The U.S. Supreme Court decision in United Association of Journeymen Plumbers and Steamfitters v. Graham, 345 U.S. 192 (1953) upheld a permanent injunction against picketers whose purposes conflicted with Virginiaโs Right to Work Statute.
Supreme Court upholds injunction against picketing
Justice Harold H. Burton wrote the opinion of the Court that affirmed that Virginia could issue an injunction against picketing that conflicted with its right to work statute and affirmed that this picketing had done so.
Unions had set up pickets in front of a school construction site that indicated that the project was employing nonunion members. The effect was that many union members refused to work at the site. Virginiaโs Right to Work Statute provides that โneither membership nor non-membership in a labor union shall be made a condition of employmentโ and โthat a contract limiting employment to union members is against public policy.โ Given Burtonโs belief that one of the purposes of the pickets had been to discourage such employment, he ruled that the state had the right to enjoin the picketing.
Douglas argues in dissent that picketing is a form of free speech
Justice Hugo L. Black dissented without writing an opinion.
Justice William O. Douglasโs dissent argued that the union had done little more โthan advertise to union men and union sympathizers that nonunion men were employed on the job.โ He stressed, โPicketing is a form of free speech . . . entitled to constitutional protection.โ He did not believe that the lower court had made adequate determination of fact as to the picketโs illegal purpose, and he further questioned whether the injunction had been โnarrowly drawn.โ