Accessory Control and Equipment Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 3, 1980

248 N.L.R.B. 1 (N.L.R.B. 1980)

ACCESSORY CONTROL AND EQUIPMENT CORPORATION 1
Accessory Control and Equipment Corporation and
Lodge 743, International Association of Ma-
chinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO.
Cases 1-CA-13514, 1-CA-14391, and -CA-
15479
March 3, 1980
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN FANNING AND MEMBERS
PENELLO AND TRUESDALE
On December 12, 1979, Administrative Law
Judge Herbert Silberman issued the attached Deci-
sion in this proceeding. Thereafter, the General
Counsel filed an exception and a supporting brief,
and the Respondent filed a brief in opposition to
the General Counsel's exception.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has considered the record and the at-
tached Decision in light of the exception and briefs
and has decided to affirm the rulings, findings, and
conclusions of the Administrative Law Judge and
to adopt his recommended Order.2
ORDER
Pursuant to Section 10(c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Re-
lations Board adopts as its Order the recommended
Order of the Administrative Law Judge and
hereby orders that the Respondent, Accessory
Controls and Equipment Corporation, Windsor,
Connecticut, its officers, agents, successors, and as-
signs, shall take the action set forth in the said rec-
ommended Order, except that the attached notice
is substituted for that of the Administrative Law
Judge.
t The Respondent and the General Counsel entered into a settlement
of this case which the Administrative Law Judge has accepted in his De-
cision. The General Counsel now excepts, however, to the Administra-
tive Law Judge's failure to include in his Decision a finding that the Re-
spondent had agreed to the entry of a court decree enforcing, if neces-
sary, the Board's Decision and Order in this case. While the record re-
veals that the Respondent conceded that it would have "no standing or
right to contest the action of the Board" if the Board sought by court
decree to enforce its Decision and Order, we nevertheless find that the
parties did not agree to have said understanding included as part of the
Administrative Law Judge's Decision and recommended Order. Accord-
ingly, we find no merit in the General Counsel's exception.
2 We have modified the Administrative Law Judge's notice to conform
with his recommended Order.
248 NLRB No. I
APPENDIX
NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES
POSTED BY ORDER OF THE
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
An Agency of the United States Government
WE WILL NOT tell any employee serving on
the Union's negotiating committee that we will
have the employee removed from said com-
mittee.
WE WILL NOT violate the physical property
rights of the Union.
WE WILL NOT solicit the return of any strik-
ers by promising them wages, hours, or terms
and conditions that differ from those which
we have offered to the Union as the collec-
tive-bargaining representative of our employ-
ees.
WE WILL NOT photograph any peaceful
picket line.
WE WILL NOT refuse to bargain collectively
in good faith with Lodge 743, International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers, AFL-CIO, concerning the hours,
wages, and other terms and conditions of em-
ployment of the employees represented in the
following appropriate unit:
All production and maintenance employees
employed by us at our Windsor, Connecti-
cut plant, or in any additions thereto, or in
any plant newly-constructed or operated by
Respondent, excluding only engineers, de-
signers, draftsmen, secretaries, office and
clerical workers, quality controllers, profes-
sionals, guards, supervisors, administrative
and sales employees.
WE WILL NOT insist to a point of impasse
upon concessions or agreements by the Union
on proposals which are not mandatory subjects
of bargaining.
WE WILL NOT refuse to discuss or explain
contract proposals.
WE WILL NOT bypass Lodge 743, Interna-
tional Association of Machinists and Aero-
space Workers, AFL-CIO, and negotiate di-
rectly and individually with our employees
represented by the Union.
WE WILL NOT threaten our employees with
reprisals or promise them awards in order to
undermine the Union or destroy its majority
status.
WE WILL NOT without the consent of the
Union make a tape-recording of any collec-
tive-bargaining session or meeting at which of-
ficials of the Union are present.
2 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
WE WILL NOT condition negotiations upon
the removal of any union official from the
Union's negotiating committee.
WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner
interfere with, restrain, or coerce our employ-
ees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed
them in Section 7 of the Act.
WE WILL offer to the following employees
full, unconditional, and immediate reinstate-
ment to their former jobs or, if such jobs no
longer exist, to substantially equivalent posi-
tions, without prejudice to their seniority or
other rights, privileges, or benefits and WE
WILL make such employees whole for any
losses they may have suffered by reason of our
failure to reinstate them:
David Baran
Richard Boivan
Gerard Bouchard
Joseph Carcia, Jr.
Albert Ciccarelli
Jose Maria
Ferreira
Burton Hollings-
head, Jr.
Harvey Jensen
Rinaldo Magliano
Lester Norrie, Jr.
Vladislav Nykliczk
Zigmund Olszewski
Bruce Oewn
Italo Pardi
Robert Rollins
Frederick Shubert
Jack Smith
Joseph Sousa
Elmer Weirs
Chester Wronski
WE WILL bargain collectively with the
above-named Union as the exclusive bargain-
ing representative of the employees in the unit
described above by meeting at reasonable
times and conferring in good faith with respect
to wages, hours, and other terms and condi-
tions of employment and, if an agreement is
reached, embody it in a signed contract.
