Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 196

REGULATING LABOR UNIONS AND RELATIONS BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEES

AN ACT REGULATING LABOR UNIONS AND RELATIONS BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES, MEMBERS OF LABOR UNIONS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:

Section 1. Definitions:--When used in this Act, or in any instance or situation involving a labor dispute or strike, unless a different meaning is indicated or required:

(a) The term "person" includes one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees or receivers.

(b) The term "employer" means a person who regularly engages the services of two or more employees, other than persons within the classes expressly exempted under the terms of the succeeding paragraph of this section, and includes any person acting on behalf of any such employer within the scope of his authority, express or implied.

() The term "employee" shall include any person working for another for hire in the State of Delaware in a non-executive or non-supervisory capacity, other than an independent contractor; and shall include any individual whose work has ceased solely as a consequence of any current labor dispute and (a) who has not refused or failed to return to work upon the final disposition of a labor dispute, (b) who has not been found to have committed or to have been a party to any unfair labor practice hereunder, (c) who has not obtained regular and substantially equivalent employment elsewhere, or (d) who has not been absent from his employment for a substantial period of time during which reasonable expectancy of settlement has ceased and whose place has not been filled by another engaged in the regular manner for an indefinite or protracted period and not merely for the duration of a strike. The term shall not include any individual employed in the domestic service of a family or on a farm or person at his home or any individual employed by his parent or spouse.

(d) The term "labor organization" means any organization of any kind or any agency or committee or plan of representation in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose in whole or in part of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment or conditions of work.

(e) The term "labor organizer" shall mean any person who solicits memberships in a labor union or members for a labor union.

(f) The term "business agent", as used herein, shall mean any person, without regard to title, who shall act or attempt to act for any "labor union" (a) in the solicitation and/or issuance of membership, or authorization cards, work permits, or any other evidence of rights granted or claimed in, or by, a labor union, or (b) in the negotiation or settlement of * any working agreement or grievance or demand of any employee or group of employees with respect to hours, wages or other conditions of employment, or in soliciting or receiving from any employer any right or privilege for employees of that employer.

(g) The term "representative" includes any person who is the duly authorized agent of a collective bargaining unit.

(h) The term "supervisory employees" means any individual having authority, in the interest of the employer:

(1)to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, demote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline an employee or employees, or to adjust their grievances, or to effectively recommend any such action; or

(2)to determine, or make effective recommendations with respect to, the amount of wages earned by employees, or to apply, or make effective recommendations with respect to the application of, the factors upon which the wages are determined, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.

(i) The term "working agreement" or "collective bargaining agreement" means a collective bargaining contract between an employer and employees in any business or industry with respect to hours, wages or other conditions of employment and shall include any renewal, extension, supplementation, amendment or change in respect to any such agreement.

(j) The term "collective bargaining" is the negotiation by an employer and the representative, or representatives, of a majority of his employees who are in a collective bargaining unit, with respect to hours, wages or other conditions of employment.

(k) The term "collective bargaining unit" shall mean an organization selected by secret ballot, as provided herein, by a majority vote of the employees of one employer employed within the State who vote at an election specially called for the selection of such unit, provided, however, that a majority of such employees engaged in a single craft, division, department, or plant of such employer shall have the right, by secret ballot, to constitute their own collective bargaining unit. Two or more collective bargaining units may bargain collectively through the same representative or representatives where a majority of the employees in each separate unit shall have voted so tq do by secret ballot, as provided herein.

(1) The term "labor dispute": (1) Includes any controversy between an employer and his employees concerning terms, tenure or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment. (2) It shall not be a labor dispute where the disputants do not stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee. (3) The refusal of an employer to enter into an "all-union agreement" shall not constitute a labor dispute. (4) No jurisdictional dispute or controversy between two or more unions as to which of them has or shall have jurisdiction over certain kinds of work, or as to which of two or more bargaining units constitutes the collective bargaining unit as to which the employer stands impartial or ready to negotiate or bargain' with whichever is legally determined to be such bargaining unit shall constitute a labor dispute. (5) It shall not constitute a labor dispute if an employer discharges or refuses to employ an employee on account of incompetence, neglect of work, unsatisfactory service or dishonesty, and the discharge of an employee or the refusal to employ an employee shall constitute a labor dispute only when such discharge or refusal to *employ is in violation of a contract. (6) No labor dispute shall arise from the refusal of an employer to join a union or to cease work in his own business.

