corporation shall, at a regular meeting thereof, held in accordance with its constitution and general rules and regulations or by-laws, elect a member thereof for a term of three years to represent it in such corporation.

*

The trustees so elected shall make, acknowledge and file with the secretary of state a certificate stating the name of the corporation to be formed, its purposes and objects, the names and places of residence of the trustees, the names of the bodies which they respectively represent, the names of the bodies uniting to form the corporation and their location, and the name of the town, village or city and the county where such building is, or is to be located; and thereupon the several bodies so uniting shall be a corporation for the purposes specified in such certificate. [As am'd by L. 1914, ch. 509.] § 9. Powers of joint corporations.- Such corporation may acquire real property in the town, village or city in which such hall, home, temple or building is or is to be located, and erect such building or buildings thereupon for the uses and purposes of the corporation, as the trustees may deem necessary, or repair, rebuild or reconstruct any building or buildings that may be thereupon and furnish and complete such rooms therein as may appear necessary for the use of such bodies or for any other purpose for which the corporation is formed; and may rent to other persons any portion of such building or real property for business or other purposes. Until such real property shall be acquired or such building erected or made ready for use, the corporation may rent and sublet such rooms or apartments in such town, village or city as may be suitable or convenient for the use of the bodies mentioned in such certificate, or of such other bodies as may desire to use them, and the board of trustees may determine the terms and conditions on which rooms and apartments in such building or buildings, when erected, or which may be leased, shall be used and occupied. Before such corporation composed of not more than thirty bodies shall purchase or sell any real property, or erect or repair any building or buildings thereupon, and before it shall purchase any building or part of a building for the use of a corporation, it shall submit to the bodies constituting the corporation, the proposition to make such sale or purchase, or to erect or repair any such building or buildings, or to rent any building or part thereof, for the use of the corporation; and unless such proposition receives the approval of two-thirds of the bodies constituting the corporation, such proposition shall not be carried into effect. The evidence of the approval of such proposition by any such body shall be a certificate to that effect signed by the presiding officer and secretary of the body, or the officers discharging duties corresponding to those of the presiding officer and secretary, under the seal of such body. But where land is purchased for the purpose of erecting a hall, home or temple thereon, the buildings upon such land at the time of such purchase may be sold by the trustees without such consent. The powers of the board of trustees of every corporation created hereunder and composed of more than thirty bodies, respecting sales, purchases and repairs, shall be fixed by the by-laws adopted by the representatives of the various bodies composing such corporation, or shall be determined by such representatives when assembled in annual session. Every corporation created hereunder shall have power to enforce, at law or in equity, any legal contract which it may make with any of the bodies composing it respecting the care and maintenance of members or other dependents of such body, the same as if such body or bodies were not members

of the corporation. Any corporation created hereunder shall have power to take and hold real and personal estate by purchase, gift, devise or bequest subject to the provisions of law relating to devises and bequests by last will and testament or otherwise. [As am'd by L. 1913, ch. 11.]

FORBIDDING LABOR ORGANIZATIONS TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL GUARD

PENAL LAW, CHAPTER 40 OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS

§ 481. Discrimination against members of the national guard.— No association or corporation, constituted or organized for the purpose of promoting the success of the trade, employment, or business of the members thereof, shall by any constitution, rule, by-law, resolution, vote, or regulation, discriminate against any member of the national guard of the state of New York, because of such membership in respect of the eligibility of such member of the said national guard to membership in such association or corporation, or in respect of his right to retain said last mentioned membership; it being the purpose of this section and the section immediately preceding to protect a member of the said national guard from disadvantage in his means of livelihood and liberty therein but not to give him any preference or advantage on account of his membership of said national guard. A person who aids in enforcing any such provisions against a member of the said national guard with the intent to discriminate against him because of such membership, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

PREVENTING FRAUDULENT REPRESENTATION IN LABOR ORGANIZATIONS PENAL LAW, CHAPTER 40 OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS

§ 1278. Fraudulent representation in labor organizations.— Any person who represents himself or herself to be a member of, or who claims to represent a labor organization which does not exist within the state, at the time of such representation, or who has in his or her possession a credential, certificate or letter of introduction bearing a fraudulent seal, or bearing the seal of a labor organization which has ceased to exist, and does not exist at the time of such representation, and attempts to gain admission by the use of said credential, certificate or letter of introduction, as a member of any convention, or meeting of representatives of labor organizations of the state, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punishable by a fine of not less than twenty dollars nor more than fifty dollars, and imprisonment for not less than ten days nor more than thirty days in the jail of the county wherein such conviction is had, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

UNAUTHORIZED USE OF BADGES, TITLES, ETC.