ACCESSORY CONTROLS AND EQUIP-
MENT CORPORATION
DECISION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
HERBERT SILBERMAN, Administrative Law Judge:
Upon charges and amended charges of unfair labor prac-
tices filed on August 22, 1977, April 24, 1978, January
17, 1979, and April 23, 1979, by Lodge 743, International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers,
AFL-CIO, herein called the Union, there were issued on
May 25, 1979, an order consolidating cases and an
amended complaint alleging that the Respondent, Acces-
sory Controls and Equipment Corporation, herein called
the Company, has engaged in and is engaging in unfair
labor practices within the meaning of Section 8(a)(1), (3),
and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amend-
ed. A hearing in this proceeding was held in East Wind-
sor, Connecticut, on November 26 and 27, 1979. For the
reasons set forth below, the hearing was closed before all
evidence bearing upon the issues in litigation had been
offered.
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF RESPONDENT
Respondent, a Connecticut corporation, which main-
tains its principal office and place of business in Windsor,
Connecticut, is engaged at its plant in the manufacture,
sale, and distribution of aircraft ground controls and re-
lated products. In the course and conduct of its business
Respondent annually ships goods valued in excess of
$50,000 through channels of interstate commerce from its
Connecticut facility to points outside the State and annu-
ally receives goods valued at in excess of $50,000 which
are shipped to its Connecticut plant through channels of
interstate commerce directly from points outside the
State of Connecticut. I find that Respondent is an em-
ployer within the meaning of Section 2(2) of the Act en-
gaged in commerce within the meaning of Section 2(6)
and (7) of the Act.
II. THE LABOR ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Lodge 743, International Association of Machinists
and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, is a labor organiza-
tion within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
Ill. THE ISSUES
The amended complaint, as further amended at the
hearing, alleges, in substance, that: (a) Since July 12,
1977, following the expiration of a 3- year collective-bar-
gaining agreement on June 25, 1977, the Company un-
lawfully has refused to bargain collectively with the
Union which has been the duly designated exclusive rep-
resentative of an appropriate unit of its employees since
July 9, 1959; (b) on June 27, 1977, employees in the col-
lective-bargaining unit represented by the Union went on
strike, which strike was prolonged by the unfair labor
practices described in the complaint; (c) since December
11, 1977, Respondent has refused to reinstate employees
who went on strike to their former or substantially
equivalent positions of employment, although an uncon-
ditional offer to return to work was made on their behalf
by the Union; and (d) by the foregoing and other con-
duct set forth in the complaint the Company has inter-
fered with, restrained, and coerced employees in the ex-
ercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.
IV. DISPOSITION OF THE CASE
On November 27, 1979, the second day of the hearing,
as of which time General Counsel had not yet finished
presenting his case-in-chief, Respondent, while asserting
that it had not engaged in any of the alleged unfair labor
practices but in order to dispose of the pending proceed-
ing (Cases -CA-13514, 1-CA-14391, 1-CA-15479), of-
fered to settle this case by withdrawing its answer, sub-
ject, however, to the condition that the recommended
Order and notice set forth below will be the Order and
notice issued herein. Respondent's offer of settlement in-
cludes backpay payments to the employees named in the
amended complaint in the amounts set forth below and
ACCESSORY CONTROL AND EQUIPMENT CORPORATION 3
its undertaking to comply with the terms and conditions
of the Decision and recommended Order hereinafter set
forth. After consideration of Respondent's offer counsels
for the General Counsel and the Charging Party accept-
ed the same. Upon consideration of the proceeding
before me, I find that the settlement proposal is fair and
equitable, will promote the administration of the Act,
and will effectuate the policies of the Act. In accordance
with the procedure agreed upon at the hearing, Respon-
dent has withdrawn its answer to the complaint in this
consolidated case.
As the Respondent has withdrawn its answer to the
complaint, the allegations thereof are deemed admitted.
(It is understood that the admissions are for the limited
purpose of giving the Administrative Law Judge and the
Board the necessary authority and jurisdiction to issue
this Decision and Order and to enforce the terms and
provisions hereof. By its admissions herein, Respondent
shall not be deemed to have admitted for any other pur-
pose that it has engaged in any of the unfair labor prac-
tices alleged in the amended complaint.)
V. THE ALLEGED UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
Respondent having withdrawn its answer, I find that
Respondent has engaged in the alleged unlawful conduct
set forth in the amended complaint herein.
VI. THE EFFECT OF THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
UPON COMMERCE
The activities of Respondent, set forth above, occur-
ring in connection with its operations described in sec-
tion I, above, have a close, intimate, and substantial rela-
tionship to trade, traffic, and commerce among the sev-
eral States and tend to lead to labor disputes burdening
and obstructing commerce and the free flow of com-
merce.
VlI. THE REMEDY
Having found that Respondent has engaged in certain
unfair labor practices, I shall recommend that it cease
and desist therefrom and that it take certain affirmative
action designed to effectuate the policies of the Act.
