The Seattle Teamsters and the procedural state, 1935–1942

Abstract

The Teamsters Union often clashed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Seattle between 1935 and 1942. At times the Seattle Teamsters resisted the NLRB, yet in other cases the union worked within the agency's procedures to expand. In the years after the Wagner Act, the Teamsters exploited the NLRB to block employees from choosing their own union. This article uses archival records to explore cases where the Seattle Teamsters successfully adapted to federal regulation of collective bargaining between 1935 and 1942. Seattle workers opposed to the Teamsters bravely fought to protect their right to organize, yet these employees faced a union skilled at working with the procedural state. These cases show the increasing ability of the Seattle Teamsters to enroll workers wary of the union by complying with NLRB rules.

Keywords::

• National Labor Relations Board
• procedural state
• Seattle Teamsters
• labor law

Notes

^1. P.H. McNally, Trial Examiner, “Informal Report,” 18 November 1937, folder: “McKesson & Robbins, Inc., R-462,” box 2154, Unfair Labor Practice and Representation Files, 1935–1947, Record Group 25: Records of the National Labor Relations Board, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.

^2.Tomlins, “State, the Unions, and the Critical Synthesis”; Tomlins, State and the Unions; Atleson, Values and Assumptions; Gross, Reshaping of the National Labor Relations Board; and Klare, “Judicial Deradicalization.”

^3. On the West Coast Teamsters, see Gillingham, Teamsters Union on the West Coast; Garnel, Rise of Teamster Power; Dembo, “Dave Beck and the Transportation Revolution”; Frank, Purchasing Power, 202–4; Jacoby, Modern Manors, 132–4; and Witwer, Corruption and Reform, 133–7. For recent scholarship on the Teamsters elsewhere during the 1930s, see, for example, Eidlin, “Minneapolis Teamsters and the Transformation.” On the AFL, see Tomlins, “AFL Unions in the 1930s.”

^4. For a recent account of the Smith Committee hearings, see Storrs, Second Red Scare, 61–6.

^5. On the gap in the 1930s between the craft rhetoric of Teamster leaders and the industrial organizing of local Teamster unions, see Vosko and Witwer, “Women Teamsters in the United States,” 172.

^6. Ira Katznelson describes the federal agencies designed to regulate domestic relations in the 1930s and 1940s as a “procedural state” subject to Congressional review and judicial oversight. For Katznelson, this domestic state functioned as a neutral entity that distributed funds to parties competing as interest groups. Katznelson, Fear Itself, especially 401–2. In Seattle, the NLRB expressed its neutrality in disputes involving the Teamsters by an adherence to legal procedure. On the importance of legal procedure to the development of the administrative state, see Ernst, Tocqueville's Nightmare.

^7. For a recent, short history of Beck's career, see Witwer, Corruption and Reform, 133–7.

^8. On the expansion of the Western Conference of Teamsters in the late 1930s, see Garnel, Rise of Teamster Power, 143–200.

^9. California State Brewers Institute v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 19 F. Supp. 824 (N.D. Cal., S.D. 1937), IBT v. International Union of United Brewery Workers, 106 F.2d 871 (9th Cir. 1939), Obergfell v. Green, 314 U.S. 637 (1941).

^10. Dave Beck to Warren Magnusson, 5 January 1939, on the “Pateman bill,” file 50, box 46, Warren Magnuson Papers, Special Collections, University of Washington, Seattle.

^11. Dave Beck to Lewis Schwellenbach, 5 October 1939, folder: “Incoming Letters: B,” box 4, Samuel Bassett Papers, Special Collections, University of Washington, Seattle.

^12. “Talk of Dave Beck,” transcript of radio broadcast on KOL, Seattle, 20 February 1940, “Beck, Dave,” Washington State Biography Files, Special Collections, University of Washington, Seattle.

^13.Cherny, “Anticommunist Networks and Labor.”

^14. Daniel Tobin to William Green, 16 February 1937, reel 7, Boehm, Minutes of the Executive Council [AFL Exec. Council Minutes].

^15. 16 February 1937, reel 7, AFL Exec. Council Minutes.

^16. Edward D. Vandeleur to William Green, 2 March 1938, reel 28, Boehm, Presidents Office Files.

^17. William Green to Dave Beck, 23 July 1937, folder “Star Publishing, C-238,” box 1121, Unfair Labor Practice and Representation Files, 1935–1947, Record Group 25: Records of the National Labor Relations Board, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland [this folder hereafter “Star Publishing” RG25].

^18. Star Publishing, 4 NLRB 498 (11 December 1937), quotations at 503.

^19. “What Recent Strikes and Disputes Are About,” pamphlet, no date, Seattle Citizens Committee, Congress of Industrial Organizations File, Special Collections, University of Washington, Seattle.

^20. “Brief for the National Labor Relations Board,” 8 March 1938, case 8746, box 3099, Case Files and Minutes, Records of the Ninth Circuit, 1892–1964, Record Group 276: Records of the United States Courts of Appeals, National Archives and Records Administration, San Bruno, California [this case file hereafter case 8746 RG276 SF].

^21. “Weekly Report on Pending Cases,” 24 July 1937, “Star Publishing” RG25.

^22. Elwyn Eagan to Charles Fahy, 31 July 1937, “Star Publishing” RG25.

^23. Bayley & Crosen to NLRB, 21 December 1937, “Star Publishing” RG25.

