opinion: INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN’S ASSOCIATION, LOCAL 1416, AFL-CIO v. ARIADNE SHIPPING CO., LTD., et al.
  No. 231.
  Argued January 13, 1970
  Decided March 9, 1970
  Seymour M. Waldman argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Louis Waldman, Martin Markson, and Seymour A. Gopman.
  Richard M. Leslie argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief was Thomas H. Anderson.
  Solicitor General Griswold, Arnold Ordman, Dominick L. Manoli, and Norton J. Come filed a memorandum for the National Labor Relations Board as amicus curiae.
  Mr. Justice Brennan
  delivered the opinion of the Court.
  The question presented here is whether the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, as amended, 29 U. S. C. § 151 et seq., pre-empts state jurisdiction to enjoin peaceful picketing protesting substandard wages paid by foreign-flag vessels to American longshoremen working in American ports. The Florida courts held that there was no pre-emption, citing McCulloch v. Sociedad Nacional, 372 U. S. 10 (1963), and lucres Steamship Co. v. International Maritime Workers Union, 372 U. S. 24 (1963). We granted certiorari. 396 U. S. 814 (1969). We reverse.
  In 1966 the respondents, a Liberian corporation and a Panamanian corporation, operated cruise ships to the Caribbean from Port Everglades and Miami, Florida. Respondent Ariadne Shipping Company operated the S. S. Ariadne, of Liberian registry, with a crew subject to Liberian ship's articles. Respondent Evangeline Steamship Company operated S. S. Bahama Star, of Panamanian registry, with a crew subject to Panamanian ship’s articles. The uncontradicted evidence showed that “[ljoading of the ship, stowage and loading of automobiles, loading cargo and ship stowage” occurred whenever either vessel berthed at Port Everglades or Miami, “[pjart of it [performed] by employees of the ship and some of it by outside labor.” The petitioner is a labor organization representing longshoremen in the Miami area. Although none of those doing the long-shore work for the ships belonged to the union, whenever either vessel docked at Port Everglades or Miami in May 1966, petitioner stationed a picket near the vessel to patrol with a placard protesting that the longshore work was being done under substandard wage conditions. Respondents obtained temporary injunctive relief against the picketing from the Circuit Court for Dade County. That court rejected petitioner’s contention that the subject matter was pre-empted, holding that under McCul-loch the picketing was beyond the reach of the regulatory power of the National Labor Relations Board, and hence could be enjoined, since it violated Florida law. The temporary injunction was affirmed by the District Court of Appeal for the Third District of Florida in a brief per curiam order citing McCulloch and Incres. 195 So. 2d 238 (1967). Thereafter the Circuit Court, without further hearing, made the injunction permanent. The District Court of Appeal again affirmed, although noting that the testimony “tended to show” that the picketing was carried on to protest against the substandard wages paid for the longshore work. 215 So. 2d 51, 53 (1968). The Supreme Court of Florida denied review in an unreported order.
  McCulloch and lucres construed the National Labor Relations Act to preclude Board jurisdiction over labor disputes concerning certain maritime operations of foreign-flag vessels. Specifically, Incres, 372 U. S., at 27, held that “maritime operations of foreign-flag ships employing alien seamen are not in 'commerce’ within the meaning of § 2 (6) [of the Act].” See also Benz v. Compania Naviera Hidalgo, 353 U. S. 138 (1957). This construction of the statute, however, was addressed to situations in which Board regulation of the labor relations in question would necessitate inquiry into the “internal discipline and order” of a foreign vessel, an intervention thought likely to “raise considerable disturbance not only in the field of maritime law but in our international relations as well." McCulloch, 372 U. S., at 19.
  In Benz a foreign-flag vessel temporarily in an American port was picketed by an American seamen’s union, supporting the demands of a foreign crew for more favorable conditions than those in the ship’s articles which they signed under foreign law, upon joining the vessel in a foreign port. In McCulloch an American seamen’s union petitioned for a representation election among the foreign crew members of a Honduran-flag vessel who were already represented by a Honduran union, certified under Honduran labor law. Again, in lucres the picketing was by an American union formed “for the primary purpose of organizing foreign seamen on foreign-flag ships.” 372 U. S., at 25-26. In these cases, we concluded that, since the Act primarily concerns strife between American employers and employees, we could reasonably expect Congress to have stated expressly any intention to include within its coverage disputes between foreign ships and their foreign crews. Thus we could not find such an intention by implication, particularly since to do so would thrust the National Labor Relations Board into “a delicate field of international relations,” Benz, 353 U. S., at 147. Assertion of jurisdiction by the Board over labor relations already governed by foreign law might well provoke “vigorous protests from foreign governments and . . . international problems for our Government,” McCulloch, 372 U. S., at 17, and “invite retaliatory action from other nations,” id., at 21. Moreover, to construe the Act to embrace disputes involving the “internal discipline and order” of a foreign ship would be to impute to Congress the highly unlikely intention of departing from “the well-established rule of international law that the law of the flag state ordinarily governs the internal affairs of a ship,” a principle frequently recognized in treaties with other countries. Ibid.
