Opinion of the Court.

339 U.S.

higher wages, and it was conducted peacefully. To enjoin possible criminal prosecution, appellants instituted this suit in the state courts, contending that the statute violated the Due Process and Commerce Clauses of the Federal Constitution. The trial court upheld their contentions but the Michigan Supreme Court reversed. 325 Mich. 250, 38 N. W. 2d 421 (1949). We find no need to discuss the due process point, inasmuch as we hold that the court below erred in its decision on the commerce power.

Congress has not been silent on the subject of strikes in interstate commerce. In the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, 49 Stat. 449, 29 U. S. C. § 151, as amended by the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, 61 Stat.

parties to such dispute to actively and in good faith participate in the mediation thereof. . . .

"Sec. 9a. In the event that it becomes apparent to the board that there is no reasonable probability of settlement of such dispute by mediation and that further efforts to that end would be without avail, there shall be held in the case of any impending strike, an election upon such issue which election shall be conducted and supervised by the board. In the event either party to said dispute notifies the board in writing . . . that in the opinion of such party, further efforts to settle such dispute by mediation would be without avail, it shall be the duty of the board to cause an election to be held within 10 days of the receipt of such notice unless it is not practical to hold such election within said period, in which event said election shall be held within 20 days of receipt of such notice. . . . Every employee in the bargaining unit shall be entitled to vote in such election and in order to authorize a strike under the provisions of this act, a majority of all employees in such bargaining unit must. vote in favor of such action."

In 1949, the last requirement was amended to read, "a majority of all employees casting valid ballots must vote in favor of such action." This change is not material to our decision.

2 The court below held that appellants' acts "rendered [them] subject to threatened criminal prosecution . . . ." 325 Mich. at 254, 38 N. W. 2d at 422. See § 22. We are of course bound by this interpretation of the state law.

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136, 29 U. S. C. (Supp. III) § 141, Congress safeguarded the exercise by employees of "concerted activities" and expressly recognized the right to strike. It qualified and regulated that right in the 1947 Act. It established certain prerequisites, with which appellants complied, for any strike over contract termination or modification. § 8 (d). These include notices to both state and federal mediation authorities; both did participate in the negotiations in this case. In provisions which did not affect appellants, Congress forbade strikes for certain objectives and detailed procedures for strikes which might create a national emergency. §§ 8 (b) (4), 206–210. None of these sections can be read as permitting concurrent state regulation of peaceful strikes for higher wages. Congress occupied this field and closed it to state regulation. Plankinton Packing Co. v. Wisconsin Board, 338 U. S. 953 (1950); La Crosse Telephone Corp. v. Wisconsin Board, 336 U. S. 18 (1949); Bethlehem Steel Co. v. New York Labor Board, 330 U. S. 767 (1947); Hill v. Florida, 325 U. S. 538 (1945).

3

3 See §§ 7, 2 (3), 13 of both Acts; H. R. Rep. No. 510, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 59 (1947); S. Rep. No. 105, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 28 (1947); statement of Senator Taft, 93 Cong. Rec. 3835 (1947), which includes the following: "That means that we recognize freedom to strike when the question involved is the improvement of wages, hours, and working conditions, when a contract has expired and neither side is bound by a contract. . . . We have considered the question whether the right to strike can be modified. I think it can be modified in cases which do not involve the basic question of wages, prices, and working conditions. . . . So far as the bill is concerned, we have proceeded on the theory that there is a right to strike and that labor peace must be based on free collective bargaining. We have done nothing to outlaw strikes for basic wages, hours, and working conditions after proper opportunity for mediation."

* Congress created a new federal agency, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, to assist in the peaceful settlement of disputes. §§ 202-204.

Opinion of the Court.

339 U.S.

Even if some state legislation in this area could be sustained, the particular statute before us could not stand. For it conflicts with the federal Act. The Michigan law calls for a notice given "In the event the parties . . . are unable to settle any dispute" to be followed by mediation, and if that is unsuccessful, by a strike vote within twenty days, with a majority required to authorize a strike. Under the federal legislation, the prescribed strike notice can be given sixty days before the contract termination or modification. §8 (d). The federal Act thus permits strikes at a different and usually earlier time than the Michigan law; and it does not require majority authorization for any strike. This requirement of approval by a majority of the employees was contained in the Bill which passed the House of Representatives; but the Act as finally adopted deliberately refrains from imposing the prerequisite of majority approval in each of its references to strike votes. $$ 203 (c), 209 (b)-210.

