OCTOBER TERM, 1998
Syllabus
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit
No. 97-1056. Argued October 5, 1998—Decided November 3, 1998
The collective bargaining agreement between respondent union, the
Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and respondent movie producer, Lakeside Productions (Lakeside), contained a standard "union security clause" tracking the language of § 8(a)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which authorizes "an agreement . . . to require as a condition of employment membership [in the union] on or after the thirtieth day following the beginning of . . . such employment." The union security clause did not explain that this Court has held that an employee can satisfy § 8(a)(3)'s "membership" condition merely by paying to the union an amount equal to its initiation fees and dues, NLRB v. General Motors Corp., 373 U. S. 734, 742-743, and that § 8(a)(3) does not permit unions to exact dues or fees over the objection of nonmembers for activities that are not germane to collective bargaining, grievance adjustment, or contract administration, Communications Workers v. Beck, 487 U. S. 735, 745, 762-763. The clause did specify, however, that its 30-day grace period provision should be interpreted "to mean that [SAG] membership . . . cannot be required of any performer until . . . 30 . . . days after his first employment as a performer in the motion picture industry." Petitioner, a part-time actress who had previously worked in the industry for more than 30 days, successfully auditioned for a one-line role in a television series produced by Lakeside, but was denied the part when she had not paid SAG's required fees before beginning work. She filed suit alleging, among other things, that SAG had breached its duty of fair representation by negotiating and enforcing a union security clause with two basic flaws. First, she averred, the clause required union "membership" and the payment of full fees and dues when those terms could not be legally enforced under General Motors and Beck. She argued that the collective bargaining agreement should have contained language, in addition to the statutory language, informing her of her rights not to join the union and to pay only for the union's representational activities. Second, she asserted, the clause term interpreting the 30-day grace period to begin running with any employment in the industry contravened § 8(a)(3), which requires a new grace period with each "such employment." The District Court granted summary judgment to the defendants on all claims. Affirming in pertinent part, the Ninth
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