Boys Markets v. Clerks Union

In Boys Markets v. Clerks Union (1970) 398 U.S. 235, the United States Supreme Court upheld the right of the federal district court to enforce the breach of a no strike clause in a valid-operative collective bargaining agreement in spite of the preemptive effect of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (LMRA) (29 U.S.C.A. 185(a)) and the anti-injunction provisions of the Norris-LaGuardia Act (29 U.S.C.A. 104). Since the enactment in 1941 of Labor Code section 1126, there has been no question of the authority of the California state court to grant equitable relief for breach of the terms of a collective bargaining agreement in an appropriate case. Boys Markets, supra , addresses the question of federal court authority to give injunctive relief in view of the federal statutory constraints. In Boys Markets, there was an unquestioned effective collective bargaining agreement between the parties at the time when the dispute arose, when the strike activities occurred, and when injunctive relief was sought. In analyzing the "landmark" decision in Boys Markets, supra , 398 U.S. 235, the authors of Labor and Labor Relations, section 1979, volume 48A Ma.Jur.2d page 372, state: "In this case, the court established three prerequisites to jurisdiction in a Federal District Court to enjoin a strike: (1) the strike must be in breach of a no-strike obligation under an effective collective bargaining agreement ; (2) the strike must be over an arbitrable grievance; and (3) both parties must be contractually bound to arbitrate the underlying grievance which caused the strike."