LOCAL NO. 82, FURNITURE & PIANO MOVING, FURNITURE STORE DRIVERS, HELPERS, WAREHOUSEMEN & PACKERS, ET AL. v. CROWLEY ET AL.
No. 82-432
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 9, 1984—Decided June 12, 1984
467 U.S. 526
John H. Garvey argued the cause for the federal respondent under this Court‘s Rule 19.6, urging reversal. With him on the briefs were Solicitor General Lee, Deputy Solicitor General Geller, T. Timothy Ryan, Jr., Karen I. Ward, Mary-Helen Mautner, and John A. Bryson.
Mark D. Stern argued the cause for respondents Crowley et al. With him on the brief was Kurt M. Pressman.*
JUSTICE BRENNAN delivered the opinion of the Court.
The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA or Act),
The Court of Appeals approved a preliminary injunction issued by the District Court that enjoined an ongoing union
I
Local No. 82, Furniture and Piano Moving, Furniture Store Drivers, Helpers, Warehousemen, and Packers (Local 82) represents approximately 700 employees engaged in the furniture moving business in the Boston, Mass., area.1 The union is governed by a seven-member executive board whose officers, pursuant to § 401(b) of the LMRDA,
On November 9, 1980, Local 82 held a meeting to nominate candidates for positions on its executive board. The meeting generated considerable interest, in part because dissident members of the union were attempting to turn the incumbent union officials out of office. Two aspects of the controversial meeting are especially important for present purposes. First, admission to the meeting was restricted to those members who could produce a computerized receipt showing that their dues had been paid up to date. Several union members, including respondent Jerome Crowley, were prohibited from entering the meeting because they did not have such dues receipts in their possession. Second, during the actual
Several dissatisfied members of the union, now respondents before this Court,2 filed a protest with the union. On November 20, their protest was denied by Local 82.3 Election ballots were thereafter distributed to all members of the union, who were instructed to mark and return the ballots by mail so that they would arrive in a designated post office box by 9 a. m. on December 13, 1980, at which time they were scheduled to be counted. Respondent Lynch‘s name appeared on the ballot as a candidate for president, and not for secretary-treasurer.
On December 1, 1980, after the distribution of ballots had been completed, the respondents filed this action in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. They alleged, inter alia, that Local 82 and its officers had violated several provisions of Title I of the LMRDA, and sought a preliminary injunction. In particular, the respondents claimed that restricting admission to the nominations meeting to those members who could produce computerized dues receipts violated their “equal rights . . . to nominate
Several days of hearings on the preliminary injunction, and several months of negotiations concerning an appropriate court order to accompany that injunction, followed. Finally, on July 13, 1981, the District Court issued a preliminary injunction accompanied by a memorandum opinion. 521 F. Supp. 614 (1981). The court first addressed more fully the petitioners’ argument that, because the challenged conduct concerned the procedures for conducting union elections, the respondents’ exclusive remedy was to file a complaint with the Secretary of Labor under Title IV. The court rejected this argument, noting that, “at least with respect to actions challenging pre-election conduct, Title I of the LMRDA establishes an alternative enforcement mechanism for remedying conduct interfering with a member‘s right to engage in the activities associated with union democracy.” Id., at 621 (footnote omitted). Therefore, the court concluded, it could properly invoke its jurisdiction under Title I, if only for those claims concerning dues receipts and the nomination of respondent Lynch that are now before this Court. Id., at 622–623. Because the suit concerned disputes arising out of a nominations meeting conducted in preparation for a union election, and given that the court had issued a temporary
After concluding that the respondents had demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on their claims,7 the court issued its comprehensive injunction.8 The court explicitly intended to issue an order that “interfere[d] as little as possible with the nomination and election procedures” required by the union‘s constitution and bylaws, id., at 634; moreover, the terms of the preliminary injunction were derived in large part from an ongoing process of negotiations and hearings that the court had conducted with the parties during the preceding six months. Nonetheless, the order declared the ballots cast in December 1980 to be “legally without effect,” id., at 636, n., and provided detailed procedures to be followed by the union during a new nominations meeting and a subsequent election. Among other things, the order selected an outside group of arbitrators to conduct and supervise the election, and set forth eligibility requirements for attending the nominations meeting, being a candidate for office, and
