Full opinion text
SCHAUER, J. Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of dismissal entered after a general demurrer to his complaint was sustained and he had declined to amend. By the complaint an employer seeks injunctive relief from activities of defendants, a labor union and its secretary, designed to induce plaintiff to enter into a union shop agreement with defendant union. Both plaintiff and a majority of his employes desire such an agreement, i.e., neither plaintiff nor defendants wish to force a union shop upon a group o£ employes whose majority do not freely choose it. But defendants’ activities are, and the execution of the contract which such activities are intended to effect would be, contrary to the provisions of a San Benito County “right-to-work” ordinance. The controlling issues, it will develop, are (1) whether the state by valid law has occupied the field so comprehensively that the ordinance cannot stand, and (2) whether the complaint states a cause of action under state law. To resolve these issues confidently requires examination of the state’s statutory law concerning not only the relations between labor and management, as such, but also that which regulates relationships and activities between competing labor organizations and between those organizations and their own members, and the members of other organizations, and unorganized workmen, and the rights, if any, of the individual workmen to participate in the selection of their bargaining agents and in the determination of objectives of collective negotiations and ultimate terms of agreement. The statutory law must be interpreted in the light of the earlier decisions of this court as they, in turn, have been affected by developing law, both statutory and decisional. By way of circumscription, however, and to preclude misapprehension as to the import of our discussion or holdings, we note that this litigation presents no occasion to, and we do not, consider or undertake to define the extent to which, as between any willing employer and any willing union, the Legislature can validly regulate their respective basic freedoms to voluntarily contract for the services and remunerations of workmen and for other basically lawful objectives of the contracting parties. We have concluded that: (1) There is no cause of action under the ordinance, for such ordinance is invalid because it contains unseverable provisions which conflict with both the legislatively declared general labor policy of this state and certain specific implementations thereof. (2) No cause of action under the general law of this state is or can be stated because it affirmatively appears that plaintiff and defendants propose to execute a mutually desired, lawful, collective union security agreement arrived at by means which accord with and fully recognize the rights of plaintiff’s individual workmen to organize and to participate in the selection of their bargaining agents for the negotiation of such agreement free from employer interference, all in accord with the overriding state policy declared in Labor Code, section 923, and implementing statutes hereinafter quoted. The complaint alleges the enactment and terms of the subject ordinance (No. 201). Its provisions are quoted or summarized in the margin. The further substance of the complaint is by no means a model of certainty or clarity. However, the facts directly or inferentially alleged were summarized in the opinion prepared by Presiding Justice Peters (now an associate justice of this court) for the District Court of Appeal before transfer of the cause to this court and as neither party suggests any error in such summary we adopt it (with interpolations of certain further details averred in the complaint) as a correct summary of the pleading. [ ]The complaint alleges that the plaintiff, Ted Chavez, is a painting contractor doing commercial and residential painting in Santa Clara and San Benito Counties; that a majority of his employees are members of [defendant Painters and Decorators Local Union 1157 AFL-CIO] [ ]; that [defendant] Sargent is the secretary of that union, and that such union is the only painters’ union in San Benito County; that the defendants demand that plaintiff sign a union contract similar to the one that he has in Santa Clara County with the painters’ union there, providing [“as permitted by the NLRA (Taft-Hartley)”] for union membership after 30 days of employment; that the union members in San Benito County are conspiring to compel the nonunion painters to join the union, and refuse to work with nonunion painters; that these acts are in violation of the ordinance; that plaintiff “wishes to sign a union security contract but is subject to a suit for damages” under the ordinance if he does so. [“That plaintiff will suffer irreparable harm unless the injunction authorized by Ordinance 201 is issued.”] Plaintiff therefore prayed for a temporary and permanent injunction compelling the defendant union “to desist from their demands for any type of union security in San Benito County and compelling them to work with non-union building trades employees. ” [ ] [Andas a conclusional summation of the pleading the subject opinion states:] In the instant case the employees want a union shop agreement and the employer wants a union shop agreement, but both are prevented from entering into such a voluntary agreement by the terms of the ordinance. [ ] Defendants argue that by the Taft-Hartley Act (Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 61 Stat. 136, as amended; 29 U.S.C.A. § 141 et seq.) the federal government has preempted the field of labor relations in which this complaint seeks state court relief. Since the pleading does not suggest that the problems arising from defendants’ attempt to unionize plaintiff’s San Benito County contracting business have any relation to interstate commerce, we cannot assume that the national act has taken hold of the conduct here involved. (See International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Vogt, Inc. (1957), 354 U.S. 284, 294 [77 S.Ct. 1166, 1 L.Ed 2d 1347]; Thorman v. International Alliance etc. Employees (1958), 49 Cal.2d 629, 632-633 [3, 4] [320 P.2d 494].) Therefore, we need not be concerned, in our ensuing discussion of state law, with any possibility that such law, on the facts of this case, might conflict with the federal law. The power of San Benito County (not a chartered county) in respect to this ordinance is defined by section 11 of article XI of the California Constitution, which provides that “Any county, city, town or township may make and enforce within its limits all such local, police, sanitary and other regulations as are not in conflict with general laws. ’ ’ Even in matters of state-wide concern (see In re Portnoy (1942), 21 Cal.2d 237, 239 [1] [131 P.2d 1] ; Mann v. Scott (1919), 180 Cal. 550, 556 [182 P. 281]), the city or county has police power equal to that of the state so long as the local regulations do not conflict with general laws. (McKay Jewelers, Inc. v. Bowron (1942), 19 Cal.2d 595, 600 [3] [122 P.2d 543, 139 A.L.R. 1188]; In re Iverson (1926), 199 Cal. 582, 585 [1], 586 [3, 4] [250 P. 681] ; Jardine v. City of Pasadena (1926), 199 Cal. 64, 68 [1], 71 [3] [248 P. 225, 48 A.L.R. 509].) California’s leading case on the pertinent subject states the law as follows: “ [4] ... ‘Where the legislature has assumed to regulate a given course of conduct by