(m) The term "all-union agreement" shall mean an agreement between an employer and a union representing some or all of his employees, whereby all of the employees of the employer are, as an incident to employment, required to be members of the union.

() The term "election" means a proceeding taken at a meeting of union members in which its members are authorized by this Act to participate, and cast a secret ballot to select a collective bargaining unit or for any other purpose specified in this Act.

(a) The term "secondary boycott" shall include causing or threatening to cause and combining or conspiring to cause or threaten to cause injury to one not a party to the particular labor dispute, to aid which labor dispute such boycott is initiated or continued, whether by (a) withholding patronage, labor or other beneficial business intercourse; (b) picketing; (c) refusing to handle, install, use or work on particular materials, equipment or supplies, or (d) any other unlawful means, in order to bring him against his will into a concerted plan, to coerce or inflict damage upon another or to compel the party with whom such labor dispute exists to comply with any particular demands.

(p) The term "strike" means a cessation of work by employees as a means of enforcing compliance with some demand made upon the employer and the term also includes a stoppage of work by reason of the expiration of any working agreement.

Section 2. Unfair Labor Practices:--It shall be an unfair labor practice for an employee individually or in concert with others:

(a) To coerce or intimidate an employee in the enjoyment of his legal rights, or to intimidate his family or any member thereof, picket his domicile, or injure the person or property of such employee or his family or of any member thereof, or to attempt to do any of these acts.

(b) To coerce, intimidate or induce any employer to interfere with any of his employees in the enjoyment of their legal rights, or to engage in any practice with regard to his employees, which would constitute an unfair labor practice if undertaken by him on his own initiative.

(c) To violate the terms of a collective bargaining agreement, including an agreement to accept an arbitration award.

(d) To refuse or fail to recognize or accept as conclusive of. any issue in any controversy as to employment relations the final determination, after appeal, if any, of any tribunal having competent jurisdiction of the same or whose jurisdiction the employees or their representatives accepted.

(e) To cooperate in engaging in, promoting or inducing picketing, or any other overt concomitant of a strike unless a majority in a collective bargaining unit of the employees. of an employer against whom such acts are primarily directed have, at a special meeting called for such purpose, voted by secret ballot to call a strike.

() To hinder or prevent, by mass picketing, threats, intimidation, force or coercion of any kind, the pursuit of any lawful work or employment, or to obstruct or interfere with entrance into or egress from any place of employment, or to obstruct or interfere with free and uninterrupted use of public roads, streets, highways, railways, airports, or other ways of travel or conveyance, or to picket, obstruct or interfere with entrances into or egress from the home of any employee or employer or any officer, agent or representative of any employer.

(g) To engage in a secondary boycott, or to hinder or prevent, by threats, intimidation, force, coercion or sabotage, the obtaining, use or disposition of materials, equipment or services, or to combine or conspire to hinder or prevent, by any means whatsoever, the obtaining, use or disposition of materials, equipment or services.

(h) To take, retain, or remain in unauthorized possession of property, real or personal, or any part thereof, of the employer, or to engage in any concerted effort to interfere with production, except by leaving the premises in an orderly manner for the purpose of going on strike.

(i) To engage in a slow-down or a sit-down strike on the premises or property of the employer.

(j) To fail to give the notice of intention to strike as required in any section of this Act.

(k) To commit any crime or misdemeanor in connection with any controversy as to employment relations.

(l) To demand or require any "stand-in" employee to be hired or employed by an employer or to demand or require that the employer employ or pay for an employee to stand by or stand in for work being done by other employees or any of them, or to require the employer to employ or pay for any employee not required by the employer or necessary for the work of the employer.

