National Labor Relations Board v. Southern California District Council of Laborers and Laborers International Union of North America, Local 585

The National Labor Relations Board (“the Board”) petitions for enforcement of its order directing respondent unions to cease and desist from threatening the general contractor Ernest W. Hahn, Inc. (“Hahn”) or Hahn’s subcontractor Masonry Builders, Inc. (“Masonry”) with a strike in order to force these employers to assign to employees represented by respondents the tasks of assembling and dismantling scaffolding 14 feet or more in height. The Board found that all parties to this jurisdictional dispute had agreed to be bound by the determination of the National Joint Board for Settlement of Jurisdictional Disputes, Building and Construction Industry (“Joint Board”). It accepted the Joint Board’s decision without making an independent determination. Because we conclude that Masonry did not agree to be bound by the Joint Board’s determination, we remand for a hearing under section 10(k) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 160 (k).

Hahn, a general contractor, subcontracted masonry work to Masonry. In 1968, a dispute arose over whether Masonry’s scaffolding exceeding 14 feet in height should be erected and dismantled by Masonry’s employees, who were represented by Laborers…