The corporation and Local 13 of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America had a collective bargaining agreement which provided:

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"Promotions and reclassifications and increases or decreases in the working force shall be based upon length of service and ability to do the job. Wherever between two or more men, ability is fairly equal, length of service shall be the controlling factor."

As work at the shipyard decreased, men would be laid off. The men selected by the foremen, on the basis of ability and seniority, to be laid off would report to a department head for reassignment on the basis of their relative seniority when work became available. On each of nine days in the spring of 1945 petitioner was laid off although other welders, not veterans of the recent war, possessing the same or similar skill as petitioner, were given work on those days. These men were preferred because they had a higher shop seniority than petitioner. The decision to lay off petitioner followed a decision of an arbitrator who ruled that the seniority provisions of the collective bargaining agreement, which we have quoted, required it and

2 The agreement also provided:

"Any employee other than a probationary employee who is drafted or volunteers for the Naval, Military or Merchant Marine Service of the United States, shall retain his seniority standing. In any further determination of said employee's seniority status, the length of time spent by the employee in such service shall count toward his seniority as if he were actually and continuously employed by the Company. Any such employee who volunteers or is drafted must give the Company notice of his intention to so leave his employment. Any such employee who, within forty (40) days after his release or discharge from said service applies for re-employment, shall be rehired by the Company, provided work is available and the employee is reasonably fit for duty. Availability for work will be determined according to accumulated seniority and ability. If re-employed, said employee shall then receive the then current rate of pay for the job for which he is re-employed."

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that they were not inconsistent with the provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940.

Thereupon petitioner brought this suit, pursuant to § 8 (e) of the Act,3 to obtain a declaratory judgment as to his rights under the Act and to obtain compensation for the days he was not allowed to work. The corporation answered, justifying its action by the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement and the decision of the arbitrator. The union was permitted to intervene. It alleged in its answer that the action of the corporation was warranted by the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement and was not in violation of the Act. The District Court refused the declaratory judgment requested,

3 Section 8 (e) provides:

"In case any private employer fails or refuses to comply with the provisions. of subsection (b) or subsection (c), the district court of the United States for the district in which such private employer maintains a place of business shall have power, upon the filing of a motion, petition, or other appropriate pleading by the person entitled to the benefits of such provisions, to specifically require such employer to comply with such provisions, and, as an incident thereto, to compensate such person for any loss of wages or benefits suffered by reason of such employer's unlawful action. The court shall order a speedy hearing in any such case and shall advance it on the calendar. Upon application to the United States district attorney or comparable official for the district in which such private employer maintains a place of business, by any person claiming to be entitled to the benefits of such provisions, such United States district attorney or official, if reasonably satisfied that the person so applying is entitled to such benefits, shall appear and act as attorney for such person in the amicable adjustment of the claim or in the filing of any motion, petition, or other appropriate pleading and the prosecution thereof to specifically require such employer to comply with such provisions: Provided, That no fees or court costs shall be taxed against the person so applying for such benefits."

The United States appeared as amicus curiae in the Circuit Court of Appeals. It appears in this Court as representative of petitioner by reason of the provisions of § 8 (e).

* Permissive intervention is governed by Rule 24 (b) of the Rules of Civil Procedure which allows it on timely application "when an applicant's claim or defense and the main action have a question of law or fact in common."

but entered a money judgment for petitioner for the loss of wages during the nine days in question. 62 F. Supp. 25. It held that petitioner was laid off in violation of the Act. It was also of the view that the collective bargaining agreement was not inconsistent with the Act. Only the union appealed. The Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, one judge dissenting. 154 F. 2d 785. It held that the Act did not give petitioner the preference which he claimed and that the terms of the collective bargaining agreement justified the corporation's action. The case is here on a petition for a writ of certiorari which we granted because of the importance of the question presented.