The petitioners appealed, and the Secretary of Labor, who until then had not participated in the proceedings, intervened on their behalf. They argued that the District Court lacked authority under Title I to enjoin the tabulation of ballots and order new nominations and elections under court supervision. The Court of Appeals rejected these arguments, however, and affirmed in all respects. 679 F. 2d 978 (CA1 1982). It agreed with the District Court that Title I remedies are not foreclosed when violations of Title I occur during the course of an election. The court also held that § 403 of the Act, which explicitly provides that Title IV‘s remedies are exclusive for elections that are “already conducted,”
Writing in dissent, Judge Campbell was “unable to read Title I as extending so far as to allow a district court, once balloting has commenced, to invalidate an election and order a new one under its supervision and under terms and conditions extemporized by the courts and parties.” 679 F. 2d, at 1004. He believed that “the proper accommodation between Title I and Title IV requires consideration not only of the stage which the election process has reached but [also] the nature of the relief” requested and granted. Id., at 1005.
Because of the confusion evident among the lower federal courts that have tried to reconcile the remedial provisions
II
To examine fully the relationship between the respective enforcement provisions of Title I and Title IV of the
A
Chief among the causes for this confusion is Title I of the Act, which provides union members with an exhaustive “Bill of Rights” enforceable in federal court. §§ 101–105,
“Congress adopted the freedom of speech and assembly provision [§ 101(a)(2),
29 U. S. C. § 411(a)(2) ] in order to promote union democracy. It recognized that democracy would be assured only if union members are free to discuss union policies and criticize the leadership without fear of reprisal. Congress also recognized that this freedom is particularly critical, and deserves vigorous protection, in the context of election campaigns. For it is in elections that members can wield their power, and directly express their approval or disapproval of the union leadership.” Sadlowski, supra, at 112 (citations omitted).
As first introduced by Senator McClellan on the floor of the Senate, see 105 Cong. Rec. 6469–6476, 6492–6493 (1959), Title I empowered the Secretary of Labor to seek injunctions and other relief in federal district court to enforce the rights guaranteed to union members. A few days later, however, the McClellan amendment was replaced by a substitute amendment offered by Senator Kuchel. See id., at 6693–6694, 6717–6727. Among the principal changes made by this substitute was to provide for enforcement of Title I through suits by individual union members in federal district court. Id., at 6717, 6720.12 As so amended, the legislation
“Any person whose rights secured by the provisions of this title have been infringed by any violation of this title may bring a civil action in a district court of the United States for such relief (including injunctions) as may be appropriate.”
73 Stat. 523 ,29 U. S. C. § 412 .
Standing by itself, this jurisdictional provision suggests that individual union members may properly maintain a Title I suit whenever rights guaranteed by that Title have been violated.13 At the same time, however, § 102 explicitly limits the relief that may be ordered by a district court to that which is “appropriate” to any given situation. See Hall v. Cole, 412 U. S. 1, 10–11 (1973).
B
Nor would it be appropriate to interpret the enforcement and remedial provisions of Title I in isolation. In particular,
Although Congress meant to further this basic policy with a minimum of interference in the internal affairs of unions, see Calhoon, supra, at 140, § 402 of Title IV contains its own comprehensive administrative and judicial procedure for enforcing the standards established in that Title of the Act,
Congress also included in Title IV an exclusivity provision that explains the relationship between the enforcement procedures established for violations of Title IV and the remedies available for violations of potentially overlapping state and federal laws. In relevant part, § 403 of the LMRDA provides:
“Existing rights and remedies to enforce the constitution and bylaws of a labor organization with respect to elections prior to the conduct thereof shall not be affected by the provisions of this title. The remedy provided by this title for challenging an election already conducted shall be exclusive.”