prohibitory enactments, a municipality with subordinate power to act in the matter may make such new and additional regulations in aid and furtherance of the purpose of the general law as may seem fit and appropriate to the necessities of the particular locality and which are not in themselves unreasonable. ’ [Citation.] The cases in this state have consistently upheld local regulations in the form of additional reasonable requirements not in conflict with the provisions of the general law. [Citations.] “[5] This general rule permitting the adoption of additional local regulations supplementary to the state statutes is subject to an exception, however . . . Regardless of whether there is any actual grammatical conflict between an ordinance and a statute, the ordinance is invalid if it attempts to impose additional requirements in a field which is fully occupied by the statute. Thus, ... an ordinance which is substantially identical with a state statute is invalid because it is an attempt to duplicate the prohibition of the statute. [Citations.] . . . The invalidity arises, not from a conflict of language, but from the inevitable conflict of jurisdiction which would result from dual regulations covering the same ground. Only by such a broad definition of ‘conflict’ is it possible to confine local legislation to its proper field of supplementary regulation." (Pipoly v. Benson (1942), 20 Cal.2d 366, 370-371 [125 P.2d 482, 147 A.L.R. 515].) A further pertinent principle is: “Where the Legislature has adopted statutes governing a particular subject matter, its intent with regard to occupying the field to the exclusion of all local regulation is not to be measured alone by the language used but by the whole purpose and scope of the legislative scheme. [Citations.] ” (Tolman v. Underhill (1952), 39 Cal.2d 708, 712 [6] [249 P.2d 280].) State regulation of a subject may be so complete and detailed as to indicate an intent to preclude local regulation. (Wilson v. Beville (1957), 47 Cal.2d 852, 860 [8] [306 P.2d 789]; Tolman v. Underhill, supra, pp. 712-713 [6, 7] of 39 Cal.2d.) In this connection it may be significant that the subject is one which, in our view, as in Tolman v. Underhill, supra, p. 713 [7] of 39 Cal.2d, requires uniform treatment throughout the state. Furthermore, and of significance in impelling a conclusion that no part of the local ordinance can be effective, is the fact that in aspects wherein it does not subtantially either parallel or breach specific state legislation it conflicts, as hereinafter explained, with a general legislative declaration of policy. (See In re Porterfield (1946), 28 Cal.2d 91, 115-118 [27-28] [168 P.2d 706, 167 A.L.R. 675].) No case has been found which discusses the question whether an ordinance which conflicts, not with statutory, but with decisional, law on a subject of state-wide concern, violates the requirement of section 11 of article XI of the state Constitution that local regulations must not conflict with “general laws.” But decision of this question is not now necessary because, as is hereinafter developed, the ordinance here attacked conflicts with California’s statutory law. The Legislature has not enacted a completely detailed scheme of regulation of the “field” which this ordinance is principally designed to affect; i.e., the legality of jurisdictional (or jurisdictional-organizational) strikes and of union shop or security agreements and conduct intended to attain or enforce such agreements, but it has declared both a general policy and basic regulations in implementation thereof which, as we view them, are fully comprehensive of the field. To show the impelling reasons for our views we examine in appropriate detail the pertinent statutes and the development of the relevant decisional law construing those statutes. Prefatorily it is observed that the legality of the closed shop, and of the strike and boycott, primary and secondary, as means of enforcing or seeking that objective, were recognized by this court at a comparatively early date, under common law principles, in J. F. Parkinson Co. v. Building Trades Council (1908), 154 Cal. 581 [98 P. 1027, 16 Ann.Cas. 1165, 21 L.R.A. N.S. 550], and Pierce v. Stablemen’s Union (1909), 156 Cal. 70 [103 P. 324]. The legality of conduct akin to the “jurisdictional strike” (concerted union activity in connection with a dispute between “labor organizations,” as that term is defined in legislation hereinafter quoted) was recognized, under an application of the principles of the Parkinson and Pierce cases, in Greenwood v. Building Trades Council (1925), 71 Cal.App. 159, 167, 175 [233 P. 823], The Legislature tacitly recognized the propriety of the closed shop by statutes enacted between 1905 and 1921 (the provisions are now in Lab. Code, §§ 1010-1018) which make it criminal to falsely represent that union labor was employed in the manufacture of goods, to forge a union label, and to use a union label without authorization. With labor emerging from weakness toward power, the justness of its cause was gaining recognition. Such recognition did not come without struggle and strife, costly to labor, to management and to the public, but come it did. Eventually taking cognizance of the need for more equality in bargaining power as between workmen and employers, of the developing manifestations of change in political climate, of the growing competition between organized capital on the one hand and organized labor on the other, and between competing labor organizations, and the impact of all these competitions on the welfare of the general public as well as on that of the competing parties, both the Congress of the United States and the Legislature of this state adopted legislation establishing both general policy and certain implementations thereof. (See as to federal legislation: Norris-LaGuardia Act, 1932, 47 Stats. 70, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 101-115, as amended; Wagner (National Labor Relations) Act, 1935, 49 Stats. 449, 29 U.S.C.A. §151 et seq., as amended; Taft-Hartley (Labor Management Relations) Act, 1947, 61 Stats. 136, 29 U.S.C.A. § 141 et seq., as amended. And as to state enactments: Lab. Code, §§ 920-923, Stats. 1937, ch. 90, p. 208, based on Stats. 1933, ch. 566, p. 1478; Lab. Code, §§ 1131-1136, Stats. 1941, ch. 623, p. 2079, adopted by referendum at the 1942 general election, but see In re Blaney (1947), 30 Cal.2d 643 [184 P.2d 892] ; Lab. Code, §§ 1115-1122, Stats. 1947, ch. 1388, p. 2952, as amended Stats. 1955, ch. 1417; Lab. Code, § 1126, Stats, 1941, ch. 1188, p. 2959.) It is important to note, as will hereinafter be emphasized, that notwithstanding the pushing and pulling as between “big business” and increasingly powerful labor organizations, the State of California—and the proponents of its legislation—made welfare of the individual workmen, through the principle of freedom to associate, organize and bargain collectively, the paramount principle of its legislation. The addition (by California’s voters on referendum at the general election in 1942) of the “Hot Cargo” and “Secondary Boycott” Act5 (Stats. 1941, ch. 623, p. 2079) and of the Jurisdictional Strike Law in 1947 (Stats. 1947, ch. 1388, p. 2952) are indicative of growing public concern over the clashes arising from the proscribed activities, their undesirable effects, and of a desire to more clearly define and further implement the state policy against certain organizational and jurisdictional activities. As hereinabove mentioned, in 1933 the California Legislature enacted the “general laws” (Stats. 