United States v. United Mine Workers of America (330 U.S. 258)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 6, 1947 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 330 U.S. 258 · 67 S. Ct. 677
- Decided
- March 6, 1947
- Term
- October Term 1946
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Vinson
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Chief Justice Vinson delivered the opinion of the Court. In October, 1946, the United States was in possession of, and operating, the major portion of the country’s bituminous coal mines. Terms and conditions of employment were controlled “for the period of Government possession” by an agreement entered into on May 29, 1946, between Secretary of the Interior Krug, as Coal Mines Administrator, and John L. Lewis, as President of the United Mine Workers of America. The Krug-Lewis agreement embodied far-reaching changes favorable to the miners; and, except as amended and supplemented therein, the agreement carried forward the terms and conditions of the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of April 11, 1945. On October 21, 1946, the defendant Lewis directed a letter to Secretary Krug and presented issues which led directly to the present controversy. According to the defendant Lewis, the Krug-Lewis agreement carried forward § 15 of the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of April 11, 1945. Under that section either party to the contract was privileged to give ten days’ notice in writing of a desire for a negotiating conference which the other party was required to attend; fifteen days after the beginning of the conference either party might give notice in writing of the termination of the agreement, effective five days after receipt of such notice. Asserting authority…
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