Walker Butler, Presiding Judge, Superior Court of Cook County, Ill.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 21, 1962

138 N.L.R.B. 221 (N.L.R.B. 1962)

WALKER BUTLER, P.J., SUPERIOR COURT, COOK COUNTY 221
Walker Butler , Presiding Judge, Superior Court of Cook County,
Ill. and Upper Lakes Shipping , Ltd. and Seafarers' Inter-
national Union of North America. Case No. A 0-37. August
21, 1962
ORDER DISMISSING PETITION FOR ADVISORY OPINION
This is a petition filed on May 21, 1962, by Walker Butler, Presiding
Judge, Superior Court of Cook County, Illinois, herein called the
Petitioner, pursuant to Sections 102.98 and 102.99 of the Board's
Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, requesting an Advisory
Opinion with respect to the jurisdictional issue raised in an injunction
proceeding instituted before the Petitioner by Upper Lakes Shipping,
Ltd., a Canadian corporation, herein called Upper Lakes. Thereafter,
on May 24, 1962, Seafarers' International Union of North America,
herein called SIUNA, one of the defendants in the injunction pro-
ceedings, filed, a "Response to Petition for Advisory Opinion" t con-
tending that this Board, and not the Superior Court of Cook
County, had jurisdiction over the dispute involved in the injunctive
proceedings.
On May 25, 1962, Upper Lakes moved to strike the Response, argu-
ing that the court and not this Board has jurisdiction because the
injunction dispute involved "the internal management and economy
of a foreign ship." The SIUNA filed an opposition to this motion
to strike. On June 6, 1962, Ross M. Madden, Regional Director for
the Thirteenth Region of the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Regional Director, filed a motion to intervene with a state-
ment setting forth jurisdictional facts developed in his investigation
of unfair labor practice charges filed against Upper Lakes and certain
Canadian unions in Cases Nos. 13-CA-4480, 13-CA-4480-2, 13-CB-
1128, and 13-CB-1128-2. Subsequently, Upper Lakes and SIUNA
filed additional supporting documents including motions, pleadings,
exhibits, transcripts, and decisions in other Board and court
proceedings.
The Board has duly considered all the documents and attachments
thereto submitted by the Petitioner, SIUNA, Upper Lakes, and the
Regional Director. Its Advisory Opinion rules, like those for De-
claratory Orders, "are designed primarily to determine questions of
jurisdiction by the application of the Board's discretionary standards
to the `commerce' operations of an employer."' Advisory Opinions
have usually been rendered in those cases where the employer's com-
merce operations would be determinative of the Board's exercise of
discretionary jurisdiction, legal or statutory jurisdiction having been
' SIUNA filed a supplement to its Response on June 6, 1962.
' Reynolds Metal Co., 134 NLRB 1187; National Bulk Carriers, 134 NLRB 1186.
138 NLRB No. 36.
222 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
established. However, questions as to the Board's legal or statutory
jurisdiction, involving as they do, the Board's reach under the Act,
have generally not been so resolved because of the complicated nature
of the legal and factual issues inherent therein and arising therefrom.
Such highly complex issues are not infrequently raised in cases, like
the present, which concern primarily the assertion of jurisdiction over
foreign flag vessels owned by foreign employers, manned by foreign
crews, and represented by foreign labor organizations. The Board's
informal Advisory Opinion procedures generally do not lend them-
selves to the development of the full and complete record essential to
enable the Board to make an informed judgment on the important
jurisdictional issues raised in foreign flag cases like the instant one.
Determination of such jurisdictional issues requires an adequate pres-
entation based upon a full and complete record, not present here.
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, that the Petition for Advisory
Opinion herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. The Board's dismissal
is not to be construed as determining the merits of the jurisdictional
issue with respect to Upper Lakes or as precluding, in appropriate
circumstances, the assertion of jurisdiction over secondary American
employers whose operations are affected by conduct of others arising
in the United States. Thus in the instant case, even assuming argu-
endo the lack of jurisdiction over Upper Lakes, the Board is not fore-
closed from invoking its jurisdiction over the picketing activities in
the port of Chicago to the extent that they affect the operations of
secondary American companies over whom the Board will assert
jurisdiction, However, we do not reach this issue because it has not
been presented to the Board upon the record herein. Under these
circumstances, the Order herein is limited to the single issue raised
with respect to the Board's jurisdiction over Upper Lakes.
Licensed Tugmen's and Pilots ' Protective Association of America,
AFL-CIO and Grain Elevator Workers Union , Local No. 418,
International Longshoremen 's Association , AFL-CIO and Grain
Trimmers Union, Local No. 101 , International Longshoremen's
Association , AFL-CIO and Twin City Barge and Towing Com-
pany. Cases Nos. 13-CP-35,13-CC-271, and 13-CC-276. August
22, 1962
DECISION AND ORDER
On May 1, 1962, Trial Examiner Morton D. Friedman issued his
Intermediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding, in which he
concluded that Licensed Tugmen's and Pilots' Protective Association
of America, AFL-CIO, is not a labor organization within the mean-
ing of the Act, and recommended that the complaint be dismissed,
138 NLRB No. 31.