1933, eh. 566, p. 1478) recast and adopted as sections 920 through 9236 of the Labor Code in 1937, which sections, together with the Jurisdictional Strike Law (Stats. 1947, eh. 1388, § 1, p. 2952, as amended Stats. 1955, ch. 1417) encompassed as Labor Code, sections 1115 through 1122, together also with section 1126 of the Labor Code (added Stats. 1941, ch. 1188, p. 2959), constitute the statutory law with which we are here particularly concerned. The first enacted portion of the subject legislation (Lab. Code, §§ 920-923) was considered and construed by this court in a series of cases including McKay v. Retail Auto. S. L. Union No. 1067 (1940), 16 Cal.2d 311 [106 P.2d 373], Shafer v. Registered Pharmacists Union (1940), 16 Cal.2d 379 [106 P.2d 403], and C. S. Smith Met. Market Co. v. Lyons (1940), 16 Cal.2d 389 [106 P.2d 414]. In the McKay case plaintiffs-employes had chosen their own representatives to bargain with their employer and were satisfied with their relations with their employer. Prom the fact that the McKay employes had chosen their own representatives and authorized them to bargain with their employer it is apparent that (unless they were employer financed or controlled or “interfered with”) they had a “labor organization” within the definition of that term as used in the Jurisdictional Strike Law, which was subsequently enacted and is herein-above quoted7 and hereinafter discussed. Whether plaintiffs’ organization (in the McKay case) was a company union or a small independent union was not decided by the court. In either event, it was held, plaintiffs could not have equitable protection against defendant unions’ concerted activity (picketing and promotion of secondary boycotts) designed to attain a “closed union shop” or “union shop” with certain of the demanding unions displacing the independent union and becoming the exclusive bargaining agents of the unwilling employes. C. S. Smith Met. Market Co. v. Lyons (1940), supra, 16 Cal.2d 389, 395-396 [3-6], reaffirmed the view that it was lawful to engage in concerted union activity, including the secondary boycott, designed to attain “a closed union shop” where the- activity was directed against an employer to induce him to compel his employes (who were satisfied with the terms of their employment, which included an open shop without discrimination against union employes) to subject themselves to the unwanted jurisdiction of, and representation by, the invading union. These cases (McKay and C. S. Smith), it is, or in later discussion will become, obvious, have been superseded to the extent that they are inconsistent with the Jurisdictional Strike Law. The subject cases, however, have not been supplanted or overruled insofar as they hold that Labor Code sections 920 through 923 do “not prohibit closed union shop contracts.” (McKay, p. 327 [15] of 16 Cal.2d.) In the Shafer case (1940), supra, 16 Cal.2d 379, the facts, presented by agreed statement, were not in dispute. Plaintiff employer had a collective bargaining agreement with defendant union. So far as appears, such agreement had been lawfully negotiated and the union, at the time of the hereinafter described strike which resulted in the litigation, was the duly authorized and freely chosen representative of plaintiff’s striking employes. It is not necessary, therefore, at this time to inquire into the circumstances which led to the initial signing of the collective agreement. (P. 381 of 16 Cal.2d.) “The parties are agreed that the effect of their contract was to require the employer to retain only union-member pharmacists in employment and to recognize the defendant union as the sole collective bargaining agent of the employees who were subject to it. At the end of the year the respondent [plaintiff employer] refused to renew the agreement unless the closed shop provisions were deleted . . . Thereupon, the union [presumptively as authorized by the employes] declared a strike against him and started picketing his stores.’’ The court stated that (p. 380) “The determinative question ... is whether closed union shop agreements have been rendered unlawful in this state by virtue of the enactment of sections 920, 921, and 923 of the Labor Code.’’ The court properly concludes that the subject legislation does not proscribe such contracts but in reaching its conclusion engages in some discussion which requires further attention if the legislation is to be fully understood. In reading the following paragraphs it is important to bear in mind that section 921 by its precise language applies only to a “promise . . . between any employee or prospective employee and his employer, prospective employer or any other person’’ (i.e., any person acting on behalf of the employer). After quoting sections 921 and 923 (hereinabove quoted) the court continues (p. 383 of 16 Cal.2d): “Concerning these provisions the respondent argues that a closed union shop contract violates the terms of section 923 in that it deprives the individual employee of his right of ‘freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of his own choosing’ guaranteed by that section. Moreover, it is said, such a contract also violates section 921 because its effect is to require an individual employee ‘to join’ and ‘to remain a member of a labor organization.’ On the other hand, the appellants contend that these measures were drafted and proposed at the instance of organized labor for the purpose of extending and safeguarding the principle of collective bargaining, and considering their history and background, they should not be interpreted contrary to the principle they were designed to promote. . . . “Impartial studies of the labor movement in this country show that for many years the extension of collective bargaining in industrial relations has been opposed by employers. Chief among the devices resorted to for that purpose has been the anti-union or ‘yellow dog’ contract, an agreement between an employer and his employee which, in its usual form, provides that the employer will maintain his business on a nonunion basis and the employee will not become a member of any labor union during the course of his employment. . . . “However, Avith the growth of the labor movement in this country and the development of public opinion more favorable to collective bargaining, industry found it advisable to change the methods of opposition. Many employers, although professing to accept the principle of collective bargaining and unionization by which it is made effective, either directly or indirectly sponsored company controlled unions having no members except their own employees, and by that means were able to minimize the workers’ demands. This was a change in method only. . . . “ [P. 385 of 16 Cal.2d.] The California legislation is the result of labor’s efforts [to outlaw “yellow dog” contracts and regulate company unions] . . . [P. 386.] Bearing in mind the necessity for economic equality as a foundation for fair bargaining, the plain language of section 921, when read in connection with the declaration of policy contained in section 923, can only mean that the term ‘ employer organization, ’ as used in each subdivision of the former, refers to an association of employers and not to a company union, as the respondent contends. “Considering another point made by the employer in this connection, the clause ‘to join or to remain a member of a labor organization’ may not reasonably be construed as prohibiting a promise to join an independent labor union. Although the term ‘ labor organization, ’ taken by itself, is broad enough to refer to either a company or an independent union, the purpose of the legislation must be considered in arriving at a conclusion concerning its meaning. If the words are meant to designate an independent union, then it is against public policy for an employee or prospective employee to join such an organization, which is a result exactly contrary to the declaration of policy in section 923. In matters of both employment and concerted activity for the purpose of collective bargaining, reads this section, the employee ‘shall be free from interference, restraint or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents.’ What is this ‘interference, restraint or coercion’ which should not be exercised against employeesf Obviously it is anything which is a barrier to the full freedom of association and self-organization without which ‘the individual unorganized worker is helpless to exercise actual liberty of contract. ’ Who should not interfere with the employees’ rights? ‘Employers of labor or their agents,’ says the statute. Nowhere is there the suggestion that some employees must be protected against other employees. “ These and other considerations render untenable the contention that union shop contracts in California are void under section 921. As has already been noted, the usual company union contract is an individual agreement between the employer and an employee, whereas the union shop contract is an agreement running between the employer and the union as an entity.” (Italics added.) The important holding of Shafer is the conclusion that section 921 does not preclude union shop agreements “between the employer and the union as an entity” (p. 387 [5]). That holding is correct. It is correct because the language used in section 921 means exactly what it says, not because the identical words “labor organization” can or should be held to mean one type of labor organization in one sentence and an opposingly different type in the next sentence. The only “promise” whatsoever which the language of section 921 mentions is the promise of the individual workman made directly with “his employer, prospective employer or any other person,” the “any other person,” in context, obviously meaning a person acting on behalf of the employer. By no warrantable interpretation of the language used could it be held to include (and thereby to proscribe) a collective bargaining agreement—an agreement entered into by and between the employer and a labor organization, the latter acting as the agent or representative of the workmen, voluntarily authorized by them to negotiate and agree on the terms and conditions of their employment. Obviously a promise of an individual workman with his employer to join or not to join a “labor organization” is not at all the same thing as a contract between a labor organization on the one hand and an employer on the other. The court, itself, in the Shafer case furnishes the key to the meaning of section 921, and a sound basis for the court’s conclusion, when it says, as quoted above, “ [T]he usual company union contract is an individual agreement between the employer and an employee, whereas the union shop contract is an agreement running between the employer and the union as an entity.” We think that the court’s hereinabove quoted discussion of the suggested opposing meanings of the term “labor organization” in succeeding sentences of section 921 is properly to be understood as constituting a recitation of, and comments on, one of the arguments which was presented to the court but not as forming the controlling basis for its conclusion. If there were otherwise any doubt as to the correct interpretation of section 921 that doubt would disappear when section 921 is read, as it should be, in the light of the wording of section 923. Sections 921 and 923 fit together perfectly to make clear both the overriding policy and its implementation in the premises. The predominant concern of each section is the welfare of the individual workman, and to that end the fostering of collective bargaining. Section 921 protects the individual against pressures from his employer that he as an individual workman make any compact with the employer curtailing the workman’s right to organize and bargain collectively while section 923 declares the personal right of each workman to join with his fellows in forming an association to act and bargain as a unit, and to that end each workman to “have full freedom of association . . . and designation of representatives of his own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of his employment. ’ ’ An important question, however, arises from section 923 as to the circumstances and extent under and to which the “full freedom” of the individual workman, therein declared, may be limited—if it may be at all curtailed—by union security provisions in collective agreements. Inherent in government—in all social and economic regulation—is an area of give and take. There must be a weighing of values. It is of primary importance that the individual workman have protection—that he have “full freedom” of “self-association” and in the designation of representatives of “his own choosing.” But it is also essential that the group’s lawfully selected negotiators have power and freedom of contract to secure the workman’s interests by contract with employers, and that for the ultimate benefit of each individual workman the authorized representative shall be able to wield the collective power of all. It is in this field of workman-labor-organization-management relations that the balancing of relative values becomes most delicate. Considerable assistance in understanding the legislative objectives, and therefore the legislative language, in the enactment of Labor Code, sections 921 through 923, as well as the subsequently enacted Jurisdictional Strike Law, may be derived from discussions by law writers contemporaneously with the adoption of the earlier sections and their judicial construction and application in the already noted cases of McKay v. Retail Auto. S. L. Union No. 1067 (1940), supra, 16 Cal.2d 311; Shafer v. Registered Pharmacists Union (1940), supra, 16 Cal.2d 379; C. S. Smith Met. Market Co. v. Lyons (1940), supra, 16 Cal.2d 389; and also in Fortenbury v. Superior Court (1940), 16 Cal.2d 405 [106 P.2d 411]. The McKay case was the subject of particular comment after its tentative decision by the District Court of Appeal in 1939. The view of the District Court of Appeal in that ease (opinion reported in (1939), (Cal.App.) 89 P.2d 426; opinion on denial of rehearing reported in (1939), 90 P.2d 113; vacated when this court granted a hearing) is discussed in 2 Teller, Labor Disputes and Collective Bargaining (1940), § 461, p. 1359, under the section heading “Judicial Applications of Anti-Yellow-Dog Statutes.” As the Teller work points out (1 op.eit., § 48, p. 118), “The typical yellow-dog contract is an at-will employment agreement which contains, in addition to the usual provisions for employment, the following three provisions: (1) a representation by the employee that he is not a member of a labor union; (2) a promise by the employee not to join a labor union; (3) a promise by