## Facts

- A national labor union constitution barred member resignations during a strike.
- During a strike by affiliated locals, ten union members attempted to resign and return to work.
- The union fined those employees under the no-resignation rule.
- Employer representatives filed unfair labor practice charges, alleging the fines unlawfully restrained or coerced employees in violation of NLRA § 8(b)(1)(A).
- The NLRB found the union’s enforcement of the no-resignation rule by fines unlawful and ordered relief.
- The Seventh Circuit enforced the NLRB’s order.

## Issues

1. Whether a union commits an unfair labor practice under NLRA § 8(b)(1)(A) by fining employees who resign during a strike and return to work, despite a union rule barring resignation during strikes.
2. Whether the § 8(b)(1)(A) proviso preserving union authority to set rules on “acquisition or retention of membership” protects a no-resignation-during-a-strike rule.
3. Whether the NLRB’s interpretation of § 8(b)(1)(A) in this context is permissible and entitled to judicial deference.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment enforcing the NLRB’s order.
- The Court held the NLRB could treat fines imposed on employees who resigned, notwithstanding a union constitutional restriction on resignation, as unlawful restraint or coercion under § 8(b)(1)(A).
- The Court concluded the § 8(b)(1)(A) proviso did not shield a rule that restricts resignation during strikes; the proviso covers rules concerning admission and expulsion, not rules preventing resignation at particular times.
- The Court deferred to the NLRB’s consistent construction of § 8(b)(1)(A) in union-fine cases.
- The Court rejected reliance on common-law contract principles to validate resignation restrictions where they conflict with statutory employee rights.
- The majority opinion was authored by Justice Powell.

## Legal Principles

- NLRA § 7 protects employees’ rights concerning concerted activity, including the right to refrain.
- NLRA § 8(b)(1)(A) prohibits labor organizations from restraining or coercing employees in the exercise of § 7 rights.
- The § 8(b)(1)(A) proviso preserves union authority to set rules on “acquisition or retention of membership,” but does not permit rules that bar resignation during strikes to compel continued membership.
- The NLRA reflects a policy of voluntary unionism; unions may not use internal rules to prevent employees from resigning when they choose to stop supporting strike activity.
- Courts generally defer to the NLRB’s reasonable and consistently applied interpretation of § 8(b)(1)(A) in determining whether union fines unlawfully restrain or coerce employees.

## Conclusion

The Court upheld the NLRB’s determination that employees may resign union membership even during a strike and that a union violates NLRA § 8(b)(1)(A) by enforcing a no-resignation rule through fines against employees who resign and return to work.


Pattern Makers’ League of N. Am. v. NLRB, 473 U.S. 95 (1985)