PENAL LAW, CHAPTER 40 OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS

§ 2240. Unauthorized wearing or use of badge, name, title of officers, insignia, ritual or ceremony of certain orders and societies.-1. Any person who wilfully wears the badge or the button of

*

*

any society, order or organization, of ten years' standing in the state of New York, or uses the same to obtain aid or assistance within this state, or wilfully uses the name of such society, order or organization, the titles of its officers, or its insignia, ritual or ceremonies, unless entitled to use or wear the same under the constitution and by-laws, rules and regulations of such order or of

such society, order or organization, is guilty of a misdemeanor. [As am'd by L. 1914, ch. 149.]

UNLAWFUL TO COMPEL EMPLOYEES TO AGREE NOT TO JOIN LABOR

ORGANIZATIONS

PENAL LAW, CHAPTER 40 OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS

§ 531. Coercion by employers.-Any person or employer of labor, and any person of any corporation on behalf of such corporation, who shall hereafter coerce or compel any person, employee, laborer or mechanic, to enter into an agreement, either written or verbal, from such person, employee, laborer or mechanic, not to join or become a member of any labor organization, as a condition of such person securing employment, or continuing in the employment of any such person, employer or corporation, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. The penalty for such misdemeanor shall be imprisonment in a penal institution for not more than six months, or by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

This statute imposes an unauthorized restraint upon the freedom to contract in relation to the purchase and sale of labor, and is unconstitutional: Feople v. Marcus, 185 N. Y. 257 (1906).

UNLAWFUL TO BRIBE REPRESENTATIVES OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS

PENAL LAW, CHAPTER 40 OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS

§ 380. Bribery of labor representatives.-A person who gives or offers to give any money or other things of value to any duly appointed representative of a labor organization with intent to influence him in respect to any of his acts, decisions, or other duties as such representative, or to induce him to prevent or cause a strike by the employees of any person or corporation, is guilty of a misdemeanor; and no person shall be excused from attending and testifying, or producing any books, papers or other documents before any court or magistrate, upon any investigation, proceeding or trial, for a violation of this section, upon the ground or for the reason that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of him may tend to convict him of a crime or subject him to a penalty or forfeiture; but no person shall be prosecuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter or thing concerning which he may so testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, and no testimony so given or produced shall be received against him upon any criminal investigation or proceeding. Compare Corrupt influencing of employees," Penal Law, § 439, p. 213, ante.

66

INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES*

[The "right to strike," i. e., to quit work in concert, is controlled by the statutes and judicial decisions respecting combinations. Sections 580 and 582 of the Penal Law define conspiracies, or unlawful combinations. The latter section expressly legalizes a combination (strike) for the purpose of maintaining or advancing the rate of wages, and the courts have broadened this authorization to include any peaceable and orderly strike of wage workers, not to harm others but to improve their own condition, within which lawful purpose may be a strike by a trade union to procure the discharge of an outsider and the employment of its own members: Nat'l Protective Assn. v. Cumming, 170 N. Y. 315; Wunch v. Shankland, 179 N. Y. 545, Mem. But concerning strikes for the "closed shop," see that topic below. Similarly, a lockout is legal if no malice is shown: City Trust, Safe Deposit & Surety Co. v. Waldhauer, 47 Misc. 7.

INTIMIDATION.-A strike that has a lawful purpose becomes unlawful if conducted by unlawful means. Thus it is contrary to law to use or threaten to use violence, force or intimidation in the prosecution of a strike (§ 530 of the Penal Law, defining coercion); or to endanger life by refusal to labor (§ 1910); or interfere with passengers in public conveyances (§ 720), etc.

Violation of an injunction order against illegal interference with new employees or the part of strikers constitutes criminal contempt and is punishable as such even though the individual members of the union were not personally served with the order: People ex rel. Stearns v. Marr, 181 N. Y. 463 (1905).

PICKETING is not defined by statute, but by the interpretation placed by the courts on the above-mentioned laws relating to coercion. One of the most authoritative discussions of picketing" by Federal courts is in Union Facific Ry. Co. v. Ruef (120 Fed. Rep. 102), and by the New York courts in a unanimous decision of the Second Appellate Division, December, 1904, which is, in part, as follows:

"Picketing' may simply mean the stationing of men for observation. If in the doing of this act, solely for such purpose, there be no molestation or physical annoyance, or let or hindrance of any person then it can not be said that such an act is, per se, unlawful. But picketing' may also mean the stationing of a man or men to coerce or to threaten, or to intimidate or to halt or to turn aside against their will those who would go to and from the picketed place to do business, or to work, or to seek work therein, or in some other way to hamper, hinder, or harass the free dispatch of business by the employer. In that case, picketing may well be said to be unlawful. I may add that I am not prepared to say that all picketing which goes no further than persuasion and entreaty' of those who are about to work or to seek work or to do business in the picketed place is absolutely lawful. A wayfarer upon the public street should be free for peaceful travel. No man against my will has the legal right to occupy the public street to arrest my course or to join me on my way, be he ever so polite or gentle in his insistence. There may be no intimidation, and yet an interruption of peaceful travel. There may be annoyance without danger": Mills v. U. S. Printing Co., 99 App. Div. 605.

