United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Marine Cooks & Stewards v. Panama S.S. Co., 362 U.S. 365 (1960)

Marine Cooks & Stewards, AFL v. Panama Steamship Co., Ltd

No. 403

Argued March 2-3, 1960

Decided April 18, 1960

362 U.S. 365

Syllabus

The Norris-LaGuardia Act deprives a Federal District Court of jurisdiction to enjoin a union of American seamen from peacefully picketing a foreign ship operated entirely by a foreign crew under foreign articles while temporarily in an American port, in protest against loss of livelihood by American seamen "to foreign flagships with substandard wages or substandard conditions," and in order to prevent the foreign ship from unloading its foreign cargo in the American port. Benz v. Compania Naviera Hidalgo, 353 U. S. 138, distinguished. Pp. 362 U. S. 365-372.

(a) Such a controversy is a "labor dispute" within the meaning of the Norris-LaGuardia Act. P. 362 U. S. 370.

(b) A different conclusion is not required by the fact that the picketing interfered with foreign commerce or the internal economy of a vessel registered under the flag of a friendly foreign power and prevented such vessel from unloading its cargo at an American port. Pp. 362 U. S. 371-372.

265 F.2d 780 reversed.