## Facts

- Boich Mining Company operated a surface coal mine in Ohio; Aloe Coal Company operated a surface coal mine in Pennsylvania about 31 miles away.
- Boich and Aloe were separate corporations but wholly owned subsidiaries of a common holding company.
- The United Mine Workers of America (UMW) represented production and maintenance employees at both companies.
- During a UMW strike against Aloe, the union also struck and picketed at Boich’s mine.
- The NLRB General Counsel alleged the strike and picketing at Boich violated NLRA § 8(b)(4)(i) and (ii)(B) as unlawful secondary activity directed at a neutral employer.
- An ALJ concluded Boich was an “ally” of Aloe, not a neutral; the Board affirmed and dismissed the complaint.
- Boich petitioned for review in the Sixth Circuit.

## Issues

1. Whether substantial evidence supported the Board’s determination that Boich was an “ally” of Aloe rather than a neutral employer protected by NLRA § 8(b)(4)(i) and (ii)(B).
2. Whether the UMW’s strike and picketing at Boich constituted unlawful secondary activity when Boich did not perform struck work or otherwise voluntarily align itself with Aloe’s labor dispute.

## Decision

- The Sixth Circuit granted Boich’s petition for review and reversed the Board’s dismissal of the complaint.
- The court held the Board misapplied the ally doctrine and lacked substantial evidence that Boich voluntarily aligned itself with Aloe in the labor dispute.
- The court remanded with instructions to reinstate the complaint, find the UMW violated § 8(b)(4)(i) and (ii)(B) by striking and picketing Boich, and order an appropriate remedy.

## Legal Principles

- NLRA § 8(b)(4)(i) and (ii)(B) prohibits union inducement or coercion with an object of forcing a person to cease doing business with another (secondary boycott activity).
- The “ally doctrine” is a narrow exception to neutral-employer protection and requires evidence that the alleged neutral affirmatively joined the primary dispute, such as by performing struck work or substantially assisting the primary employer’s anti-strike efforts.
- Common ownership, geographic proximity, and parallel union representation, without specific conduct showing voluntary alignment in the dispute, are insufficient to convert a neutral employer into an ally.
- Courts defer to Board factfinding supported by substantial evidence, but deference does not sustain a decision resting on an incorrect legal standard for ally status.

## Conclusion

The Sixth Circuit held Boich remained a neutral employer under NLRA § 8(b)(4) because the record did not show it performed struck work or otherwise voluntarily allied with Aloe; therefore, the UMW’s strike and picketing at Boich constituted an unlawful secondary boycott, requiring reinstatement of the Board’s complaint and remedial proceedings.


Boich Mining Co. v. NLRB, 955 F.2d 431 (6th Cir. 1992)