73 Stat. 534 ,29 U. S. C. § 483 .
Relying on this provision, and on the comprehensive nature of the enforcement scheme established by § 402, we have held that Title IV “sets up an exclusive method for protecting Title IV rights,” and that Congress “decided not to permit individuals to block or delay union elections by filing federal-court suits for violations of Title IV.” Calhoon, supra, at 140.15
III
We have not previously determined exactly how the exclusivity of Title IV‘s remedial scheme for enforcing rights guaranteed by that Title might affect remedies available to enforce other rights, such as those protected by Title I. Nor
A
It is useful to begin by noting what the plain language of the Act clearly establishes about the relationship between the remedies provided under Title I and Title IV. First, the exclusivity provision included in § 403 of Title IV plainly bars Title I relief when an individual union member challenges the validity of an election that has already been completed.16 Second, the full panoply of Title I rights is available to individual union members “prior to the conduct” of a union election. As with the plain language of most federal labor laws, however, this simplicity is more apparent than real. Indeed, by its own terms, the provision offers no obvious solution to what remedies are available during the course of a union election, the issue presented by this case.
Even if the plain meaning of the “already conducted” language of § 403 could be read not to preclude other remedies until the actual tabulation and certification of ballots have been completed, we would hesitate to find such an interpretation determinative. First, such an approach would ignore the limitation on judicial remedies that Congress included in Title I, which allows a district court to award only “appropriate” relief. Moreover, we have previously “cautioned against a literal reading” of the LMRDA. Wirtz v. Glass Bottle Blowers Assn., supra, at 468. Like much federal
Nor does the legislative history of the LMRDA provide any definitive indication of how Congress intended § 403 to apply to Title I suits while an election is being conducted. Throughout the legislative debate on this provision, the exclusivity of Title IV was predominantly, if not only, considered in the context of a union election, such as one held at a union meeting, that would take place for a discrete and limited period of time.18 Thus, Congress did not explicitly consider how the exclusivity provision might apply to an election that takes several weeks or months to complete. Moreover,
B
Despite this absence of conclusive evidence in the legislative history, the primary objectives that controlled congressional enactment of the LMRDA provide important guidance for our consideration of the availability of Title I remedies during a union election. In particular, throughout the congressional discussions preceding enactment of both Title I and Title IV, Congress clearly indicated its intent to consolidate challenges to union elections with the Secretary of Labor, and to have the Secretary supervise any new elections necessitated by violations of the Act. This strongly suggests that, even when Title I violations are properly alleged and proved, Congress would not have considered a court order requiring and judicially supervising a new election to be “appropriate” relief under Title I. At the same time, there is nothing in the legislative history suggesting that Congress intended to foreclose all access to federal courts under Title I during an election, especially when a statutory violation could be corrected without any major delay or disruption to an ongoing election. We therefore conclude that whether a Title I suit may properly be maintained by individual union members during the course of a union election depends upon the nature of the relief sought by the Title I claimants.