5

Finally, the bargaining unit established in accordance with federal law may be inconsistent with that required by state regulation. Though the unit for the Michigan strike vote cannot extend beyond the State's borders, the unit for which appellant union is the federally certified bargaining representative includes Chrysler plants in California and Indiana as well as Michigan. Chrysler Corp., 42 N. L. R. B. 1145 (1942). Without question, the Michigan provision conflicts with the exercise of federally protected labor rights. A state statute

H. R. 3020, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. §2 (11) (B) (vi) (h) (1947). The legislative history demonstrates that this proposal was rejected on the merits, and not because of any desire to leave the states free to adopt it. See, e. g., H. R. Rep. No. 510, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 34-35 (1947); testimony of Governor Stassen, Hearings before Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare on S. 55 and S. J. Res. 22, S0th Cong., 1st Sess. 562-65, 572-78, 586-89 (1947).

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Plankinton

so at war with federal law cannot survive. Packing Co. v. Wisconsin Board, 338 U. S. 953 (1950); La Crosse Telephone Corp. v. Wisconsin Board, 336 U. S. 18 (1949); Bethlehem Steel Co. v. New York Labor Board, 330 U. S. 767 (1947); Hill v. Florida, 325 U. S. 538 (1945). Auto. Workers v. Wisconsin Board, 336 U. S. 245 (1949), upon which Michigan principally relies, was not concerned with a traditional, peaceful strike for higher wages. The employees' conduct there was "a new technique for bringing pressure upon the employer," a "recurrent or intermittent unannounced stoppage of work to win unstated ends." Id. at 249, 264. That activity we regarded as "coercive," similar to the sit-down strike held to fall outside the protection of the federal Act in Labor Board v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., 306 U. S. 240 (1939), and to the labor violence held to be subject to state police control in Allen-Bradley Local y. Wisconsin Board, 315 U. S. 740 (1942). In the Wisconsin Auto. Workers case, we concluded that the union tactic was "neither forbidden by federal statute nor was it legalized and approved thereby." 336 U. S. at 265. "There is no existing or possible conflict or overlapping between the authority of the Federal and State Boards, because the Federal Board has no authority either to investigate, approve or forbid the union conduct in question. This conduct is governable by the State or it is entirely ungoverned." Id. at 254. Clearly, we reaffirmed the principle that if "Congress has protected the union conduct which the State has forbidden . . . the state legislation must yield." Id. at 252. That principle is controlling here.

MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS Concurs in the result.

Reversed.

HUGHES ET AL. v. SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA FOR CONTRA COSTA COUNTY.

CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA.

No. 61. Argued November 8-9, 1949. Decided May 8, 1950.

Petitioners demanded of an employer that it hire Negroes at one of its grocery stores, as white clerks quit or were transferred, until the proportion of Negro clerks to white clerks approximated the proportion of Negro to white customers, which was then about 50%. A California state court enjoined petitioners from picketing the employer's stores to enforce this specific demand for selective hiring on a racial basis. For violation of the injunction, petitioners were found guilty of contempt and were sentenced to fine and imprisonment. The policy of California is against discrimination on the basis of color. Held: The injunction did not violate petitioners' right of freedom of speech as guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp. 461–469.

1. The Constitution does not demand that the element of communication in picketing prevail over the mischief furthered by its use to compel employment on the basis of racial discrimination contrary to the State's policy. Pp. 463-464.

2. Industrial picketing is something more than free speech, since it involves patrol of a particular locality and since the very presence of a picket line may induce action of one kind or another, quite irrespective of the nature of the ideas which are being disseminated. Pp. 464-465.

3. The Due Process Clause cannot be construed as precluding California from securing respect for its policy against involuntary employment on racial lines by prohibiting systematic picketing that would subvert such policy. Pp. 465-466.

4. The fact that the policy of the State is expressed by its courts rather than by its legislature is immaterial so far as the Fourteenth Amendment is concerned. Pp. 466–469.

5. A State may direct its law against what it deems the evil as it actually exists without covering the whole field of possible abuses, and it may do so though the forbidden act does not differ in kind from those that are allowed. P. 468.

32 Cal. 2d 850, 198 P. 2d 885, affirmed.