Chapter 1 Overview; Early Doctrines; Current Applications
Chapter 1 OVERVIEW; EARLY DOCTRINES;
CURRENT APPLICATIONS
Case Questions
1.1, Commonwealth v. Pullis, p. 08
1. (Q.) How did the court view the combination of workers with respect to their intent?
(A.) The court states that the combination of workers can be viewed in two ways. The first is
2. (Q.) Did the court find the continuance of the withholding of labor attributable to a
combination?
1.2, Commonwealth v. Hunt, p. 09
1.
2. (Q.) How does the court define a criminal conspiracy?
3. (Q.) State the rule of law developed by the court.
(A.) (a) A labor union is not a criminal conspiracy if it is formed for lawful purposes and if
1.3, Vegelahn v. Guntner, p. 11
1. (Q.) Was the picketing peaceful or tainted with violence?
2. (Q.)
(A.) The injunction prohibited interference by the union not only with contractual relations
Chapter 1 Overview; Early Doctrines; Current Applications
Labor & Employment Law 2
3. (Q.) In his classic dissent, how does Justice Holmes justify the infliction of injury by a labor
organization?
(A.) He contends that the infliction of injury is justified both by an analogy to competing
1.4, Hitchman Coal & Coke Co. v. Mitchell, p. 12
1. (Q.) What agreement did the Hitchman Company ask its employees to abide by?
2. (Q.) At the time of this case, what states were mining coal on a closed-shop basis?
3. (Q.) What is a closed shop?
4. (Q.) Were the organizing efforts of the UMWA peaceful? Was this a good defense?
5. (Q.) Did the Court concede that workers had the right to form and join labor organizations?
6. (Q.) Did the Court uphold the yellow-dog contract?
1.5, Lawlor v. Loewe, p. 15
1. (Q.) What purpose was pursued by the United Hatters?
2. (Q.) What pressure methods did the American Federation of Labor and the United Hatters
exert?
(A.) The United Hatters, in conjunction with the AFL of which it was an affiliate, engaged in
3. (Q.) State the rule of the case.
Chapter 1 Overview; Early Doctrines; Current Applications
1.6, Brady v. National Football League, p. 19
1. (Q.)
LaGuardia Act?
2. (Q.)
players decertified as a union and elected to pursue the dispute through antitrust
litigation rather than collective bargaining?
(A.)
3. (Q.)
laws continues even though the players decertified as a union?
1.7, Brown v. Pro Football Inc., p. 22
1. (Q.)
(A.) The non-statutory labor exemption was created by the Supreme Court to avoid the
2. (Q.) Did the non-statutory labor exemption from the antitrust laws expire upon the parties
reaching bargaining impasse?
(A.)
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Labor & Employment Law 4
3. (Q.) If the NFL Players Association decertifies, may NFL players bring suit against NFL
owners for anti- mployer-imposed
uniform salary rates for develop-mental squad players?
(A.) Yes. The exemption applies to employers and employees and their representatives
Chapter Questions and Problems, p. 23
1. (Q.) What three early common law doctrines were applied to labor organizations?
2. (Q.) What is the present status of the so-called yellow-dog contract?
(A.) The yellow-dog contract is outlawed legislatively by the Railway Labor Act, the Labor
3. (Q.) May the National Labor Relations Board obtain injunctive relief against unions in light
of the Federal Anti-Injunction Act?
(A.) Section 10(1) of the NLRA allows the NLRB to seek appropriate relief against unions in
4. [Union antitrust violations, Section 1.6.] An injunction may be issued in this case. Although
unions are ordinarily exempt from antitrust liability and an accompanying injunction under
the nonstatutory exemption to Antitrust law, an injunction may be issued in some cases.
Under Pennington, unions that join in concerted action with an employer group to force
5. [Contempt powers to enforce labor injunctions, Section 1. 5.] The U.S. Supreme Court determined
that $52,000,000 in fines assessed against the United Mine Workers by a Virginia trial court
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Labor & Employment Law 5
6. [Importance and Complexity of labor laws, Section 1.1.] As will be fully developed in Chapter 4,
an employer cannot walk away from its relationship with a union, like an individual and
employer can terminate their employment relationship at the end of the duration set forth in
7. [Application of discrimination law and other labor and employment laws, Section 1.3.] In the case
of the owner of Louis of Boston or the manager of the Shreveport Theatre it is quite possible
bargaining obligation continues after the expiration of the collective bargaining contract.