Moreover, nothing in the flurry of activity that surrounded enactment of Title I, see supra, at 537–538, and n. 12, indicates that Congress intended that Title to reverse this consistent opposition to court supervision of union elections. Although the enactment of Title I offered additional protection to union members, including the establishment of various statutory safeguards effective during the course of a union election, there is no direct evidence to suggest that Congress believed that enforcement of Title I would either require or allow courts to pre-empt the expertise of the Secretary and
That is not to say that a court has no jurisdiction over otherwise proper Title I claims that are filed during the course of a lengthy union election. The important congressional policies underlying enactment of Title I, see supra, at 536-537, likewise compel us to conclude that appropriate relief under Title I may be awarded by a court while an election is being conducted. Individual union members may properly allege violations of Title I that are easily remediable under that Title without substantially delaying or invalidating an ongoing election. For example, union members might claim that they did not receive election ballots distributed by the union because of their opposition to the incumbent officers running for reelection. Assuming that such union members prove a statutory violation under Title I, a court might appropriately order the union to forward ballots to the claimants before completion of the election. To foreclose a court from ordering such Title I remedies during an election would not only be inefficient, but would also frustrate the purposes that Congress sought to serve by including Title I in the LMRDA. Indeed, eliminating all Title I relief in this context might preclude aggrieved union members from ever obtaining relief for statutory violations, since the more drastic remedies under Title IV are ultimately dependent upon a showing that a violation “may have affected the outcome” of the election,
Our conclusion that appropriate Title I relief during the course of a union election does not include the invalidation of
In several subsequent decisions, we also relied on the important role played by the Secretary in enforcing Title IV
Consistent with these policies, Trbovich cited Calhoon, supra, at 140, for the proposition that “§ 403 prohibits union members from initiating a private suit to set aside an election.” 404 U. S., at 531. Although this somewhat overstated our holding in Calhoon, which was limited to the exclusivity of postelection suits by the Secretary for violations of Title IV, we believe that the policies supporting Congress’ decision to consolidate Title IV suits with the Secretary are equally applicable to Title I suits that seek to “set aside an election.”22 Although the important protections
In sum, whether suits alleging violations of Title I of the LMRDA may properly be maintained during the course of a union election depends upon the appropriateness of the remedy required to eliminate the claimed statutory violation. If the remedy sought is invalidation of the election already being conducted with court supervision of a new election, then union members must utilize the remedies provided by Title IV. For less intrusive remedies sought during an election, however, a district court retains authority to order appropriate relief under Title I.
IV
The procedural history of this case clearly demonstrates the undesirable consequences that follow from judicial supervision of a union election. The respondents filed suit after Local 82 had distributed election ballots to its members, but before some of the ballots had been returned or any of the ballots had been counted. Then, less than 24 hours before the election would have been completed and the ballots tabulated, the District Court issued a temporary restraining order that brought the election to a halt. This was followed by several months of negotiations between the parties and hearings before the District Court. Finally, the court issued
Several aspects of these proceedings demonstrate why they are inconsistent with the policies underlying the LMRDA. For example, the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction issued by the court delayed the union election that was originally scheduled for December 1980 for one full year. Among other consequences, this left the incumbent union officers in power beyond the scheduled expiration of their terms. Cf.
V
We conclude that the District Court overstepped the bounds of “appropriate” relief under Title I of the LMRDA when it enjoined an ongoing union election and ordered that a new election be held pursuant to court-ordered procedures. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.23
It is so ordered.
In the course of an election, Local 82 violated a number of the rights of respondent union members secured by Title I of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), 73 Stat. 522,
Today the Court agrees that respondents have established violations of Title I, and that the District Court had jurisdiction to fashion a remedy under § 102. However, the Court reverses the issuance of the preliminary injunction, holding that it did not constitute “appropriate relief” within the meaning of § 102. The Court so holds not because of anything in § 102 or its legislative history, but rather because of a provision in Title IV of the Act which was written long before § 102 was added to the LMRDA, and which was designed to
It must be conceded that there is an inconsistency between Titles I and IV of the LMRDA. While § 102 in Title I grants district courts seemingly unqualified power to grant “such relief (including injunctions), as may be appropriate,” § 403 of Title IV provides: “The remedy provided by this title for challenging an election already conducted shall be exclusive.” 73 Stat. 534,
Title I was “aimed at enlarged protection for members of unions paralleling certain rights guaranteed by the Federal Constitution,” Finnegan v. Leu, 456 U. S. 431, 435 (1982). By securing these rights, Congress hoped to ensure unions would function in a more democratic manner.1 We have previously construed § 102 of Title I to have a broad sweep, consistent with its broad remedial purposes. In Hall v. Cole, 412 U. S. 1 (1973), we wrote: “§ 102 was intended to afford the courts ‘a wide latitude to grant relief according to the necessities of the case,’ and ‘to give such relief as [the court] deems equitable under all the circumstances.‘” Id., at 13 (footnotes omitted) (quoting 105 Cong. Rec. 15548 (1959) (remarks of Rep. Elliott), and id., at 6717 (remarks of Sen. Kuchel)). Employing this broad construction of the power conferred by § 102, we then held that an award of attorney‘s fees was consistent with the statute.2
There is no instance in which Title I rights are of greater importance, and hence the need for their effective vindication a more compelling necessity, than in the midst of an election. We wrote in Hall that “Title I of the LMRDA was specifically designed to protect the union member‘s right to seek higher office within the union.” 412 U. S., at 14. The reason for this is clear enough:
“Congress adopted the freedom of speech and assembly provision in order to promote union democracy. It recognized that democracy would be assured only if union members are free to discuss union policies and criticize the leadership without fear of reprisal. Congress also recognized that this freedom is particularly critical, and deserves vigorous protection, in the context of [union] election campaigns. For it is in elections that members can wield their power, and directly express their approval or disapproval of the union leadership.” Steelworkers v. Sadlowski, 457 U. S. 102, 112 (1982) (citations omitted).
