LABOR LAW - POWER OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD TO INVALIDATE CONTRACT BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND A BONA FIDE UNION

Authors

Ward P. Allen, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

After a C. I. O. affiliate had filed complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the Consolidated Edison Company of New York for encouraging membership in A. F. of L. affiliates and thus interfering with the free choice of its employees, the company entered into collective agreements with the latter relating to wages, hours, working conditions, arbitration and representation. The board, ordering the company to cease its preferential treatment, also found that the contracts were executed under such circumstances that they were invalid and required the company to desist from giving them effect. This order was enforced by the circuit court of appeals. Certiorari having been granted, held, the contracts should not have been invalidated. First, the A. F. of L. locals were not made parties; second, the validity of the contracts was not in issue and had not been litigated; and, third, the board lacked authority so to order, at least under the facts here presented. Justices Reed and Black dissented, believing the board's order setting aside the contracts should be enforced on the ground that the activities of the company in obtaining these contracts were part of a definite plan to interfere with the right of self-organization; that the board's finding, being supported by substantial evidence, should not be set aside; and that the contracting union was not a necessary party. Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. National Labor Relations Board, (U.S. 1938) 59 S. Ct. 206.

Recommended Citation

Ward P. Allen, LABOR LAW - POWER OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD TO INVALIDATE CONTRACT BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND A BONA FIDE UNION, 37 Mich. L. Rev. 660 (1939).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol37/iss4/20