(m) To do or cause to be done on behalf of or in the interest of employers or employees, or in connection with or to influence the outcome of any controversy as to employment relations, any act prohibited by this Section.

Section 3. Fair Labor Practices:--

a. It is not unfair labor practice for any employer to refuse to grant a closed shop or all-union agreement or to accede to any proposal therefor, as herein provided.

b. The right of both employer and employee freely to express, declare and publish their respective views, and proposals concerning any labor relationship shall not be abrogated or limited by this Act, nor shall the exercise of such right constitute an unfair labor practice.

Section 4. Unlawful Labor Practices:--

a. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, singly or by acting in concert or together, by force, threats or use of violence, to require or coerce any person to join or maintain membership in or refrain from joining or maintaining membership in a labor organization, or to interfere, or to attempt to interfere, with any person in the exercise of his or her lawful right to work, or right to enter upon or pursue any lawful employment he or she may desire, by doing any of the following acts: (1) using profane, insulting, indecent, offensive, annoying, abusive or threatening language toward such person or any member of his or her immediate family, or in his, her or their presence, for the purpose of inducing or influencing or attempting to induce or influence such person to quit his or her employment or to refrain from seeking or freely entering into employment, or to require or coerce any such person to join or maintain membership in or refrain from joining or maintaining membership in a labor organization; (2) following or intercepting such person from or to his work, from or to his home or lodging, or about the city, against the will of such person, for such purposes, or any of them; (3) photographing such person without his consent; (4) menacing, threatening, coercing, intimidating, or frightening, in any manner, such person for such purposes, or any of them; (5) committing an assault and battery upon such person for such purposes, or any of them; (6) loitering about, or patrolling the place of work or residence of such person, or any street, alley, road, highway, or any other place; where such person may be, or in the vicinity thereof, for such purposes, or any of them, against the will of such person.

b. It shall be unlawful for any employer to withhold from wages or salary when and as due any sum or sums to be paid to a person or organization representing labor, commonly known as "check-off" except when and if duly directed to do so by a court of competent jurisdiction; and it shall likewise be unlawful for any employer or organization representing labor to provide in any contract hereafter made that the employer shall withhold from salary or wages when and as due any sum, or sums, familiarly known as "check-off", to be paid to a person or organization representing labor.

Section 5. Unlawful Strikes:--No strike shall be lawful unless it is authorized by a majority vote of the employees in the bargaining unit involved, taken by secret ballot at a special meeting called for such purpose, notice of which shall have been given to each member thereof, and which notice shall set forth all matters to be considered at such special meeting.

Section 6. Secondary Boycotts:--It shall be unlawful, in pursuance of any secondary boycott, for any person or persons, singly or acting in concert or together, to loiter about, beset or patrol in any manner the place of business or occupation of any person, firm or corporation engaged in any lawful business or occupation, or any street, alley, road, highway or other place, in the vicinity where such person, firm or corporation may be lawfully engaged in his, their or its work, business or occupation, for the purpose of inducing or influencing, or attempting to induce or influence, others not to trade with, buy from, sell to, work for, or have business dealings with, such person, firm or corporation, so that thereby the lawful business or occupation of such person,- firm or corporation will be obstructed, interfered with, injured or damaged, and such person, firm or corporation thereby induced or coerced against his, their or its will, intimidated or threatened to do something he, they or it may legally refrain from doing, or to refrain from doing something he, they or it may lawfully do.

Section 7. Arbitration:--Parties to a labor dispute, or employers or associations of employer and unions, may voluntarily agree in writing to have an arbitrator or arbitrators named to arbitrate all or any part of such dispute or differences arising in the administration or interpretation of any such agreement, and on the refusal of any party to proceed with the agreement, such agreement shall be enforceable in the Court of Chancery. The Court of Chancery shall appoint as arbitrators only competent, impartial and disinterested persons. Proceedings in any such arbitration shall be as provided by the rules of arbitration adopted by the American Arbitration Society. The parties shall be bound by the award of the arbitrator, unless it be shown that the award was induced by or was the result of fraud on the part of any party or of the arbitrator or arbitrators. The Court of Chancery shall enforce the provisions of this Section.