the employee that, upon joining a labor union, he will quit his employment.” Prom the placement of his discussion in a section directed to anti-yellow-dog statutes it appears that Teller correctly assumes that the legislation considered in McKay (Lab. Code, §§ 920-923) is primarily concerned with contracts between the individual workman and the employer. He says: “The danger inherent in labor law statutes at the hands of a judiciary unmindful of the historical facts behind such legislation has already been demonstrated by a California court in relation to an anti-yellow-dog contract statute of the type which declared the contract void and denied to it any legal or equitable relief. In McKay v. Retail Automobile Salesmen, it was held [by the District Court of Appeal in its vacated opinions reported in (Cal.App.) 89 P.2d 426, 90 P.2d 113] that a contract for a closed shop entered into between an employer and a bona fide labor union was unenforceable where the contract was executed without consulting the employer’s employees. The employees, reasoned the court, would thereby and in violation of the statute be compelled to join a labor union as a condition of their remaining in employment. A statute designed to eliminate interference with labor organizations was thus construed to hinder it. ’ ’ Mr. Teller’s just quoted language in respect to the tentative decision of the District Court of Appeal is not very clear. But his position as to the decisions of this court in McKay and companion eases is obvious from his discussion in the 1947 Supplement to Labor Disputes and Collective Bargaining, § 461, pp. 408-409. There he says: ‘ ‘ The McKay case was reversed by the Supreme Court, the high California court holding labor activity legal though carried on against the desires of the employer’s employees. [(1940), 16 Cal.2d 311 (106 P.2d 373)], cert. den. 313 U.S. 566, 61 S.Ct. 939, 86 L.Ed. 1525 (1941). Accord: Smith Metropolitan Market Co. v. Lyons [(1940), 16 Cal.2d 389 (106 P.2d 414)] ; Lund v. Auto Mechanics’ Union [(1940), 16 Cal.2d 374 (106 P.2d 408)]. Picketing or striking for a closed shop is also lawful in California. Shafer v. Registered Pharmacists Union Local [ (1940), 16 Cal.2d 379], In the Shafer case, supra, the Court considered the background of Sections 921 and 923 of the Labor Code and concluded that nothing therein contained was a bar to closed shop contracts with labor organizations, or (see Smith Metropolitan Market Co. v. Lyons, supra), picketing carried on by labor unions in the absence of a labor dispute between the picketed employer and his employees. . . . “There is reason to pause, before according to labor unions the right to engage in labor activity for the closed shop in connection with employers whose employees do not desire to be represented by unions. The National Labor Relations Act has expressed a policy in favor of closed shop contracts only where a majority of the employer’s employees in an appropriate unit have authorized the contracting union to deal for them. ... It has therefore been indicated that a labor union may not seek to compel an employer to enter into a closed shop contract unless the union represents a majority of the employer’s employees. See Pauly Jail Building Company v. International Association, 118 F.(2d) 615 (C.C.A. 8th, 1941).” (Italics added.) In interpreting sections 921 through 923, particularly as to certain applications hereinafter developed, it is to be borne in mind that an authorized union which contracts with an employer acts as an entity or institution which is distinct from the individual workmen who are or may become the beneficiaries of its bargaining. (See e.g., Association of Westinghouse Salaried Emp. v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp. (1955), 348 U.S. 437 [75 S.Ct. 489, 99 L.Ed. 510]; see also Mendelsohn, Enforceability of Arbitration Agreements Under TaftHartley, Section 301 (1956), 66 Yale L.J. 167,196-202; Shafer v. Registered Pharmacists Union (1940), supra, p. 387 [5] of 16 Cal.2d.) For example (with full recognition of the differences in legal theories, statutes, and results in various jurisdictions), we note that (1) an individual workman, when he is hired by an employer who is a party to a collective agreement, gets rights derived from the collective agreement; (2) there are strong practical reasons which support holdings that the union cannot and the individual workman can maintain an action to enforce such a predominantly individual right as that of the workman to the wages to which he is entitled by virtue of the collective agreement plus the individual contract of hire (see Association of Westinghouse Salaried Emp. v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp. (C.A. 3, 1954), 210 F.2d 623, 626, 629, affmd., Association of Westinghouse Salaried Emp. v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp. (1955), supra, 348 U.S. 437, 455-460 [75 S.Ct. 488, 99 L.Ed. 510]; Sublett v. Henry’s etc. Lunch (1942), 21 Cal.2d 273, 275 [131 P.2d 369]); (3) on the other hand, the union can sue to enforce a predominantly institutional right under a collective agreement; e.g., an arbitration clause (in a federal court under federal law; § 301 of the Taft-Hartley Act, 29 U.S.C.A. §185; Textile Workers Union v. Lincoln Mills (1957), 353 U.S. 448, 456 [77 S.Ct. 912, 1 L.Ed.2d 972]) or union shop clause (in a California court under California law; Silva v. Mercier (1949), 33 Cal.2d 704, 706 [1], 707 [2] [204 P.2d 609]); but it has been held that an individual union workman who is discharged and replaced by a nonunion employe has no cause of action against the em- ployer for damage suffered as a union member because of the employer’s violation of a union shop clause in a collective agreement (under California law as interpreted by a federal court; MacKay v. Loew’s, Inc. (C.A. 9, 1950), 182 F.2d 170 [18 A.L.R.2d 348, 351]). As we have hereinabove indicated, the language used in section 921 is designed to cover only promises between the individual workman on the one hand and his employer on the other; it has no direct application to agreements between an authorized union bargaining agent as one party and the employer as the other party. It is equally clear that nothing in the subject section (§ 921) purports to limit the freedom of contract as between an employer or prospective employer and an organization which is authorized to negotiate contracts on behalf of the affected workman. Pertinent and persuasive of legislative intent to the contrary, and therefore helpful to understanding of 921, section 923 specifies that “In the interpretation and application of this chapter, the public policy of this State is declared as follows: “Negotiation of terms and conditions of labor should result from voluntary agreement between employer and employees. Governmental authority has permitted and encouraged employers to organize in the corporate and other forms of capital control. In dealing with such employers, the individual unorganized worker is helpless to exercise actual liberty of contract and to protect his freedom of labor, and thereby to obtain acceptable terms and conditions of employment. Therefore it is necessary that the individual ivorkman have full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of his own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of his employment, and that he shall he. free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” (Italics