  The considerations that informed the Court’s construction of the statute in the cases above are clearly inapplicable to the situation presented here. The participation of some crew members in the longshore work does not obscure the fact that this dispute centered on the wages to be paid American residents, who were employed by each foreign ship not to serve as members of its crew but rather to do casual longshore work. There is no evidence that these occasional workers were involved in any internal affairs of either ship which would be governed by foreign law. They were American residents, hired to work exclusively on American docks as longshoremen, not as seamen on respondents’ vessels. The critical inquiry then is whether the longshore activities of such American residents were within the “maritime operations of foreign-flag ships” which McCulloch, lucres, and Benz found to be beyond the scope of the Act.
  We hold that their activities were not within these excluded operations. The American longshoremen’s short-term, irregular and casual connection with the respective vessels plainly belied any involvement on their part with the ships’ “internal discipline and order.” Application of United States law to resolve a dispute over the wages paid the men for their longshore work, accordingly, would have threatened no interference in the internal affairs of foreign-flag ships likely to lead to conflict with foreign or international law. We therefore find that these longshore operations were in “commerce” within the meaning of § 2 (6), and thus might have been subject to the regulatory power of the National Labor Relations Board.
  The jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board is exclusive and pre-emptive as to activities that are “arguably subject” to regulation under § 7 or § 8 of the Act. San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U. S. 236, 245 (1959). The activities of petitioner in this case met that test. The union’s peaceful primary picketing to protest wage rates below established area standards arguably constituted protected activity under § 7. See Steelworkers v. NLRB, 376 U. S. 492, 498-499 (1964); Garner v. Teamsters Union, 346 U. S. 485, 499-500 (1953).
  ■ Reversed.
  A picket was also stationed in front of the terminal through which passengers embarked and disembarked. This picket carried a sign alleging that the ships were unsafe, and passed out handbills to the same effect.
  The injunctive order was in four paragraphs. Paragraphs 1 and 2 prohibited picketing with signs, or distributing handbills stating, alleging, or inferring that the vessels were unsafe. The petitioner abandoned its appeal from these provisions and they are not before us. Paragraph 4 was set aside on appeal. See n. 3, infra. Paragraph 3 therefore is the only provision under review in this Court. It prohibits petitioner from:
  “Picketing or patrolling with signs or placards indicating or inferring that a labor dispute exists between [respondents] and [petitioner], by any statement, legend or language alleging [that respondents] pay their employees substandard wages.”
  Initially petitioner directed the picketing not at respondents’ ships but at Eastern Steamship Lines, Inc., a Florida corporation that acted as respondents’ general agent. Eastern obtained a temporary injunction, 193 So. 2d 73 (1966), whereupon petitioner shifted the picketing to the ships themselves.
  The Court of Appeal set aside paragraph 4 of the injunction which prohibited “[b]y any manner or by any means, including picketing or the distribution of handbills, inducing or attempting to induce customers and potential customers of [respondents] to cease doing business with [respondents].” 215 So. 2d, at 52 n. 1.
  We put to one side situations in which the longshore work, although involving activities on an American dock, is carried out entirely by a ship’s foreign crew, pursuant to foreign ship’s articles.
  The Board has reached the same conclusion in similar situations. See, e. g., International Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s Union, Local 13, 161 N. L. R. B. 451 (1966); Marine Cooks & Stewards Union, 156 N. L. R. B. 753 (1966); New York Shipping Assn., Inc., 116 N. L. R. B. 1183 (1956). Cf. Uravic v. Jarka Co., 282 U. S. 234 (1931).