Section 8. Enforcement of Union Contracts:--Suits for violation of and to enforce a contract concluded between an employer or association of employers with a union or group of unions, as the result of collective bargaining, may be brought in the Court of Chancery or in the Superior Court having jurisdiction of the parties.

Every labor organization shall be bound by the acts of its duly authorized agents acting within the scope of their authority from the said labor union, when such authority shall have been given by the action of a majority of the members of such labor organization, or shall be implied from the circumstances. Any labor organization may sue or be sued as an entity, acid in behalf of the employees, members thereof or whom it represents; provided, however, that any money judgment against such labor organization shall be enforceable only against the organization as an entity and against its assets or the transferee or transferees thereof, and it shall also be enforceable against any individual member of the organization who shall have been named or made a party and who shall have appeared as a party or shall have been served with subpoena or summons. The service of summons, subpoena, or other legal process, upon any officer or agent of the labor organization shall be and constitute sufficient service upon the labor organization. Any employee who participates in an unlawful strike or other interference with the performance or in violation of an existing collective bargaining agreement may be sued for damages sustained by the employer by reason of any of his acts as herein specified.

The Court of Chancery, upon cause being shown in any case, shall issue against any labor organization or union, party to an employment contract, and the officers and agents thereof, a restraining order or orders and/or a temporary or permanent injunction or injunctions, as may be required, and such restraining order or injunction may prohibit the union, its officers and agents, or all or any of them, whether singly or in concert, from directly or indirectly ordering, directing, urging, inducing, advising, influencing, coercing or intimidating, any member of said union from ceasing or refusing to perform any work or to remain in any relation of employment in violation of any agreement, contract, undertaking or promise to do such work, or to remain in such employment or in connection with any unlawful strike.

Section 9. Injunctive Relief:--The Court of Chancery shall, upon the petition of any person in interest or any organization or person or persons representing any public interest, invoke its general injunctive powers and grant injunctive relief to prevent the perpetration or continuance of any unfair or unlawful labor practice, unlawful strike or secondary boycott, as herein prohibited, and to enforce arbitration agreements herein declared to be enforceable.

Section 10. Regulation of Picketing:--The Court of Chancery shall, upon the filing of a bill of complaint by any party in interest or any organization or persons representing any public interests, showing that there is picketing in any strike or labor dispute, which might tend to disturb or lead to riots, disturbances, assaults, or disturb public peace or injure the property or persons of individuals, (a) limit the number of pickets that may be permitted, (b) prescribe the distance from any plant, entrance or exit where such picketing may be permitted, and (c) otherwise prescribe limits to such picketing, including not only the number of persons picketing, but also the manner or method of persons picketing, and to prevent the use of weapons of any kind or threats or intimidation. Complaints filed under this Act shall have preference over any case pending in the Chancery Court, and shall be heard expeditiously, and the Chancery Court shall always be deemed open for the trial thereof.

Section 11. Registration of Labor Organizations:--Every labor organization engaging in collective bargaining in this State shall within 30 days after the effective date of this Act, or upon establishment organized after the effective date of this Act, and annually thereafter, through its president or other authorized officer, file with the Secretary of State the following information stated under oath: (1) the name of the labor organization; (2) the address at which it has its principal office or does business; (3) the names and titles of its officers and of all members of its governing bodies; (4) the company or companies with which the labor organization deals if a local organization; (5) the industry or industries in which the labor organization operates if a national organization or a craft union; (6) its initiation fees; (7) its annual dues charged each member; (8) assessments levied upon its members during the preceding twelve-month period; (9) the limitations on membership; (10) the number of paid-up members; (11) the date of the last election of officers; (12) the method of election; (13) the vote for and against each candidate for office; (14) the date of the last detailed financial statement furnished all members and the method of publication or circulation of such statement. With such information shall be filed a copy of the Constitution and By-Laws of the labor organization, including all amendments thereto.

