Labor Relations

While primary responsibility for regulating labor relations affecting interstate commerce lies with the National Labor Relations Board, there are a number of significant areas in which state courts may exercise jurisdiction; during 1969, California courts had opportunity to determine a variety of issues raising fundamental conflicts of position: The State Supreme Court was called on to decide a case of classic tension between constitutional rights of free speech and private property and the Courts of Appeal passed on the issue of employees\u27 basic right to organize, a claim of duress by an employer who contended he was forced to sign a collective bargaining agreement, and competing contentions with respect to the arbitrability of certain disputes. It was familiar territory for labor law, but some new guidelines were posted