date of trial, or, in the alternative, damages equal to 21 years of full employment in the amount of $242,697 for work as a pipefitter.
Since it is not alleged that any contract of employment existed other than a contract at the will of the parties, there is no cause of action for breach of contract of employment under Code § 66-101, or for procuring the breach of a contract under Code § 106-1207. Nor is the remedy of specific performance sought against the union officials to compel them to comply with their contract, if one existed, to give the plaintiff a union card; and the plaintiff, by bringing this case on writ of error to this court rather than the Supreme Court, shows his abandonment of any attempt to seek a decree authorizing specific performance and thus obtaining the relief of being issued a union card. Insofar as it is sought to recover wages from the time of the discharge to the time of trial, the action is not sustainable because the plaintiff shows no contract entitling him to such wages, nor does he
As to the remaining defendants, the action for damages fails because it is not shown that, in view of Code (Ann. Supp.) § 54-903, supra, the union card is a condition precedent to gainful employment. It is alleged only that the plaintiff, by paying certain sums demanded by officials of the Union, was entitled to union membership; and that the fraudulent act of these officials in refusing him a union book (the symbol of such right of membership) deprived him of his “right to work on union jobs.” Under these allegations, it is a condition precedent to the plaintiff’s right to redress from the courts to seek first redress within the framework of the unincorporated union association in which he seeks to obtain the emblements of membership; and the petition sets out no cause of action against the Union officials in their representative capacity for the reason that no such redress was sought within the framework of the Union. Union Fraternal League v. Johnston, 124 Ga. 902 (53 S. E. 241); Holmes v. Brown, 146 Ga. 402, 405 (91 S. E. 408); Bowden v. Kennedy, 186 Ga. 174, 179 (197 S. E. 325). No fraud is alleged against
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