  Our conclusion makes it unnecessary to consider petitioner’s further contention that in the absence of any evidence of an illegal objective, prohibition of peaceful picketing to publicize substandard wages deprived petitioner of freedom of speech in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
choices: attorney general of the United States, or his office specified state board or department of education city, town, township, village, or borough government or governmental unit state commission, board, committee, or authority county government or county governmental unit, except school district court or judicial district state department or agency governmental employee or job applicant female governmental employee or job applicant minority governmental employee or job applicant minority female governmental employee or job applicant not listed among agencies in the first Administrative Action variable retired or former governmental employee U.S. House of Representatives interstate compact judge state legislature, house, or committee local governmental unit other than a county, city, town, township, village, or borough governmental official, or an official of an agency established under an interstate compact state or U.S. supreme court local school district or board of education U.S. Senate U.S. senator foreign nation or instrumentality state or local governmental taxpayer, or executor of the estate of state college or university United States State person accused, indicted, or suspected of crime advertising business or agency agent, fiduciary, trustee, or executor airplane manufacturer, or manufacturer of parts of airplanes airline distributor, importer, or exporter of alcoholic beverages alien, person subject to a denaturalization proceeding, or one whose citizenship is revoked American Medical Association National Railroad Passenger Corp. amusement establishment, or recreational facility arrested person, or pretrial detainee attorney, or person acting as such;includes bar applicant or law student, or law firm or bar association author, copyright holder bank, savings and loan, credit union, investment company bankrupt person or business, or business in reorganization establishment serving liquor by the glass, or package liquor store water transportation, stevedore bookstore, newsstand, printer, bindery, purveyor or distributor of books or magazines brewery, distillery broker, stock exchange, investment or securities firm construction industry bus or motorized passenger transportation vehicle business, corporation buyer, purchaser cable TV car dealer person convicted of crime tangible property, other than real estate, including contraband chemical company child, children, including adopted or illegitimate religious organization, institution, or person private club or facility coal company or coal mine operator computer business or manufacturer, hardware or software consumer, consumer organization creditor, including institution appearing as such; e.g., a finance company person allegedly criminally insane or mentally incompetent to stand trial defendant debtor real estate developer disabled person or disability benefit claimant distributor person subject to selective service, including conscientious objector drug manufacturer druggist, pharmacist, pharmacy employee, or job applicant, including beneficiaries of employer-employee trust agreement, employee health and welfare fund, or multi-employer pension plan electric equipment manufacturer electric or hydroelectric power utility, power cooperative, or gas and electric company eleemosynary institution or person environmental organization employer. If employer's relations with employees are governed by the nature of the employer's business (e.g., railroad, boat), rather than labor law generally, the more specific designation is used in place of Employer. farmer, farm worker, or farm organization father female employee or job applicant female movie, play, pictorial representation, theatrical production, actor, or exhibitor or distributor of fisherman or fishing company food, meat packing, or processing company, stockyard foreign (non-American) nongovernmental entity franchiser franchisee lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual person or organization person who guarantees another's obligations handicapped individual, or organization of devoted to health organization or person, nursing home, medical clinic or laboratory, chiropractor heir, or beneficiary, or person so claiming to be hospital, medical center husband, or ex-husband involuntarily committed mental patient Indian, including Indian tribe or nation insurance company, or surety inventor, patent assigner, trademark owner or holder investor injured person or legal entity, nonphysically and non-employment related juvenile government contractor holder of a license or permit, or applicant therefor magazine male medical or Medicaid claimant medical supply or manufacturing co. racial or ethnic minority employee or job applicant minority female employee or job applicant manufacturer management, executive officer, or director, of business entity military personnel, or dependent of, including reservist mining company or miner, excluding coal, oil, or pipeline company mother auto manufacturer newspaper, newsletter, journal of opinion, news service radio and television network, except cable tv nonprofit organization or business nonresident nuclear power plant or facility owner, landlord, or claimant to ownership, fee interest, or possession of land as well as chattels shareholders to whom a tender offer is made tender offer oil company, or natural gas producer elderly person, or organization dedicated to the elderly out of state noncriminal defendant political action committee parent or parents parking lot or service patient of a health professional telephone, telecommunications, or telegraph company physician, MD or DO, dentist, or medical society public interest organization physically injured person, including wrongful death, who is not an employee pipe line company package, luggage, container political candidate, activist, committee, party, party member, organization, or elected official