United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Labor Board v. Electrical Workers, 346 U.S. 464 (1953)

National Labor Relations Board v. Local Union No. 1229,

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

No. 15

Argued October 12, 1953

Decided December 7, 1953

346 U.S. 464

Syllabus

Upon the facts of this case, the discharge of certain employees by their employer did not constitute an unfair labor practice within the meaning of §§ 8(a)(1) and 7 of the Taft-Hartley Act; their discharge was "for cause" within the meaning of § 10(c) of that Act, and the action of the Labor Board in not requiring their reinstatement is here sustained. Pp. 346 U. S. 465-478.

(a) In the circumstances of this case, in which the employer was an operator of a radio and television station, the distribution by the employees in question of handbills which made public a disparaging attack upon the quality of the employer's television broadcasts, but which had no discernible relation to a pending labor controversy, was adequate cause for the discharge of these employees. Pp. 346 U. S. 467-477.

(b) The fortuity of the coexistence of a labor dispute affords these employees no substantial defense. Pp. 346 U. S. 476-477.

(c) There is no occasion to remand this cause to the Board for further specificity of findings, for even if the employees' attack were treated as a concerted activity within § 7 of the Act, the means used by them in conducting the attack deprived them of the protection of that section when read in the light and context of the purpose of the Act. Pp. 346 U. S. 477-478.

91 U.S.App.D.C. 333, 202 F.2d 186, set aside.

Upon review of an order of the National Labor Relations Board, 94 N.L.R.B. 1507, the Court of Appeals remanded the cause to the Board for further findings. 91 U.S.App.D.C. 333, 202 F.2d 186. This Court granted certiorari. 345 U.S. 947. Order of Court of Appeals set aside, and cause remanded to that court with instructions to dismiss, p. 346 U. S. 478.

Page 346 U. S. 465