I. We are met at the outset with the claim that the union had no appealable interest in the judgment entered by the District Court and accordingly that the Circuit Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to entertain it. It is pointed out that a money judgment was entered only against the corporation and that no relief was granted against the union. It is therefore argued that the judgment did not affect any substantive right of the union and that at most the union had merely an interest in the outcome of litigation which might establish a precedent adverse to it. Boston Tow Boat Co. v. United States, 321. U. S. 632. It is also pointed out that the statutory guarantee against discharge without cause for one year had

5 Section 8 (c) of the Act provides:

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"Any person who is restored to a position in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (A) or (B) of subsection (b) shall be considered as having been on furlough or leave of absence during his period of training and service in the land or naval forces, shall be so restored without loss of seniority, shall be entitled to participate in insurance or other benefits offered by the employer pursuant to established rules and practices relating to employees on furlough or leave of absence in effect with the employer at the time such person was inducted into such forces, and shall not be discharged from such position without cause within one year after such restoration."

Paragraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (b) of § 8 are set forth in note 1, supra.

expired at the time of the District Court's judgment, that therefore no declaratory relief was granted, and that petitioner's rights for the future were not adjudicated. It is contended that the dispute between petitioner and the union has thus become moot.

But that argument misses the point. The answer of the corporation and the union put in issue the question whether there was a conflict between the collective bargaining agreement and the Act and, if so, which one prevailed. The parties to the collective bargaining agreement-the union and the corporation-were before the court. A decision on the merits of petitioner's claim necessarily involved a reconciliation between the Act and the collective bargaining agreement or, if it appeared that they conflicted, an adjudication that one superseded the other. As we have noted, the District Court was of the view that the collective bargaining agreement was not inconsistent with the Act. But, however the result might be rationalized, a decision for or against petitioner necessarily involved a construction of the collective bargaining agreement. That issue was adjudicated, with the union as a party. Hence, if the union had thereafter instituted a separate suit for an interpretation of the agreement, it would be met with the plea of res judicata. And that plea would be sustained, for the prior decision was on the precise point which the union sought to relitigate and was adverse to the union. And both parties to the agreement-the union and the corporation-were parties to the prior suit. This elementary principle has long been recognized. Black, The Law of Judgments (2d ed.), pp. 764, 821, 936. As stated in Cromwell v. County of Sac, 94 U. S. 351, 352, a prior judgment "is a finality as to the claim or demand in controversy, concluding parties and those in privity with them, not only as to every matter which was offered and received to sustain or defeat the claim or demand, but as to any other admissible matter

which might have been offered for that purpose." And see Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U. S. 413, 415; Grubb v. Public Utilities Commission, 281 U. S. 470, 479; Stoll v. Gottlieb, 305 U. S. 165; Chicot County Drainage Dist. v. Baxter State Bank, 308 U. S. 371, 375, 378. The case of Boston Tow Boat Co. v. United States, supra, would be relevant if the collective bargaining agreement in issue was one between different parties. Then the union's interest would be merely the interest of one seeking reversal of an adverse precedent. And its "independent right to relief" would not be increased by reason of its intervention in the cause. Alexander Sprunt & Son v. United States, 281 U. S. 249, 255. But here the rights of the union and its members under a contract with the corporation were adjudicated in a proceeding in which the union was a party. The contract was still in existence at the time of the appeal. Hence the case was not moot. And the only way the union could protect itself against that binding interpretation of the agreement was by an appeal. For then the union found itself in the position where a right of its own (Alexander Sprunt & Son v. United States, supra, p. 255) was adjudicated."

It is suggested, however, that the result of what we do is to free the union and the employer from costs and burden Fishgold with them. There are several answers to that. The allowance of costs has no bearing on what

6 In that case Boston Tow Boat Co. intervened in a proceeding before the Interstate Commerce Commission involving the status of another carrier. It sought to appeal from the adverse decision against the other carrier. That right was denied. The order in question was not determinative of the status of Boston Tow Boat Co. That question was involved in another order of the Commission from which Boston Tow Boat Co. had an appeal pending.

The case is therefore closely analogous to one where the interest of an intervenor in property involved in the litigation was adjudicated. Dexter Horton National Bank v. Hawkins, 190 F. 924; United States 'v. Northwestern Development Co., 203 F. 960.