BOYCOTTING. The ruling of the Court of Appeals in the Cumming case, cited above, modified the law regarding boycotts, so that the courts do not find in a boycott per se the malicious purpose, or an attempt to injure, that constitutes conspiracy: Foster v. Retail Clerks' Protective Association, 39 Misc. 48 (1902); Butterick Pub. Co. v. Typographical Union No. 6, 50 Misc. 1 (1906). The injury inflicted may be only an incident of the act whereby the ultimate end is gained: Mills v. U. S. Print. Co., 99 App. Div. 605. In this case the court unanimously indorsed Bouvier's statement, "A boycott is not unlawful unless attended with some act which in itself is illegal," and continued: "I think that the verb 'to boycott' does not necessarily siguify that the doers employ violence, intimidation or other unlawful coercive means, but that it may be correctly used in the sense of the act of a combination in refusing to have business dealings with another until he removes or ameliorates conditions which are deemed inimical to the wel

*For posting of notice of strikes or lockouts in public employment offices, and refusal to accept employment, see Labor Law, §§ 66-g, 66-h, p. 34, ante.

fare of the members of the combination, or some of them, or grants concessions which are deemed to make for that purpose. And as such a combination may be formed and held together by argument, persuasion, entreaty or by the touch of nature,' and may accomplish its purpose without violence or other unlawful means, 1. e., simply by abstention, I think it cannot be said that to boycott' is to offend the law." In agreement with this view, see the opinion of the Supreme Court of Missouri (1901) in Marx & Hass Jeans Clothing Co. v. Watson (67 S. W. Rep. 391). On the other hand, the earlier rule is maintained in the cases of Davis Machine Co. v. Robinson (41 Misc. 329) and People v. McFarlin (43 Misc. 599). A boycott which affects inter-state commerce is illegal under the Federal antitrust law Loewe v. Lawlor, 208 U. S. 274 (the hatters' case). BLACKLISTING. The blacklist is in principle a form of the boycott, but is carried on in such secrecy that it has seldom come before the courts.

THE "CLOSED SHOP." It has been held that an agreement providing for the closed shop; 1. e., exclusive employment of members of a trade union, is not in violation of law and will be enforced by the courts: Jacobs v. Cohen, 183 N. Y. 207 (1905); Nat'l Fire Prooting Co. v. Mason Builders' Assn., 145 Fed. Rep. 260, (June, 1906); Kissam v. U. S. Printing Co., 199 N. Y. 76, affirming 128 App. Div. 889. But no agreement whatever makes it lawful for members of a union to coerce or maliciously interfere with non-union men: Curran v. Galen, 52 N. Y. 33, decided in 1897 and reaffirmed in Jacobs case just cited. Cf. also Beattie v. Callanan, 82 App. Div. 7. Further, a strike for a closed shop throughout an entire trade in a locality has been held illegal as constituting conspiracy to deprive men of the exercise of the right to work: Schwartz v. Int'l Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, 68 Misc. 528. Similarly a requirement by employers generally in a community that employees must be members of a particular union is illegal: McCord v. Thompson-Starrett Co., 129 App. Div. 130, aff'd in 198 N. Y. 587. A strike to prevent use by a union firm of materials manufactured by a non-union firm has been held both illegal on the ground of unlawful interference with an employer's freedom: Irving v. Joint District Council, 180 Fed. Rep. 896; Newton Co. v. Erickson, 70 Misc. 291; and legal as within the rights of workingmen : Bossert v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, 77 Misc. 592; also a strike to prevent manufacture of goods for a non-union firm: Schlang v. Ladies' Waist Makers' Union, 67 Misc. 222; both these being regarded as unlawful interference with an employer's freedom. An agreement binding workmen to work only for members of an employers association has been held illegal: People v. Miller in Magistrate's Court, New York City, August 20, 1904.

CONSPIRACY, INTIMIDATION, EXTORTION, ETC.

PENAL LAW, CHAPTER 40 OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS

§ 580. Definition and punishment of conspiracy.- If two or more persons conspire:

5. To prevent another from exercising a lawful trade or calling, or doing any other lawful act, by force, threats, intimidation, or by interfering or threatening to interfere with tools, implements or property belonging to or used by another, or with the use or employment thereof; or

6. To commit any act injurious to the public health, to public morals, or to trade or commerce, or for the perversion or obstruction of justice, or of the due administration of the laws;

Each of them is guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ 581. Conspiracies against peace of the state. If two or more persons, being out of this state, conspire to commit any act against the peace of this state, the commission or attempted commission of which, within this state, would be treason against the state, they are punishable by imprisonment in a state prison not exceeding ten years.