Thunder Basin Coal Co. v. Reich, 510 U.S. 200, 15 (1994)

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214

THUNDER BASIN COAL CO. v. REICH

Opinion of the Court

gaining under the NLRA and petitioner's right "to exclude nonemployee union organizers from [its] property," Lech-mere, Inc. v. NLRB, 502 U. S. 527, 532 (1992), and that adjudication of petitioner's claims through the statutory-review provisions will violate due process by depriving petitioner of meaningful review. Petitioner's statutory claims at root require interpretation of the parties' rights and duties under § 813(f) and 30 CFR pt. 40, and as such arise under the Mine Act and fall squarely within the Commission's expertise. The Commission, which was established as an independent-review body to "develop a uniform and comprehensive interpretation" of the Mine Act, Hearing on the Nomination of Members of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission before the Senate Committee on Human Resources, 95th Cong., 2d Sess., 1 (1978), has extensive experience interpreting the walk-around rights 17 and recently addressed the precise NLRA claims presented here.18 Al-17 See Cyprus Empire Corp. v. Secretary, 15 F. M. S. H. R. C. 10 (1993) (striking workers' entitlement to walk-around representation); Council of Southern Mountains, Inc. v. Martin County Coal Corp., 6 F. M. S. H. R. C. 206 (1984), aff'd sub nom. Council of Southern Mountains, Inc. v. FMS- HRC, 751 F. 2d 1418 (CADC 1985) (nonemployee miners' representative entitlement to monitor training courses at the mine); Magma Copper Co. v. Secretary, 1 F. M. S. H. R. C. 1948 (1979), aff'd in part, 645 F. 2d 694 (CA9 1981) (compensation for multiple miners' representatives).

18 See Kerr-McGee Coal Corp. v. Secretary, 15 F. M. S. H. R. C. 352 (1993). The Commission concluded that there was "no basis" for limiting the designation of miners' representatives to "member[s] of a union that also represents the miners for collective bargaining purposes under the NLRA," id., at 361, since the "discrete safety and health purpose of the Mine Act . . . render these NLRA principles inapplicable here," id., at 362. The Commission noted that the preamble to 30 CFR pt. 40 expressly disapproves incorporation of the NLRA's majoritarian representation principles, 15 F. M. S. H. R. C., at 359, and n. 8, and rejected petitioner's property-rights claim, since "Lechmere does not reverse walkaround law as it has developed under the Mine Act." Id., at 362. Cf. Emery Mining Corp. v. Secretary, 10 F. M. S. H. R. C. 276 (1988), aff'd in part and rev'd in part sub nom. Utah Power & Light Co. v. Secretary of Labor, 897 F. 2d

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