added.) It has been suggested that because the opening sentence of section 923 reads, “In the interpretation and application of this chapter [italics added], the public policy of this State is declared, ’ ’ etc., its application should be limited to that chapter. But it is well established that the declared policy is not limited to “the interpretation and application of this chapter” (Lab. Code, div. 2, pt. 3, eh. 1). When this court first had occasion to consider that section (in Levy v. Superior Court (1940), 15 Cal.2d 692, 704 [104 P.2d 770, 129 A.L.R. 956]), it was not in connection with “this chapter” but in connection with a holding that an arbitrator’s award under a collective bargaining agreement could be the subject of court confirmation and enforcement under our arbitration statute (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1280-1293). This court said, “This declaration [§ 923] evidences the existence of a policy to uphold the freedom of employees to organize and to enter into collective bargaining contracts for their own protection. ... It would be difficult to uphold such a policy without recognizing the right of enforcement of collective bargaining contracts when voluntarily entered into by the unions.” And In re Porterfield (1946), supra, 28 Cal.2d 91, 115-118 [27, 28] [168 P.2d 706, 167 A.L.R. 675], established that the policy declared in section 923 of the Labor Code is not limited to the interpretation of the chapter of the code of which that section is a part, but is a general independent declaration of state policy, and local legislation in conflict therewith is void. Specifically, it is there held that section 923 declares “a state policy of complete freedom in regard to the formation of labor organizations to the end that there may be collective action by workmen,” and that a municipal ordinance which imposed a license tax upon paid labor organizers was invalid because it conflicted with that legislatively declared state-wide policy. At this point certain principles and objectives of California’s labor laws will have become apparent; but it is likewise apparent that in the road leading to those objectives there is an area wherein several excellent values will assert respectively conflicting claims. We list first the indicated principles and objectives and thereafter suggest some of the values and their conflicting claims. Some Principles and Objectives of California’s Labor Law 1. Both labor and management are encouraged toward, and protected in, the formation of their own respective organizations. (Lab. Code, § 923.) 2. The individual workman shall have full freedom of self-organization and designation of representatives of his own choosing, completely free of employer influence or “interference,” to the end that an agent chosen by the workmen voting individually may represent them collectively in negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment. (Id.) 3. Collective bargaining, implicitly including union security measures, should result from “voluntary agreement between employer and employees,” the latter acting (of necessity if it be collective bargaining) through their chosen collective bargaining representative (Id.) 4. The employes as individuals shall be free from employer influence either to organize or not to organize and, if they elect to organize, in the choosing of their representatives. If organized by the employes’ free act, the workmen through their selected representatives are free to bargain collectively. Corollarilly, the employer (absent some legal impediment not here suggested) is free to bargain with the employes’ authorized representatives but is not free to interfere with, restrain or coerce his employes in their selection of a collective bargaining representative. (Lab. Code, §§ 921, 923.) 5. The avoidance of violence in labor-management, organizational and jurisdictional matters is a policy of the state and, to that end, it is desirable to regulate, or as to some objectives and in some circumstances to prohibit, activities which create or foster situations-which are conducive to mass emotions and violent acts. (Id.) 6. The Legislature (as is hereinafter shown in more detail), implementing the policy noted in the preceding paragraph, has declared unlawful various activities by unauthorized unions or organizers which have as their objective the securing of jurisdiction over the unwilling workmen of any particular employer or group of employers or an employes’ group, by means other than (speaking generally) an intellectual appeal. (Lab. Code, §§ 1115-1122, 1126.) Conflicting Claims of Relative values In a general sense, there should be no serious dispute as to the acceptability of the following principles: (1) That the terms and conditions of labor employment be fixed through bargaining; (2) that the bargaining power of management and labor be substantially equal; (3) that labor-management contracts result from voluntary agreements; (4) that lawful collective agreements be mutually respected and enforceable ; (5) that physical violence in labor disputes be avoided; (6) that the individual workman be free from employer influence in selecting his bargaining agent; (7) that the individual workman have an unimpeded right (“full freedom”) to express his personal choice in the selection of a representative and a like voice in governing the affairs of his organization. The difficulties arise in the practical attainment of the desirable ends and among those difficulties the following are noted: Probably above all else in principle, democracy in labor unions is important to the workman. Democracy to an individual workman may conceivably mean (we are not at this point intimating any view as our own) any or all of the following “rights”: to belong to a union, or not, as he may choose; to freely select his own bargaining agents; to change them when he wishes; to have the power, through majority vote, to instruct his representatives as to the terms and conditions of labor which he wishes to have negotiated; to not be excluded from employment in a particular shop because of a union shop contract with a union other than his own; to not be compelled to pay union dues as a condition of retaining employment in a shop wherein the contract has been negotiated neither by his own union nor by any representative authorized by him, and perhaps not even in an industry wherein the contract has been negotiated by his own union; etc. But no more can the rank and file individual workmen conduct the business of a union than can the rank and file voters of a nation or state conduct its governmental and business affairs. Even though we pride ourselves in our democracy, we run the business of our country as a republic; i.e., through elected representatives and through officers and agents who have either been elected, or been appointed by those who have been elected. To union officers, some of the following considerations may appear in the forefront of importance: In the broader markets union labor must compete with nonunion labor as Avell as with the organized poAver of management; the closer the union comes to complete control of the relevant labor market the greater will be its ability to negotiate on substantially equal, or superior, terms with management, and to that end recruitment of members by various concerted pressures, as well as by purely intellectual appeals, will appear highly desirable, if not necessary. As to