National Labor Relations Board v. Monterey County Building & Construction Trades Council

The National Labor Relations Board has petitioned for enforcement of a cease and desist order issued against the respondent, Monterey County Building and Construction Trades Council, on April 28, 1963. The Board found that respondent had violated (1) Section 8(b) (7) (C) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158 (b) (7) (C), which proscribes recognitional picketing by a labor organization to force an employer “to recognize or bargain with a labor organization”; and (2) Section 8(b) (4) (i) and (ii) (B) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158 (b) (4) (i) and (ii) (B), which proscribes secondary boycotts.

Respondent has not here attacked the Board’s findings relative to the unfair labor practices, but contends that the employees involved were “agricultural laborers” and accordingly exempt from the provisions of the Act. Section 2(3), 29 U.S.C. § 152 (3) provides that, “The term ‘employee’ shall include any employee * * * but shall not include any individual employed as an agricultural laborer * * * ”

The charging party, Vito J. LaTorre, and his wife are the owners of all of the stock of three corporations operating poultry ranches in the Watsonville, California, area. 23 The…