Abstract
For several years the federal district courts and circuit courts of appeal wrestled with the question of a labor union's liabilities and obligations when its members engaged in a wildcat strike. Concern for halting wildcat strikes increased considerably after the Supreme Court's decision in Buffalo Forge Co. v. United Steelworkers. In Buffalo Forge the Court held that a union-sanctioned strike over an issue not subject to binding arbitration could not be enjoined pending an arbitrator's determination of whether the strike violated the no-strike provision of the collective agreement. The Court refused to expand its 1970 Boys Markets, Inc. v. Retail Clerks Local 770 decision, thus precluding employers who previously had utilized injunctive relief to force striking employees to return to work from using that device when work stoppages occur over issues not subject to binding arbitration. In December 1979 the Supreme Court, in Carbon Fuel Co. v. United Mine Workers, resolved the issue of whether an international union could be held liable for damages after its members engaged in wildcat strikes where the union did not use all reasonable means available to it to prevent the strikes or to bring about their termination. This article will review and analyze Carbon Fuel and three recent related decisions.
First Page
1
Recommended Citation
Jane Rigler,
Union Liability for Wildcat Strikes: A Look at Carbon Fuel,
33
Me. L. Rev.
1
(1981).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/mlr/vol33/iss1/2