Labor Law-Picketing-Per Se Application of Washington Coca Cola Doctrine Overruled by the NLRB

During a labor dispute with an electrical contractor, a union picketed the job site, the premises of a neutral employer, rather than the office of the primary employer where the contractor’s employees reported for a few minutes at the beginning and end of each work day. The picket signs stated that the union’s dispute was only with the contractor, and the picketing was limited to the times when the contractor’s employees were present (except that it did not stop when the contractor’s employees left for lunch and coffee breaks) . The neutral employer filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging unfair labor practices on the part of the union and the trial examiner ruled, in reliance on the Washington Coca Cola doctrine, that the picketing was unlawful since the contractor had a regular place of business which the union could adequately picket. Moreover, under the tests laid down by the Moore Dry Dock Co. case, the picketing was unlawful since it was done at times when contractor’s employees were away from the job site. On review by the Board, held, the picketing was permissible. The Washington Coca Cola doctrine is overruled as a per se requirement of ambulatory situs picketing, and the Moore Dry Dock standards are not to be applied on an indiscriminate per se basis. Local 861, lnt’l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 135 N.L.R.B. No. 41 Gan. 12, 1962).