Golden State Transit Corp. v. City of Los Angeles (475 U.S. 608)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 1, 1986 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 475 U.S. 608 · 106 S. Ct. 1395
- Decided
- April 1, 1986
- Term
- October Term 1985
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Blackmun
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court. The city of Los Angeles, Cal., refused to renew Golden State Transit Corporation’s taxicab franchise after the company’s drivers went on strike. We are asked to decide whether, under Machinists v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Comm’n, 427 U. S. 132 (1976), the city’s action is preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U. S. C. § 151 et seq. I In 1980, Golden State, which operated taxicabs under the Yellow Cab name, applied to the city for a renewal of its operating franchise eventually scheduled to lapse on March 31, 1981. That franchise had first been acquired in 1977. On September 4, 1980, the city’s Board of Transportation Commissioners recommended the renewal of Golden State’s franchise — the largest, with approximately 400 cabs, of companies operating in Los Angeles — along with the franchises of 12 other taxi companies. In October, while the franchise renewal application was pending, Golden State’s labor contract with its drivers expired. The company and the drivers, represented by Local 572 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, signed a short-term contract in order that operations would continue while negotiation and mediation proceeded. This interim contract was to expire at midnight February 10, 1981, the day before the City Council was scheduled to consider action on the franchise…
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