By ensuring that Title I violations which go to the heart of the electoral process will not be effectively remedied, the majority seriously undermines the core purpose of Title I.
“Section [4]03 of the bill specifically preserves rights and remedies which union members have under existing law to insure compliance with provisions of a union‘s constitution and bylaws relating to elections prior to the conduct of an election. However, since the bill provides an effective and expeditious remedy for overthrowing an improperly held election and holding a new election, the Federal remedy is made the sole remedy and private litigation would be precluded.” S. Rep. No. 187, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., 21 (1959).3
In fact, this Court has previously acknowledged this very point: “The debates reflect great concern with the proper relationship between state and federal remedies, and much less concern with the relationship between private and public enforcement.” Trbovich v. Mine Workers, 404 U. S. 528, 534, n. 6 (1972). Thus, the policies underlying § 403 are a slender reed on which to support today‘s holding.
Moreover, what limited relevance the original intent and purpose of Title IV has is undermined by the subsequent addition of Title I on the floor of the Senate. The precise reason Title I was added to the LMRDA was because Congress concluded that Title IV did not go far enough in protecting the rights of individual union members.4 In particular, Congress added § 102 because it felt that these rights had to be enforced through a private right of action. Finnegan, 456 U. S., at 440, n. 10.
The original version of Title I, offered as an amendment to the LMRDA by Senator McClellan, provided that the rights contained therein would be enforced through suits brought by the Secretary of Labor. See 105 Cong. Rec. 6469-6492 (1959). The amendment passed only narrowly, with the Vice President casting the tie-breaking vote. See id., at 6493. One of the arguments made against this version of Title I by a number of Senators was that the rights it created were indi-
Three days later, Senator Kuchel offered a compromise version of Title I. He explained:
“[I]n several major points the McClellan amendment would be changed by our amendment. In one case our amendment provides for deleting from the McClellan amendment the provision for the right of the Secretary of Labor to seek an injunction when any of the rights enumerated are alleged to have been violated. In such circumstances, our amendment gives a union member who alleges such a grievance the right to go into the Federal court for appropriate relief.” Id., at 6717.
This change resulted from dissatisfaction with leaving Title I rights in the hands of the Secretary of Labor. Senator Kuchel explained:
“[H]ere is one of the major changes in the proposal. The amendment of the Senator from Arkansas provided that the Secretary of Labor might, on behalf of the injured or aggrieved member, have the right to litigate the alleged grievance and to seek an injunction or other relief. We believe that giving this type of right to the aggrieved employee member himself is in the interest of justice, and therefore we propose to eliminate from the bill the right of the Secretary of Labor to sue in his behalf.” Id., at 6720.