Section 12. Reports:--Every labor organization shall, during the month of January and July of each year, file with the Secretary of State a full and intelligible report of its financial condition as of the last day of the preceding month. Such report shall be under oath and shall show the exact amount of all salaries or other compensation and payments of every kind made to every officer and every member of the governing bodies of the organization, and all payments made to any other person during the period covered by the report.

Section 13. Working Agreements:--All labor unions are required to forward to the Secretary of State, within sixty days from the effective date of this Act, copies of all existing working agreements with employers then in effect, and shall after July 1, 1947, file with the Secretary of State, a copy of every working agreement effected with any employer, within twenty days from the execution of such working agreement.

Section 14. Enforcement of Sections 11, 12 and 13:--It shall be unlawful for organizers, officers or agents of any labor organization to fail, neglect or refuse to register said labor union with the Secretary of State as required by Section 11, or to fail, neglect or refuse to file the report required by Section 12, or to fail, neglect or refuse to file working agreements as required by Section 13, and any such failure, neglect or refusal on the part of organizers, officers or agents shall cause a vacancy in such offices of such labor organization and shall render all persons in office at the time of such failure, neglect or refusal, ineligible to reelection for a period of one year. It shall be the duty of the Attorney General, whenever it shall appear that there has been any neglect, failure or refusal, to apply to the Court of Chancery for the issuance of appropriate injunctive process to enforce compliance with Sections 11, 12 and 13 hereof, and such remedy shall be cumulative and in addition to all other remedies provided by law.

Section 15. Inspection of Registration Data, Reports and Working Agreements:--All registration data, reports and working agreements on file in the Office of the Secretary of State, in accordance with Sections 11, 12 and 13, shall be confidential and available and open to inspection only to any state officer, board, commission or agency, upon written request approved by the Attorney General; provided, also, that said registration date, reports and working agreement shall, at all times, be open to inspection by grand juries and judicial and quasi-judicial inquiries in all legal proceedings pending before any Court or administrative agency.

Section 16. False Registrations and Reports:--Any person found guilty of filing any false registration or report, required to be filed with the Secretary of State as provided by this Act, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed One Thousand Dollars and shall be imprisoned for not more than three years, and shall not thereafter be eligible to hold any office or act as agent, directly or indirectly, in any labor union operating in this State for a period of five years from the effective date of any judgment of conviction.

Section 17. Constitution and By-Laws of Unions:--The By-Laws and Constitution of every labor organization operating within this State shall provide for a representative form of government. The terms of all officers, agents and representatives shall be for a period not to exceed one year. Provisions in Union Constitutions and By-Laws, seeking to impose, limit or prescribe terms and conditions of wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, quantity of work to be performed by union members, use of labor-saving devices, or conditions of work, shall be null and void and of no effect.

Section 18. Initiation Fees and Dues:--The dues or initiation fees of any labor organization operating within this State shall not be increased nor shall special assessments upon the members thereof be levied except by a majority vote of the membership of the labor organization or by their representatives expressly authorized to exercise the rights of the members in this respect. No initiation fees shall exceed the sum of $25.00.

Section 19. Meetings of Unions:--All officers, agents, organizers and representatives of labor unions shall be elected annually by majority vote of the members; provided, however, that labor unions, if they so desire, may require more than a majority vote for election of any officer, agent, organizer or representative. Notice of the annual meeting to elect officers, agents and representatives shall be given to every member of the union at least fifteen days before the date of the holding of such meeting, and shall be by written or printed notice mailed to the member's last-known address. No meeting of any labor union shall have a quorum present and authorized to act unless at least a majority of its members, or delegates to a regional or state labor organization, shall be present and voting on all matters presented, considered and determined by the meeting. All elections for officers, agents, and on the question of striking or not striking, shall be determined by secret ballot. No election shall be valid where the result has been influenced by any inducements, threats, coercions or intimidations, and any member of the union may petition the Court of Chancery to review any such election, provided the petition shall be filed within fifteen days from the date the election was determined and the result announced. The result of an election of officers or on the question of striking or not striking shall be ascertained and declared by the president and the secretary of the union at the time of such election and in the presence of the members of the union or delegates, as herein-before mentioned, participating in such meeting. The count and tabulation at all elections shall be supervised by an impartial and credible judge of election who shall not be a member of the Union and such judge shall certify under oath to the members and candidates the total number of votes cast for each office and the number received by each candidate for such office, and the number of votes cast for and against striking. His certificate shall remain a part of the records of the meeting. It is a condition precedent to the validity of any election to consider or vote on the question of striking or not striking that notice of such election shall be given to each member of the union, and said notice shall plainly set forth the matters to be considered at said special meeting, including a fair statement of the proposals of the employer which are to be considered in connection with the action of the union in striking or not striking. Any employer who may be affected by the election shall have the privilege of attending said special meeting and stating orally the proposals that have been made by him or in his behalf to any business agent or representative; and no election shall be valid at which such an employer shall have been refused such privilege as hereinbefore provided.

