TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT - National Labor Relations Board

Supreme Court Rulings 155
ence of an exclusive hiring hall was violative of section 8(a) (3) of
the act, absent safeguards to assure employees that the union's
power would be exei cised without regard to union membership
considerations.
b "General Laws" and "Foreman" Contract Clauses
In the News Syndicate and Haverhill Gazette cases,11 the Board
had found that "closed shop" conditions were imposed by (1) a clause
incorporating the union's general laws "not in conflict with law", and
(2) a clause vesting contiol over hiring in the foreman, who was required
to be a union member 12 The Board's theory was that the general
savings language of the laws clause was not sufficient to apprise
the employees that the provisions of the union's laws requiring union
membership as a condition of employment weie not incorporated in
the contract, and that they would thus view the contract as if it had
specifically contained that requirement Similarly, they would so
view a conti act provision which delegated exclusive hiring authority
to a foreman who was required to be a union member and abide by
union rules requiring that preference be given to union members The
Supreme Coui t, in agreement with the Second Circuit in News Syntheate,18
and in disagreement with the First Circuit in Haverhill Gazette,"
set aside the Board's findings with iespe,ct to both of these
clauses 15
Respecting the Board's finding that the laws clause in effect incorporated
the illegal provisions of the union's rules into the contract,
the Court held that such clause "has in it the condition that only those
General Laws of the union are incorporated which are 'not in conflict
with this contract or with federal or state law' Any i ule oi regulation
of the union which permitted or required discrimination in
favor of union employees would, therefore, be excluded nom incorporation
in the contract since it would be at war with the Act" Respecting
the problem of employee uncertainty, the Court added "We
can say . that while the words 'not in conflict with federal
law' might in some circumstances be puzzling or uncertain as to
meaning, 'there could hardly be any uncertainty respecting a closed-
21 N L It B v Nem Syndicate Go, 365 U S 605, International Typographical Union
v NLRB, 105 U S 705
"New, Syndicate Go, lac, 122 NLRB 818, international Typographical Union (Haver-
Mll Gazette) 123 NLRB 806 See Twenty fourth Annual Report, pp 71-74 97-08
12 279 F 2d 323 Twenty-fifth Annual Report, p 134
" 278 F 2d 6
In Haverhill, the issue arose in the context of a strike to obtain the clauses, for,
unlike In News Syndicate, the employer had resisted the union's demands The Board
found that, in addition to its infirmity under see 8(b) (2), a strike to obtain a clause
requiring that the foreman be a union member violated sec 8(b)(1)(B) in that it restrained
the employer in the selection of a representative for grievance pui poses The
Supreme Court, being equally divided on this question, affirmed the First Circuit's judgment
sustaining the Board's holding on the 8(b) (1) (B) violation