Senator Kefauver congratulated Senator Kuchel on removing the Secretary of Labor from “the middle of the actions of every labor union in the United States,” id., at 6726, and Senator Clark noted that the new version of Title I “takes the Federal bureaucracy out of this bill of rights and leaves
Calhoon v. Harvey, 379 U. S. 134 (1964), the case on which the majority principally relies, does not require the Court to adopt its parsimonious construction of § 102. In Calhoon, the Court began its analysis with a simple proposition: “Jurisdiction of the District Court under § 102 of Title I depends entirely upon whether this complaint showed a violation of rights guaranteed by § 101(a)(1),” id., at 138. In stating its
In sum, the Court‘s conclusion that § 403 is a limitation on the power granted district courts in § 102 turns the statute and its legislative history on their head. The majority reads the statute as if Title IV had been added to the statute to limit the scope of Title I, when in reality the reverse is true. Congress wanted union members to be able to protect their own Title I rights rather than to rely on the Secretary of Labor. Because the Court‘s holding means that the most serious violations of Title I cannot be adequately remedied except in the discretion of the Secretary, I cannot join the Court‘s holding or judgment.
I recognize that in practice the question whether a new election is an appropriate remedy will not be free from difficulty. In shaping a remedy, the exercise of the district court‘s discretion should be informed by the national labor policies discussed by the Court ante, at 544, n. 19, 548-549:
Accordingly, I do not believe that the District Court failed to fashion “appropriate” relief or otherwise abused its discretion. I respectfully dissent.
Notes
“EQUAL RIGHTS.—Every member of a labor organization shall have equal rights and privileges within such organization to nominate candidates, to vote in elections or referendums of the labor organization, to attend membership meetings and to participate in the deliberations and voting upon the business of such meetings, subject to reasonable rules and regulations in such organization‘s constitution and bylaws.”
“FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND ASSEMBLY.—Every member of any labor organization shall have the right to meet and assemble freely with other members; and to express any views, arguments, or opinions; and to express at meetings of the labor organization his views, upon candidates in an election of the labor organization or upon any business properly before the meeting, subject to the organization‘s established and reasonable rules pertaining to the conduct of meetings: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed to impair the right of a labor organization to adopt and enforce reasonable rules as to the responsibility of every member toward the organization as an institution and to his refraining from conduct that would interfere with its performance of its legal or contractual obligations.”
First, the respondents claim that, by filing certain “stipulations” with the District Court, Local 82 effectively consented to the running of a new election, thereby foreclosing any challenge to that court‘s order requiring a new election. See, e. g., App. 55 (“Local 82 is prepared to and will conduct a second nomination and mail ballot election for the election of officers under the following terms, provided the Court permits a change in the status quo preserved by its Order of December 12, 1980“). Neither the District Court nor the Court of Appeals, however, considered these conditional stipulations to be binding on Local 82. The District Court, for example, consistently recognized that, although agreeing to rerun the election under its own procedures, Local 82 had not waived its challenge to the authority or jurisdiction of the District Court to order a new election pursuant to court-imposed terms and conditions. See id., at 110–112. And the Court of Appeals explicitly found that “these were not true factual stipulations narrowing the factual dispute but offers of settlement to which [Local 82] agreed to be bound, if [respondents] so agreed.” 679 F. 2d, at 996, n. 22. We see no reason to disturb these conclusions.
Second, the respondents claim that the entire case is moot because not only has the election ordered by the District Court taken place, but also the term to be served by the officers chosen in that election has now elapsed. We have previously held, however, that the intervention of another election does not terminate the Secretary of Labor‘s authority under Title IV of the LMRDA to seek invalidation of the preceding election. Wirtz v. Glass Bottle Blowers Assn., 389 U. S. 463 (1968); Wirtz v. Laborers, 389 U. S. 477 (1968). If the District Court acted beyond its authority in ordering and supervising a new election, then the ballots that were never counted in December 1980 but were sealed pursuant to the District Court‘s order could be tabulated, and the Secretary‘s remedies under Title IV would come into play. Moreover, we note that there are still pending several important collateral matters, including claims for damages, attorney‘s fees, and costs, that are dependent upon the propriety of the District Court‘s preliminary injunction. See Reply Brief for Petitioners 7–9. We have no doubt, therefore, that the present controversy has not been mooted by intervening circumstances.