Section 20. Right to Work and Right to Vote at Union Meetings:--It shall be unlawful for any labor union, labor organizer, officer, agent, representative or member of any labor union to demand, collect or receive, directly or indirectly, any fee, assessment, or sum of money whatsoever, as a work permit or as a condition for the privilege to work, from any person not a member of the union. No charge shall ever be made, nor shall any fee ever be collected for the privilege to work in this state, except that this shall not prevent the collection by a labor union of reasonable initiation fees and dues, provided any such person making any payment of a fee, dues or assessment, shall be given the right of notice of the holding of any union meeting and the right to vote at all union meetings held for the purpose of electing officers and for voting on questions of striking or not striking, notwithstanding any provision in any union constitution or bylaw or any provision contained in any working agreement to the contrary.

Section 21. Who May Not be Officials of Labor Unions:--It shall be unlawful for any alien, communist, or any person convicted of a felony charge in any Court of this State or any other state or of the United States to serve as an officer, agent, representative or official of a labor union or as a labor organizer, as defined in this Act. This section shall not apply to a person who may have been convicted of a felony and whose rights of citizenship shall have been fully restored by pardon proceedings.

Section 22. Unions Not to Conduct Employment Services:--It shall be unlawful for any labor organization to operate or conduct "hiring halls" or other employment or placement services to coerce, intimidate or direct employers to employ persons recommended or approved by such labor organizations or to otherwise interfere with the employer's right to employ persons of his own choosing.

Section 23. Political Contributions:--It shall be unlawful for any labor union to solicit or make any financial contribution to any political party or to any candidate or candidates or persons running for political office as a part of the campaign expenses of such individual, and the provisions hereof shall apply to primary elections, as well as to general elections.

Section 24. Books of Accounts:--It shall be the duty of any and all local labor unions in this State to keep accurate books of accounts, itemizing all receipts from whatsoever source and expenditures for whatsoever purpose, stating such sources and purposes. Every member of a local labor union shall be entitled at all reasonable times to inspect the books, records and accounts of such labor union, and State officers and agencies shall be entitled upon demand, at all reasonable times, to inspect such books, records, and accounts of such labor union. Such books, records and accounts shall also be open to grand juries and judicial and quasi-judicial inquiries in legal proceedings.

Section 25. Suspension or Expulsion of Union Members:--It shall be unlawful for any labor union to suspend or expel any member thereof except for good cause, and upon a fair and public hearing accorded by and within the labor organization, after due notice to such member and an opportunity to be heard, accompanied by counsel, on specific charges preferred in writing. Any person so suspended or expelled may petition the Court of Chancery to review any such hearing and, on cause being shown, the Court of Chancery shall order the reinstatement of any member of the labor organization who shall be found to have been suspended or expelled without good cause.

Section 26. Members of Armed Forces:--Any employee who is a member of any union, who, because of services with the Armed Forces of the United States, has been unable to pay any clues, assessments, or sums levied by any union, shall not hereafter be required to make such back payments as a condition to reinstatement in good standing as a member of any union to which he belonged.

