Nlrb v. Magnavox Co., 415 U.S. 322 (1974)

National Labor Relations Board v.

Magnavox Company of Tennessee
No. 72-1637

Argued January 14-15, 1974
Decided February 27, 1974
415 U.S. 322

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

At the time respondent company entered into a collective bargaining agreement with a union, respondent had a blanket rule against distribution by employees of literature on company property. The collective agreement and subsequent contracts authorized the company to issue fair and nondiscriminatory rules for maintaining orderly conditions on plant property, and also provided for bulletin boards for union notices. The union ultimately challenged the rule’s validity, and, upon denial of its request for a change, filed unfair labor practice charges against respondent, which the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) upheld. The Court of Appeals denied enforcement of the NLRB’s order, finding that the union had waived objection to the on-premises distribution ban.

Held: Respondent’s ban might interfere with the employees’ rights under § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act "to form, join, or assist labor organizations," or to refrain from such activities, and such rights, unlike those in the economic area, cannot be waived by the employees’ collective bargaining representative. The bulletin board provision did not afford an adequate alternative, since it did not give the union’s adversaries equal access of communications with their fellow employees. Pp. 324-327.

474 F.2d 1269, reversed.

DOUGLAS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and BRENNAN, WHITE, MARSHALL, and BLACKMUN, JJ., joined. STEWART, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which POWELL and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined, post, p. 327.