National Labor Relations Board v. American National Insurance Co. (343 U.S. 395)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 26, 1952 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 343 U.S. 395 · 72 S. Ct. 824
- Decided
- May 26, 1952
- Term
- October Term 1951
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Vinson
- Issue area
- Unions
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Chief Justice Vinson delivered the opinion of the Court. This case arises out of a complaint that respondent refused to bargain collectively with the representatives of its employees as required under the National Labor Relations Act, as amended. The Office Employees International Union, A. F. of L., Local No. 27, certified by the National Labor Relations Board as the exclusive bargaining representative of respondent’s office employees, requested a meeting with respondent for the purpose of negotiating an agreement governing employment relations. At the first meetings, beginning on November 30, 1948, the Union submitted a proposed contract covering wages, hours, promotions, vacations and other provisions commonly found in collective bargaining agreements, including a clause establishing a procedure for settling grievances arising under the contract by successive appeals to management with ultimate resort to an arbitrator. On January 10, 1949, following a recess for study of the Union’s contract proposals, respondent objected to the provisions calling for unlimited arbitration. To meet this objection, respondent proposed a so-called management functions clause listing matters such as promotions, discipline and work scheduling as the responsibility of management and excluding such matters from arbitration. The Union’s representative took the position “as soon as [he] heard…
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