^24. George Vanderveer, “Before National Labor Relations Board,” no date, “Star Publishing” RG25.

^25. Star Publishing, 4 NLRB 498 (11 December 1937), quotations at 499, 505, and 499.

^26. Vanderveer & Bassett, “Petition for Leave to Intervene and Supporting Brief,” 11 May 1938, case 8746 RG276 SF.

^27. “Brief for the National Labor Relations Board,” 8 March 1938, case 8746 RG276 SF.

^28.Millis and Brown, From the Wagner Act, 216.

^29. Labor Relations Board v. Star Pub. Co., 97 F. 2d. 465 (9th Cir. 14 June 1938), quotation at 470.

^30. Robert Watts to G.L. Patterson, 4 April 1938, “Star Publishing” RG25.

^31. G.L. Patterson to B.M. Stern, 9 November 1938, “Star Publishing” RG25.

^32.Schwartz, March Inland.

^33. P.H. McNally, Trial Examiner, “Informal Report,” 18 November 1937, folder: “McKesson & Robbins, Inc., R-462,” box 2154, Unfair Labor Practice and Representation Files, 1935–1947, Record Group 25: Records of the National Labor Relations Board, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland [this folder hereafter “McKesson” RG25].

^34. McKesson & Robbins, 5 NLRB 70 (4 February 1938), and19 NLRB 778 (19 January 1940); West Coast Wholesale Drug, 11 NLRB 40 (7 February 1939).

^35. Charles Hope to Edwin Smith, telegram, 2 February 1938, “McKesson” RG25.

^36. “Local 1–9, Warehousemen, Seattle, Washington: by C.M. Cummings, Delegate,” International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, Proceedings of the 1st Biennial Convention, 45 [hereafter ILWU Convention 1938].

^37. West Coast Wholesale Drug, 11 NLRB 40 (7 February 1939), quotations at 41.

^38. Teamsters as “reactionary”: “Local 1–9, Warehousemen, Seattle, Washington: by C.M. Cummings, Delegate,” 145; praise for Charles Hope: “Report of Secretary-Treasurer Matt Meehan,” 114; both in ILWU Convention 1938.

^39. Hope to Smith, 29 Jan 1938, “McKesson” RG25.

^40. Charles Hope to Beatrice Stern, 19 March 1938, “McKesson” RG25.

^41. P.H. McNally to George Pratt, 10 December 1937, “McKesson” RG25.

^42. Beatrice Stern to Charles Hope, 1 April 1938, “McKesson” RG25.

^43. West Coast Wholesale Drug, 11 NLRB 40 (7 February 1939), vote totals at 42.

^44. Dahlstrom Metallic Door Company, 11 NLRB 408 (17 February 1939).

^45. NLRB v. Dahlstrom Metallic Door Co., 112 F.2d 756 (2d Cir. 17 June 1940), quotation at 758.

^46. Karp Metal Products, 42 NLRB 119 (8 July 1942), quotation at 144. See also Delaware-New Jersey Ferry Company, 30 NLRB 820 (31 March 1941), at 840–41; and NLRB v. Karp Metal Products, Inc., 134 F.2d 954 (2d Cir. 25 March 1943). For limits on organizers making verbal threats, see Ballots Cast, “Ballots Cast for Union Held Invalid.”

^47. McKesson & Robbins, 19 NLRB 778 (23 January 1940), quotation at 791–792.

^48. Hugh Bradshaw, Affidavit, 28 February 1938, “McKesson” RG25.

^49. Joseph Padway, Herbert Thatcher, Robert Wilson, AFL brief, 1 February 1941, Warehousemen's Union, Local 117, IBT v. NLRB, case 7650, box 946, Docketed Cases, Records of the District of Columbia Circuit, 1893–1967, Record Group 276: Records of the United States Courts of Appeals, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C. [this case file hereafter case 7650 RG276 DC].

^50. Bogle, Bogle, & Gates, brief for McKesson, 26 November 1937, “McKesson” RG25.

^51.Tomlins, The State and the Unions, and McCurdy, “‘Liberty of Contract’.”

^52. Robert Watts, others, “Brief for the National Labor Relations Board,” Warehousemen's Union, Local 117, IBT v. NLRB, 17 December 1940, case 7650 RG276 DC.

^53. Warehousemen's Union Local 117, 121 F.2d 84 (DC Cir. 5 May 1941), quotations at 87, 88, and 97.

^54. A.E. Harding to J. Warren Madden, 5 October 1938, “McKesson” RG25.

^55. “Local 1–9, Warehousemen, Seattle, Washington, by Hugh R. Bradshaw,” International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union Convention, Proceedings of the 2nd Biennial Convention, 187.

^56. “Local 1–9, Warehousemen, Seattle, Washington, by John Stevens, Delegate,” International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Convention, 160.

^57. McKesson & Robbins, 36 NLRB 1104 (18 November 1941).

^58. McKesson & Robbins, 42 NLRB 353 (11 July 1942).

^59. “We'll Win Even If We Lose,” flyer, no date, folder: “20-R-1414, Bercut Richards,” box 5647, Unfair Labor Practice and Representation Files, 1935–1947, Record Group 25: Records of the National Labor Relations Board, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charles W. Romney

Charles W. Romney coordinates the public history MA program and serves as an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He received a Ph.D. in history from UCLA. His book on the procedural state and the defeat of progressive unions in the 1940s will be published by Oxford University Press.