Labor Law and Workmen's Compensation -- 1958 Tennessee Survey

The federal Labor-Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act sets forth as a basic right the freedom of choice of covered employees with respect to unionization and the establishment of collective bargaining. While protecting certain concerted activities, this statute makes it unlawful, among other things, for a labor organization to strike or picket for certain proscribed objectives. In this area of regulation (i.e., the purposes of labor combinations and economic pressures) the federal machinery is exclusive to the extent that the necessary relationship to interstate commerce is present and exceptions to coverage are inapplicable. While the Supreme Court of the United States has made it clear that the federal preemption doctrine does not prevent state court injunctions against violence and disorder associated with a labor dispute, such courts do not have jurisdiction to regulate by means of the injunction peaceful strikes and picketing by labor organizations when the doctrine is applicable.