NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co.
Case Date: 05/19/2024
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NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co. 304 U.S. 333 (1938) is a 7-0 decision by the United States Supreme Court which held that workers who strike remain employees for the purposes of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The Court granted the relief sought by the National Labor Relations Board, which sought to have the workers reinstated by the employer. However, the decision is much better known today for its obiter dicta[1][2][3] in which the Court said that an employer may hire strikebreakers and is not bound to discharge any of them if or when the strike ends.[4]
The Mackay doctrine, as the striker replacement portion of the ruling is known, is one of the most significant Supreme Court rulings in American labor law,[5][6][7][8] and has defined collective bargaining in the United States since its publication. "Mackay Radio was more than a decision that provided an instrumental method for a firm to replace economic strikers and to resist their return to employment after a strike. It was also a decision that established important practices that constituted the conduct of union-management bargaining during the post-New Deal Era."[9]
The ruling is also highly controversial, even 70 years later. It is strongly and uniformly condemned by labor unions, and resolutely defended by employers. In the legal community, however, "the doctrine continues to provoke the notice and the nearly universal condemnation of scholars."[10]
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