LABOR LAW - SEAMEN - REINSTATEMENT OF SIT-DOWN STRIKERS

While a ship whose home port was Philadelphia was at dock in the port of Houston, unlicensed seamen commenced a strike for union recognition and boarding passes for union delegates. The strikers did not take possession of the ship but remained on the poop-deck and refused to obey all orders. They were never requested to leave. Sufficient steam was maintained for the operation of all the ship's sanitary and safety appliances, and the vessel was never in danger.

When upon the ship's return to Philadelphia the steamship company discharged five of the seamen for participating in the strike, the National Labor Relations Board ordered the company to offer reinstatement and back pay to these men. Held, the order was affirmed on the ground that the strike was legal. The dissent maintained the strike was unlawful since it violated the law of the sea and the shipping articles. Southern S. S. Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, (C. C. A. 3d, 1941) 120 F. (2d) 505.