National Labor Relations Board v. Welcome-American Fertilizer Company

The National Labor Relations Board has jurisdiction to prevent unfair labor practices “affecting commerce.” N. L. R. B. v. Hod Carriers’ Bldg. & Gen. Lab. Union, 351 F.2d 151 (9th Cir. 1965). The extent to which the Board chooses to exercise its statutory jurisdiction is a matter of administrative policy within the Board’s sound discretion. In the absence of extraordinary circumstances, such as unjust discrimination, exercise of jurisdictional discretion by the Board is not a question subject to review by the courts. N. L. R. B. v. Carroll-Naslund Disposal, Inc., 359 F.2d 779, 780 (9th Cir. 1966).

The Board determined that Respondent’s operations, alone, did not “affect commerce.” Perhaps, with the record fully developed, it could be found that Respondent’s operations, alone, did affect commerce. See, e. g., N. L. R. B. v. Hod Carriers’, supra. However, on the record before us, we are unable to say that the Board’s determination is not supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole

The Board (and the general counsel’s representative before this court) completely committed itself to the jurisdictional premise that Respondent and its parent, Best Fertilizer,…