Section 50 Blocking Passage

• Library: Employer-Employee Law 2008

Notwithstanding the fact that one of the purposes of picketing is normally to discourage persons approaching the picket line from doing business with the picketed employer, unions cannot cut off trade by blocking ingress or egress and cannot engage in mass picketing to the extent that the sheer number of persons picketing is intimidating or likely to create the possibility of violence or disorder. State courts may enjoin the blocking of ingress and egress. Ramsey v. Grayland, 567 S.W.2d 682 (Mo. App. E.D. 1978); State ex rel. Retail Store Employees Union Local No. 655 v. Black, 603 S.W.2d 676
(Mo. App. E.D. 1980).

The authority of state courts goes beyond prohibitions directed against the actual obstruction of passage and extends to conduct that, by its very nature, tends to block passage. Thus, state courts have issued injunctive relief that describes the prohibited...