Allis Chalmers Co. v. Reliable Lodge

Citations

• 111 F. 264
• 1901 U.S. App. LEXIS 4964

Syllabus

<p>1. Injunction—Labor Strikes—Unlawful Conspiracy.</p> <p>It is tbe undoubted right of workmen to quit work, either severally or in a body, so long as the act does not come within the rule against conspiracies to injure the property of another, and they may also, subject to such rule, use peaceable means in persuading others to join them in carrying out a strike. But such rights must be exercised in such manner as not to otherwise interfere with the right of the employer to conduct his business in a lawful manner, or with the equal right of every other man to work or not to work for such employer, as he may think best. They have no lawful right to impose the course of conduct or rules adopted for themselves upon any other man against his wisher, and, where they attempt to do so through concerted acts of violence and intimidation, they are guilty of an unlawful conspiracy, and it is the duty of a court of equity to enjoin such acts when they inflict irreparable injury upon the employer or other workmen.</p> <p>8. Same—Acts of Violence and Intimidation.</p> <p>. Where a labor organization whose members are engaged in a strike undertakes to prevent the employer from carrying on its business by preventing other men from remaining in, or entering, its service, by systematically maintaining pickets around and about the entrances to its premises, virtually placing them in a state of siege, and it is shown that strikers and others incited by them have committed assaults upon workmen employed therein, and have employed threats and intimidation against such workmen to such an extent that the latter do not dare to leave the works through fear of bodily injury, and their employer is compelled to provide board and lodging for them within the premises, and other workmen are from the same reason prevented from entering its employment, to its irreparable injury, such state of facts clearly justifies the conclusion that the defendant organization • and its members have not confined