indigent, needy, welfare recipient indigent defendant private person prisoner, inmate of penal institution professional organization, business, or person probationer, or parolee protester, demonstrator, picketer or pamphleteer (non-employment related), or non-indigent loiterer public utility publisher, publishing company radio station racial or ethnic minority person or organization protesting racial or ethnic segregation or discrimination racial or ethnic minority student or applicant for admission to an educational institution realtor journalist, columnist, member of the news media resident restaurant, food vendor retarded person, or mental incompetent retired or former employee railroad private school, college, or university seller or vendor shipper, including importer and exporter shopping center, mall spouse, or former spouse stockholder, shareholder, or bondholder retail business or outlet student, or applicant for admission to an educational institution taxpayer or executor of taxpayer's estate, federal only tenant or lessee theater, studio forest products, lumber, or logging company person traveling or wishing to travel abroad, or overseas travel agent trucking company, or motor carrier television station union member unemployed person or unemployment compensation applicant or claimant union, labor organization, or official of veteran voter, prospective voter, elector, or a nonelective official seeking reapportionment or redistricting of legislative districts (POL) wholesale trade wife, or ex-wife witness, or person under subpoena network slave slave-owner bank of the united states timber company u.s. job applicants or employees Army and Air Force Exchange Service Atomic Energy Commission Secretary or administrative unit or personnel of the U.S. Air Force Department or Secretary of Agriculture Alien Property Custodian Secretary or administrative unit or personnel of the U.S. Army Board of Immigration Appeals Bureau of Indian Affairs Bonneville Power Administration Benefits Review Board Civil Aeronautics Board Bureau of the Census Central Intelligence Agency Commodity Futures Trading Commission Department or Secretary of Commerce Comptroller of Currency Consumer Product Safety Commission Civil Rights Commission Civil Service Commission, U.S. Customs Service or Commissioner of Customs Defense Base Closure and REalignment Commission Drug Enforcement Agency Department or Secretary of Defense (and Department or Secretary of War) Department or Secretary of Energy Department or Secretary of the Interior Department of Justice or Attorney General Department or Secretary of State Department or Secretary of Transportation Department or Secretary of Education U.S. Employees' Compensation Commission, or Commissioner Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Environmental Protection Agency or Administrator Federal Aviation Agency or Administration Federal Bureau of Investigation or Director Federal Bureau of Prisons Farm Credit Administration Federal Communications Commission (including a predecessor, Federal Radio Commission) Federal Credit Union Administration Food and Drug Administration Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Federal Energy Administration Federal Election Commission Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Federal Housing Administration Federal Home Loan Bank Board Federal Labor Relations Authority Federal Maritime Board Federal Maritime Commission Farmers Home Administration Federal Parole Board Federal Power Commission Federal Railroad Administration Federal Reserve Board of Governors Federal Reserve System Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation Federal Trade Commission Federal Works Administration, or Administrator General Accounting Office Comptroller General General Services Administration Department or Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Department or Secretary of Health and Human Services Department or Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Interstate Commerce Commission Indian Claims Commission Immigration and Naturalization Service, or Director of, or District Director of, or Immigration and Naturalization Enforcement Internal Revenue Service, Collector, Commissioner, or District Director of Information Security Oversight Office Department or Secretary of Labor Loyalty Review Board Legal Services Corporation Merit Systems Protection Board Multistate Tax Commission National Aeronautics and Space Administration Secretary or administrative unit of the U.S. Navy National Credit Union Administration National Endowment for the Arts National Enforcement Commission National Highway Traffic Safety Administration National Labor Relations Board, or regional office or officer National Mediation Board National Railroad Adjustment Board Nuclear Regulatory Commission National Security Agency Office of Economic Opportunity Office of Management and Budget Office of Price Administration, or Price Administrator Office of Personnel Management Occupational Safety and Health Administration Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Office of Workers' Compensation Programs Patent Office, or Commissioner of, or Board of Appeals of Pay Board (established under the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation U.S. Public Health Service Postal Rate Commission Provider Reimbursement Review Board Renegotiation Board Railroad Adjustment Board Railroad Retirement Board Subversive Activities Control Board Small Business Administration Securities and Exchange Commission Social Security Administration or Commissioner Selective Service System Department or Secretary of the Treasury Tennessee Valley Authority United States Forest Service United States Parole Commission Postal Service and Post Office, or Postmaster General, or Postmaster United States Sentencing Commission Veterans' Administration War Production Board Wage Stabilization Board General Land Office of Commissioners Transportation Security Administration Surface Transportation Board U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corp. Reconstruction Finance Corp. Department or Secretary of Homeland Security Unidentifiable International Entity