authority to act, the negotiating officers no doubt will feel that they should be able to make firm offers and demands and have available an area for give and take; they must base their demands on an accurate analysis of complex factors and may, themselves, distrust the judgment of the rank and file members on business matters; the union negotiators must be free to act with dispatch. Furthermore, it may be assumed the officers believe that the union needs power to combat employer tactics which might follow execution of the collective agreement, and to that end want a definite term contract with provisions for a union shop, exclusive bargaining rights, maintenance of membership, charge-ofE of dues, etc. It thus becomes apparent that, even as in governmental affairs generally, he who organizes and gains the strength of united effort must to that end surrender some portion of his individual freedom. To determine within the issues of the litigation before us the extent to which the law of California regulates the freedom of the individual workman and the power of his union over him as opposed to his power over the union, is essential to proper resolution of such issues. Certainly advancement of the interests of the individual workman, of his right to organize and to bargain collectively—service to benefit Mm in all the conditions and circumstances of his work—is the compelling reason for governmental protection of labor organizations. As nearly as labor may be said to have a governmentally declared Bill of Rights in California, it is that enunciated in section 923. It is that section which undertakes to insure to each individual workman freedom to associate, to organize, to select representatives to negotiate for his group, and through those representatives and the strength of his organization, to bargain collectively. In particular it is that section which provides for the workman whatever democracy there may be in his union. The American Civil Liberties Union in an official statement entitled “Democracy in Labor Unions” (Sept. 1958, Report) has well enunicated the important principles which, insofar as they are statutorily protected at all in California, find primary declaration in Labor Code, section 923, with further implementation as to certain applications of those principles encompassed in sections 921 and 922, 1115 through 1122, and section 1126. The statement of the American Civil Liberties Union is of particular significance in that it strongly supports the forthright acceptance of section 923 in its solicitude that “the individual workman have full freedom of . . . self-organization, and designation of representatives of Ms own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of his employment” (italics added), and at the same time recognizes that practicality presents obstacles which preclude Utopia in union democracy. “Democracy in Labor Unions “For the American Civil Liberties Union there are at least three compelling reasons why unions should have a special responsibility to maintain democratic standards. “First, a union in collective bargaining acts as the representative of every worker within the bargaining unit. It speaks for him, makes choices of policies which vitally affect him, and negotiates a contract which binds him. His wages, his seniority, his holidays, and even his retirement are all governed by this contract which becomes the basic law of his working life. The union in bargaining helps make laws; in processing grievances acts to enforce those laws; and in settling grievances helps interpret and apply those laws. It is the worker's economic legislature, policeman, and judge. The union, in short, is the worker’s industrial government. The union’s power is the power to govern the working lives of those for whom it bargains, and like all governing power should be exercised democratically. “Second, unions should be democratic because the power which they hold over the individual worker is largely derived from government. Labor relations acts such as the Wagner Act affirmatively protect the right to organize and place the government's stamp of approval on unionization. Even more, these statutes provide that government shall certify unions as the officially designated representatives and compel employers to recognize these unions as the exclusive representatives of all workers within the bargaining units. Unions, in the exercise of these powers derived from government, should maintain the same democratic standards required by government itself. ‘ ‘ Third, unions should be democratic because their principal moral justification is that they introduce an element of democracy into the government of industry. They permit workers to have a voice in determining the conditions under which they shall work. This high objective of industrial democracy can be fulfilled only if unions which sit at the bargaining table are themselves democratic. Only to the extent that workers are allowed to participate in determining union policies do they become self-governing. “The Obstacles of Union Democracy “Any demands for union democracy must be tempered with a clear recognition of the serious obstacles which face unions in maintaining democratic standards. Historically, many unions have had to struggle for survival against deadly attacks by employers who did not hesitate to use spies, bribery, intimidation, or even physical violence. Although large segments of management have fully accepted collective bargaining, anti-union practices are not dead and the old fears remain. Employers are not the only enemy, for rival unions may constantly threaten the union’s very existence by raiding its membership or seeking to supplant it as bargaining representative. Even though employers accept unions and no rival union threatens, much of collective bargaining is carried on with the prospect of an ultimate deadlock and resort to economic force. The state of siege, the cold war, and the strike do not provide a healthy climate for the growth of democratic processes. ...” After stating the view that a workman having trouble within his union “can place little reliance on the courts, for [first] their results are too unpredictable” and, second, “judicial remedies are so costly and time consuming that few workers can afford to vindicate their rights, ’ ’ the ACLU report continues: “The third weakness of judicial relief is that many union members have such a deep-seated hostility to the courts that any action may be self-defeating. In a number of instances courts have removed racketeering leaders from office and held new elections only to have the same leaders reelected. The desire to repudiate judicial interference is greater than the desire to repudiate corrupt leadership. . . . “At the present time the only effective protection is given by the courts. They are burdened with out-moded rules and a confusing body of precedents, resort to them is costly and time consuming, and they are viewed with such hostility by union members that their action is often self-defeating. It is clear that further protection is needed. . . . “The ACLU still believes that organized labor can and should provide protection of union democracy. ... If unions fail to take effective action to provide increased protection "for the rights of union members, then no alternative is left but to seek increased legal protection.” Neither before nor since the 1947 and 1955 enactments (adding and amending the Jurisdictional