Section 27. Penalties:--Any person, member, representative, agent, or officer, or labor union or labor organizer, who violates any provision of this Act for which there is no specific penalty provided shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof in the Court of General Sessions, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars or by imprisonment not to exceed sixty days, or by both fine and imprisonment; provided that for a third and subsequent conviction for any offense the Court shall impose a fine of not less than Five Hundred Dollars and may impose a prison sentence not to exceed six months or both.

Section 28. Civil Penalties and Liability for Damages:--Any person, firm or corporation who suffers injury because of an unlawful strike or because of some act of unfair or unlawful labor practice, as defined herein, or because of any secondary boycott, as defined herein, or because of any violation of a working agreement, or by reason of any violation of Section 21 hereof, or by reason of any unlawful suspension or expulsion from membership in a union, shall have a right of action in the Superior Court against the union involved in or responsible for such injury, and all persons participating in any of the aforesaid acts, jointly and severally, may be held liable with the union for any injuries sustained. If any person, otherwise unwilling to do so, is induced to violate a contract of employment or for services or for materials, or is prevented by any unfair or unlawful labor practice to carry out and perform any contract, any person, firm or corporation injured thereby shall be entitled to recover three times the amount of damages sustained in an action at law against the persons, jointly and severally, so inducing the violation of such obligations or preventing performance of a contract, and have judgment accordingly.

Section 29. Existing Contracts Unaffected:--Nothing in this Act shall operate to abrogate, annul or modify any valid agreement respecting employment relations existing on the effective date hereof or any renewal thereof.

Section 30. Certain Relations Between Employer and Employee Deemed Contrary to Public Policy:--Every undertaking, contract, agreement or promise, hereafter made, whether written or oral, express or implied, between any employee or prospective employee and his employer, prospective employer, or any other person, firm, association, company or corporation, whereby a party thereto undertakes or promises to join or remain a member of some specific labor organization or organizations and/or undertakes or promises not to join or not to. remain a 'member of some specific labor organization or organizations and/or undertakes or promises that he will withdraw from an employment relation in the event that he joins or remains a member of some specific labor organization or organizations, is hereby declared to be contrary to public policy and shall not afford any basis for the granting of legal or equitable relief in any Court of this State against a party to such undertaking or promise, or against Any other persons who may advise, urge or induce, without fraud,* violence or threat thereof, or by means of any fraud, violence or threat thereof, and either party thereto may, without any legal liability, act in disregard of any such undertaking or promise.

Section 31. Construction of This Act:--Except as specifically provided in this Act, nothing herein shall be construed so as to interfere with or impede or diminish in any way the right of individuals to work or to strike, nor shall anything in this Act be so construed as an unlawful invasion of the constitutional right to freedom of speech or of peaceful assembly. The fact that provisions of this Act, or some of them, may have been adopted from other states, or the language of the statutes of other states has been used in the preparation of this Act shall, nevertheless, not be taken to adopt as the construction of such provisions the decisions of such other states construing such statutes of other states, and it is not the intention of the General Assembly in adopting this Act necessarily to adopt the construction that may have been placed upon any similar provisions by the Courts of other states.

Section 32. Constitutional Construction:--The provisions of this Act shall be severable. Should any Court of this State or of the United States declare any provision, section, paragraph, clause, sentence, phrase or part of this Act invalid or unconstitutional, or in conflict with any other section, provision, paragraph, clause, sentence, phrase or part of this Act, then such decision shall affect only the section, provision, paragraph, clause, sentence, phrase or part thereof declared to be unconstitutional or unauthorized, and shall not affect any other part whatsoever of this Act. The General Assembly of the State of Delaware hereby declares that it would have passed this Act and each section, provision, paragraph, clause, sentence or phrase thereof irrespective of the fact that one or more of the other sections, provisions, paragraphs, clauses, sentences or phrases or parts thereof be declared invalid or unconstitutional.

Section 33. Nothing in this Act shall apply to any carrier, employer or labor dispute subject to the Federal Railway Labor Act.

Section 34. This Act shall not be effective in relation to any person included within the terms "carrier", "carrier by air", "employee", or "representative" as used or defined in the Railway Labor Act, as amended.

Approved April 5, 1947.