Inc. v. NLRB Lechmere

The main issue confronted in this case was whether rights of employees under provision seven of the National Labor Relations Act superseded the property rights of their employer. The U.S. Supreme Court held that the method of trespass (in this case using the petitioner's parking lot to communicate with their employees by placing hand bills on car windshields) as well as any other alternative, was inappropriate and unlawful. The Court ruled that no "unfair labor practice" occurred when the petitioners barred non-employee union organizers because private property rights were inviolate.

In an effort to organize about 200 employees working in the shopping plaza owned and operated by Lechmere, Inc., the United Food and Commercial Workers Union initiated recruitment operations in the petitioner's parking lot. The union placed leaflets on windshields of cars in a parking zone which they assumed was used by employees. (Prior to this action, advertisements in a local newspaper did not give results; union organizers had found a leaflet strategy practical.) However, Lechmere banned this kind of solicitation on his property, and organizers were asked to leave plaza property. Lechmere removed all the handbills.

Because Lechmere Inc. occupied and operated their shopping plaza in a large metropolitan area, the parking property was separated from an adjacent highway by a 4-foot grassy strip. From that public location, union organizers started to pass out handbills to passing motorists. For one month, the union practiced this mode of informing employees (early in the morning and late in the evening, assuming that passing drivers were primarily store employees) and they picketed Lechmere. However, union efforts were to no avail. Even mailing and phone contact (with approximately 20 percent of Lechmere employees) did not result in more than one signature on a union authorization card.