Bethlehem Steel Co. et al. v. New York State Labor Relations Board (330 U.S. 767)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 7, 1947 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 330 U.S. 767 · 67 S. Ct. 1026
- Docket
- No. 55
- Argued
- December 14, 1946
- Decided
- April 7, 1947
- Term
- October Term 1946
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Jackson (R.H.)
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson (wrote), Justice Douglas, Justice Reed, Justice Black
- Concurring in the judgment
- Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Rutledge, Justice Murphy
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Jackson delivered the opinion of the Court. These appeals challenge the validity of the Labor Relations Act of the State of New York as applied to appellants to permit unionization of their foremen. Conflict is asserted between it and the National Labor Relations Act and hence with the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. After enactment by Congress of the National Labor Relations Act, July 5, 1935, 49 Stat. 449, 29 U. S. C. § 151, et seq., New York adopted a State Labor Relations Act following the federal pattern. Laws of New York, 1937, Chap. 443, 30 McKinney’s Consolidated Laws of New York, §§ 700-716. In the administrative boards they create, the procedures they establish, the unfair labor practices prohibited, the two statutes may be taken for present purposes to be the same. But in provision for determination of units of representation for bargaining purposes, the two Acts are not identical. Their differences may be made plain by setting forth § 9 (b) of the Federal Act, with that part which is omitted from the State Act in brackets and additions made by the State Act as amended, Laws of New York, 1942, Chap. 518, in italics: “The Board shall decide in each case whether, in order to insure to employees the full benefit of their right to self-organization [and] to collective bargaining, and otherwise to effectuate the policies of this Act, the unit…
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