Brooks v. National Labor Relations Board (348 U.S. 96)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 6, 1954 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 348 U.S. 96 · 75 S. Ct. 176
- Decided
- December 6, 1954
- Term
- October Term 1954
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Frankfurter
- Issue area
- Unions
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Me. Justice Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court. The National Labor Relations Board conducted a representation election in petitioner’s Chrysler-Plymouth agency on April 12, 1951. District Lodge No. 727, International' Association of Machinists, won by a vote of eight to five, and the Labor Board certified it as the exclusive bargaining representative on April 20. A week after the election and the day before the certification, petitioner received a handwritten letter signed by nine of the 13 employees in the bargaining unit stating: “We, the undersigned majority of the employees ... are not in favor of being represented by Union Local No. 727 as a bargaining agent.” Relying on this letter and the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Labor Board v. Vulcan Forging Co., 188 F. 2d 927, petitioner refused to bargain with the union. The Labor Board found, 98 N. L. R. B. 976, that petitioner had thereby committed an unfair labor practice in violation of §§ 8 (a)(1) and 8 (a)(5) of the amended National Labor Relations Act, 61 Stat. 140-141, 29 U. S. C. §§ 158 (a)(1), (a)(5), and the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit enforced the Board’s order to bargain, 204 F. 2d 899. In view of the conflict between the Circuits, we granted certiorari, 347 U. S. 916. The issue before us is the duty of an employer toward a duly certified bargaining agent if,…
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