Appeals Court Upholds Ruling on Picket Right

In a case involving striking cargo pilots at the Los Angeles harbor, a federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a lower-court ruling that a public sector union can picket a private business to put pressure on the public employer.

“This gives an incredible tool to public sector unions,” said attorney Elizabeth Garfield, who represented the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union in the dispute.

The lawsuit was brought by the Pacific Maritime Assn. on behalf of shipping companies that said they lost millions of dollars when several terminals were shut down by picketing in the summer of 1997.

Although the pilots’ strike continued for more than four months, the terminals were closed for only four days. The picketing ended when the city of Los Angeles won an injunction in state court, arguing that the shutdown posed a threat to public health and safety.

The PMA argued that because the picketing harmed businesses that did not employ the strikers, it constituted a “secondary boycott,” which is banned by federal labor law. But public employees, along with agricultural workers and railway workers, are not covered by the National Labor Relations Act, so attorneys for the strikers argued that the secondary boycott rule didn’t apply to these workers.

A lower court agreed, and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling on Wednesday.

“We haven’t had a chance to review the ruling, so we can’t comment at this point,” said Joey Parr, a spokeswoman for the PMA, who said it was unclear whether the association will appeal. “Obviously, we’re disappointed.”