In re DeSilva

SHENK, J. The petitioner sought his release from confinement pursuant to a conviction of contempt for violation [77]of a preliminary injunction issued in an action brought by Lillian and Nathan A. Simons, doing business as Sureway Drug Company, against the Retail Clerks Union Local 770 and other defendants.

Sureway Drug Company is a retail drugstore in Los Angeles which employed two pharmacists and eight clerks. The employees were unorganized. In April, 1947, the union began to organize the employees and obtained membership applications and representation authorizations from a majority, namely six of the employees including one of the pharmacists. Subsequently all or some of the six employees were discharged from their employment and the company refused to sign the proffered collective bargaining agreement. The union commenced picketing the store on November 6, 1947. In January, 1948, the company filed with the National Labor Relations Board a petition for certification of a representative of the employees, designating the union as the claimant for recognition. The petition was denied by the board on the ground that the union had not filed the documents, reports and affidavits required by sections 9 (f) (g) and (h) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 ([61 Stats. 143; 29 U.S.C.A. §159]). In February, 1948, the proprietors of the drugstore filed the action in the Superior Court in Los Angeles ■ County against the union, the petitioner as secretary of the union, and others to enjoin the picketing as unlawful under the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, and for damages. Following the filing of an amended complaint to include allegations of the denial of the plaintiffs’ petition to the National Labor Relations Board for certification of a union representative, the court on April 12, 1948, issued a preliminary injunction. The order purported to restrain the defendants from picketing the plaintiffs’ store in any manner whatsoever for the purpose of inducing the plaintiffs to violate the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, or of inducing the plaintiffs to bargain with the union without the required documents having been filed, from carrying on any secondary boycott activities, or from picketing in any manner whatsoever until the final decision and judgment in the action. Concededly the picketing continued in violation of the order.

The court denied a motion to vacate the injunction. On May 7, 1948, the petitioner was convicted of contempt for the violation. He was committed to the county jail for a period of five days and ordered to pay a fine of $500. He was