Right to Work in Texas

The Santa Fe Railroad, one of the last big holdouts against the union shop, won an important round last week in its ten-month battle (TIME, Feb. 1) against 16 A.F.L. non-operating unions. In Amarillo, District Judge E. C. Nelson ruled in favor of 13 non-union Santa Fe workers who brought suit charging that proposed union-shop contracts were illegal under Texas' "right to work" act, even though they are specifically permitted by a 1951 amendment to the National Railway Labor Act. Judge Nelson handed down a permanent injunction forbidding union-shop contracts between the Santa Fe and any A.F.L. workers in Texas.

Said the judge: "The making and enforcing of a union-shop contract . . . would naturally and inevitably result in depriving the plaintiffs and the Santa Fe of rights guaranteed them under the Constitution . . ." The rights, said the judge, are those of assembly, petition and freedom of speech (the First Amendment), deprivation of property (Fifth), rights retained by the people (Ninth), and those reserved to the states (Tenth).

The ruling is sure to go beyond Texas and the Santa Fe since 13 states have similar "right to work" laws on their books. A dozen suits are pending in state courts. Nebraska and Texas courts have both ruled against the unions in the only two decided thus far.

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