United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Carpenters' Union v. Labor Board, 357 U.S. 93 (1958)

Local 1976, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners

of America, A.F.L. v. National Labor Relations Board

No. 127

Argued March 12, 1958

Decided June 16, 1958*

357 U.S. 93

Syllabus

1. Under § 8(b)(4)(A) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a "hot cargo" provision in a collective bargaining agreement between a labor union and an employer, providing that employees "shall not be required to handle non-union material" or "shall not be allowed to handle or haul freight to or from an unfair company," may not be enforced by union inducement of employees to refuse to handle such goods, and the existence of such a "hot cargo" provision is not a defense to a charge of an unfair labor practice under that section. Pp. 357 U. S. 98-108.

2. When the employer is a common carrier in interstate commerce, such enforcement of a "hot cargo" provision is a violation of § 8(b)(4)(A) not because of a possible breach of the carrier's obligations under the Interstate Commerce Act, but for the same reasons that warrant the finding of a violation whenever employees have been induced by a union to refuse to handle such goods. Pp. 357 U. S. 108-111.

241 F.2d 147 affirmed. 101 U.S.App.D.C. 80, 247 F.2d 71, affirmed in part, reversed in part, and cause remanded.

Page 357 U. S. 94