This aspect of the Kuchel amendment apparently received widespread support, not only from Senators who feared that the McClellan amendment‘s enforcement procedures would set a precedent for federal intervention in all civil rights matters, see, e. g., id., at 6696 (statement of Sen. Johnston), but also from Senators who wished to limit federal interference with the internal affairs of labor unions, see, e. g., id., at 6726 (statement of Sen. Kefauver). See Aaron, The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 73 Harv. L. Rev. 851, 859, 875 (1960).
“The legislation contains more than its share of problems for judicial interpretation because much of the bill was written on the floor of the Senate or House of Representatives and because many sections contain calculated ambiguities or political compromises essential to secure a majority. Consequently, in resolving them the courts would be well advised to seek out the underlying rationale without placing great emphasis upon close construction of the words.” Cox, Internal Affairs of Labor Unions Under the Labor Reform Act of 1959, 58 Mich. L. Rev. 819, 852 (1960).
See Sadlowski, 457 U. S., at 111; Glass Bottle Blowers Assn., 389 U. S., at 468, n. 6.
“A court is also a clumsy instrument for supervising an election. The judicial process may be suitable for determining the validity of an election which has already been held; but if it is found invalid, or if no election has been held, judges have few facilities for providing an effective remedy. Merely to order an election might turn the authority to conduct the balloting over to the very same officers whose misconduct gave rise to the litigation. The court has no tellers, watchers, or similar officials. It would become mired in the details of the electoral process. To appoint a master to supervise the election would delegate the responsibility, but the master would face many of the same problems as the judge. Probably it is the consciousness of these weaknesses that has made judges so reluctant to interfere with union elections, though apparently a few court-conducted elections have been held.” Labor-Management Reform Legislation: Hearings on S. 505 et al. before the Subcommittee on Labor of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., 133–134 (1959) (hereinafter Hearings).
In light of these suggestions, Professor Cox proposed amending the exclusivity provision so that it would not affect “the right of any member of a labor union to maintain an action to compel the observance of the constitution and bylaws of a labor organization in a forthcoming election of officers, to challenge his expulsion or the imposition of other discipline, or to assert any right of individual membership other than to challenge the validity of an election.” Id., at 136 (emphasis added). Although Professor Cox apparently assumed that union elections would occur during a discrete period of time, we believe that his analysis is consistent with the approach to Title I remedies available during a union election that we adopt today. Indeed, the broad exclusivity provision to which he was objecting was removed by the Senate Subcommittee and replaced with the language that now appears in“[T]he provision exclude[s] suits in the State courts challenging the validity of union elections. An election is an integer. Its validity should be adjudicated once and for all in one forum. To permit State court actions would open the way to unnecessary harassment of the union on one side and to friendly suits aimed at foreclosing the Secretary‘s action on the other.
“I still believe that these purposes deserve to be accomplished but I have been persuaded that the language used in [S. 505] to accomplish them [is] much too broad. In a few States, actions have been successfully maintained in advance of a union election to compel the officers to comply with provisions of the constitution and bylaws such as putting a candidate‘s name on the ballot, permitting a classification of members to vote, or giving adequate notice of the elections. These remedies are often more effective than a challenge to the validity of an election after it has been held. They present the evil before it is accomplished. It is not impossible that other State courts will find it possible to give similar relief enforcing the union constitution and bylaws in advance of the election. Such proceedings would not interfere with the Federal policy because they do no more than compel the union officers to comply with the rules voluntarily adopted by the members.
“It may also become necessary for an individual member to resort to the courts to secure redress against his expulsion from the union or against other discipline imposed upon him because he dared to assert his rights in connection with an election. To enact that the provisions of the . . . bill should exclude all other rights and remedies might interfere with the bringing of such an action even though the Federal law gave no relief.
“I am not contending that [the exclusivity provision] would be held to exclude the last two forms of State intervention. I would hope that the Supreme Court would confine [the] section . . . to substantive State regulation and Federal or State actions challenging the validity of an election already conducted.” Hearings, at 135.
We also note that, in a paragraph summarizing remedies under the LMRDA, our opinion in Bachowski briefly touched upon the interplay between the enforcement provisions under Title I and Title IV: “Certain LMRDA provisions concerning pre-election conduct,