Wednesday, April 29. 1987 F3
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that railroad workers may engage in secondary picketing, a tactic that could shut down all the nationÛªs railroads over a labor dispute at just one rail line.</br></br>By a 9-0 vote, the justices said federal law did not give federal courts the power to stop such picketing.</br></br>In secondary picketing, union members involved in a labor dispute against a particular company demonstrate against other companies in the same industry that are not directly involved in the dispute.</br></br>In another case affecting business, the court ruled railroads may sue in federal court over alleged discriminatory taxation by states.</br></br>The picketing decision upheld a ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago stemming from a dispute involving the Maine Central Railroad that threatened to disrupt rail transportation nationwide.