Strike Law) has California’s statutory law prohibited collective bargaining agreements relating to union security, insofar as the word “security” is used in a legitimate sense. As has been shown hereinabove state laws as interpreted and applied by the courts prior to the Jurisdictional Strike Law of 1947 had permitted recruitment of individual workmen by unions engaged in organizational (more accurately, jurisdictional) drives, aided and abetted by employer action, voluntary or union-compelled. State laws as they should be interpreted and applied, at least since the 1947 and subsequent enactments, continue to permit, to encourage and protect collective bargaining agreements which have been freely negotiated and entered into by and between employes’ lawfully authorized organizations and their employers whereby the interests of each party may be advanced. These interests, on the part of labor, of course include reasonable union security clauses, but if we are to give reasonable effect to the plain language of section 923, as it should be understood in the light of the policy of the state as more particularly defined in the legislation of 1947 and subsequent amendments, neither an unauthorized union or pretending employes’ agent nor an employer acting alone or in concert with any unauthorized employe representative may lawfully attack an established employer-employe relationship and compel the unwilling employes to join the particular unchosen union as a condition of retaining or obtaining employment. If employes have voluntarily become members of any “labor organization” (not financed or interfered with by their employer, Lab. Code, § 1117) and have thereby or therein selected and authorized a bargaining agent, such agent and the employer are free to bargain for the respective legitimate objectives of both workmen and employer. The ensuing collective agreement may, of course, include provisions for union security, such as a union shop, maintenance of membership, and exclusive bargaining rights with the employer. Having freely participated (or had the opportunity to so participate) in the selection of his bargaining agent and in the authorization of that agent to negotiate terms and conditions of employment for him, the workman, like the employer, is bound by the contract negotiated. And the workman, whether union or nonunion, who thereafter requests employment in a capacity covered by the contract must be deemed to accept the terms of the contract when he accepts such employment. But there are certain rights of the individual workman which should be held inalienable and which no contract, whether made by the individual or by his group, can bargain away. No compact between an employer and a labor organization can deprive the employes initially or permanently of their “freedom” to participate in the selection, or in the changing if they see fit, of their bargaining representatives. It is entirely unnecessary, and would go beyond the issues at bench, for us to consider at this time what limitations, if any, may reasonably be placed on such matters as the freedom of employes to reorganize, or to hold elections for the selection or retirement of their representatives, or to declare new objectives for collective bargaining negotiations. The need for and scope of any such regulations could well have legislative attention. It is sufficient here to suggest that in ordinary governmental matters—national, state and local—every citizen of adult age has the right to vote (unless he has lost it, as in the event of imprisonment for felonious crime) but his representatives, once elected, serve for a term of years (unless, as is provided for in some states, sooner recalled). And it is imperative to remember that if the workmen have no vote in choosing those who negotiate the terms and conditions under which they are to labor then, a fortiori, they have no voice at the bargaining table. This would not be the “full freedom” which section 923 purports to insure them; rather, it would be something akin to serfdom. And if a workman with established employment is compelled on pain of dismissal from such employment to pay dues to an invading union which he has not had a voice in selecting as his representative, that is taxation without representation. The issue here is not between labor and management; it is between the workmen and the unions: Are we to have workmen’s unions with unions’ officers? Or bosses’ unions with unions’ workmen? Section 923 spells the answer. The right of the workman to participate in the selection of his bargaining agent and in the government of his union is the workman’s right of self-determination. Organization and collective bargaining are but tools to that end. A strike with a jurisdictional objective is unlawful in certain applications hereinabove suggested and hereinafter discussed, not because a strike as such is unlawful or unprotected but because it, like any other concerted action, must have a lawful objective. In James v. Marinship Corp. (decided 1944, before enactment of the Jurisdictional Strike Law), 25 Cal.2d 721 [155 P.2d 329, 160 A.L.R. 900], this court in a pioneering opinion held: “ [P. 728.] [1] It should be recognized . . . that a union may use the various forms of concerted action, such as strike, picketing, or boycott, to enforce an objective that is reasonably related to any legitimate interest of organized labor. [Citations.] [2] It is equally well settled that the object of concerted labor activity must be proper and that it must be sought by lawful means, otherwise the persons injured by such activity may obtain damages or injunctive relief. [Citations.] [3] Although recent decisions in the United States Supreme Court hold that a state cannot deprive labor unions of the right of free speech through peaceful picketing [citations], these decisions do not deny a state the power to protect against abuses of the right. . . . [P. 730.] [I]n Senn v. Tile Layers P. Union, 301 U.S. 468 [57 S.Ct. 857, 81 L.Ed. 1229], the leading case associating picketing with the right of free speech, the court, while affirming the action of a state court in refusing to enjoin picketing to compel Senn to stop working with his own hands, stated (p. 481): ‘Whether it was wise for the State to permit the unions to do so is a question of its public policy—not our concern. The Fourteenth Amendment does not prohibit it.’ Thus a state may impose limitations upon picketing or other concerted action if the ‘end sought’ is not permissible under state law and public policy . . . [P. 731, [14].] Where a union has . . . attained a monopoly of the supply of labor by means of closed shop agreements and other forms of collective labor action, such a union occupies a quasi public position similar to that of a public service business and it has certain corresponding obligations. ... Its asserted right to choose its own members does not merely relate to social relations; it affects the fundamental right to work for a living. [Citations.] ... [P. 732, quoting from Wilson v. Newspaper & Mail Deliverers’ Union (1938), 123 N.J.Eq. 347 [197 A. 720].] ‘ [T]he holders of the monopoly must not exercise their power in an arbitrary, unreasonable manner so as to bring injury to others.’ . . . [P. 734.] [A]s said in 4 Restatement, Torts, page 136, comment to section 794: ‘The expression of public policy is not confined to legislation and criminal law; in passing upon the propriety o