The compensable losses suffered by the employees,
who are named in the amended complaint, in accordance
with the terms of the settlement agreement, are the sums
hereinafter ordered to be paid to each of them.
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and
upon the entire record in this case, I make the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
I. By failing to bargain collectively with the Union as
the exclusive representative of its employees in a unit ap-
propriate for collective bargaining, Respondent has en-
gaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices within
the meaning of Section 8(a)(5) of the Act.
2. By refusing to reinstate employees who went on
strike to their former positions, or to substantially equiv-
alent positions of employment, although an unconditional
offer to return to work was made on their behalf, Re-
spondent has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor
practices within the meaning of Section 8(a)(3) of the
Act.
3. By reason of the foregoing and other conduct set
forth in the complaint, Respondent has interfered with,
restrained, and coerced employees in the exercise of the
rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act and thereby has
engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices
within the meaning of Section 8(a)(l) of the Act.
4. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor
practices affecting commerce within the meaning of Sec-
tion 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
Upon the foregoing findings of fact, conclusions of
law, the entire record in this case, and the agreement of
settlement entered into upon the record in this case be-
tween counsel for Respondent, counsel for the General
Counsel, and counsel for the Charging Party, and pursu-
ant to Section 10(c) of the Act, I hereby issue the fol-
lowing recommended:
ORDER'
The Respondent, Accessory Control and Equipment
Corporation, Windsor, Connecticut, its officers, agents,
successors, and assigns, shall:
1. Cease and desist from:
(a) Telling any employee serving on the Union's nego-
tiating committee that it would have the employee re-
moved from said committee.
(b) Violating the physical property rights of the
Union.
(c) Soliciting the return of any strikers by promising
them wages, hours, or terms and conditions that differ
from those which it has offered the Union as the collec-
tive-bargaining representative of its employees.
(d) Photographing employees engaged in peaceful
picketing.
(e) Refusing to bargain collectively in good faith with
the Union with respect to wages, hours, and other terms
and conditions of employment of employees in the fol-
lowing appropriate unit:
All production and maintenance employees em-
ployed by Respondent at its Windsor, Connecticut
plant, or in any additions thereto, or in any plant
newly-constructed or operated by Respondent, ex-
cluding only engineers, designers, draftsmen, secre-
taries, office and clerical workers, quality control-
lers, professional, guards, supervisors, administrative
and sales employees.
(f) Insisting to the point of impasse upon concessions
or agreements by the Union or proposals which are not
mandatory subjects of bargaining.
(g) Refusing to discuss or explain contract proposals.
(h) Bypassing the Union and bargaining directly and
individually with employees in the unit described above
In the event no exceptions are filed as provided by Sec 102.46 of the
Rules and Regulations of the National Labor Relations Board, the find-
ings, conclusions, and recommended Order herein shall, as provided in
Sec. 102.48 of the Rules and Regulations, be adopted by the Board and
become its findings, conclusions, and Order, and all objections thereto
shall be deemed waived for all purposes
4 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
concerning rates of pay, wages, hours, and other terms
and conditions of employment.
(i) Threatening employees with reprisals and offering
them rewards and benefits in order to undermine the
Union and destroy its majority status.
(j) Without the consent of the Union, making a tape-
recording of any collective-bargaining session or meeting
at which officials of the Union are present.
(k) Conditioning negotiations upon the removal of a
union official from the Union's negotiating committee.
(1) In any like or related manner interfering with, re-
straining, or coercing employees in the exercise of their
right to self-organization, to form labor organizations, to
join or assist Lodge 743, International Association of
Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, or any
other labor organization, to bargain collectively through
representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in
other concerted activities for the purpose of collective
bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, or to re-
frain from such activities.
2. Take the following affirmative action to effectuate
the policies of the National Labor Relations Act, as
amended:
(a) Offer to the following employees full and immedi-
ate reinstatement to their former jobs or, if such jobs no
longer exist, to substantially equivalent positions, without
prejudice to their seniority or other rights and privileges,
and make them whole for any losses they may have suf-
fered by reason of Respondent's failure to reinstate them
as of December 11, 1978, by payment to them of the ag-
gregate amount of $23,000 which will be distributed to
them in such individual amounts as the Regional Direc-
tor for Region 1 shall advise Respondent (such payments
less deductions required by law will be made no later
than I week after receipt of the Regional Director's
advice or on December 27, 1979, whichever date is the
later):
David Baran Lester Norrie, Jr.
Richard Boivan Vladislav Nykliczk
Gerard Bouchard
Joseph Carcia, Jr.
Albert Ciccarelli
Jose Maria
Ferreira
Burton Hollings-
head, Jr.
Harvey Jensen
Rinaldo Magliano
Zigmund Olszewski
Bruce Oewn
Italo Pardi
Robert Rollins
Frederick Shubert
Jack Smith
Joseph Sousa
Elmer Weirs
Chester Wronski
(b) Bargain collectively with the Union as the exclu-
sive bargaining representative of the employees in the
unit described above by meeting at reasonable times and
conferring in good faith with respect to wages, hours,
and other terms and conditions of employment and, if
agreement is reached, embody it in a signed contract.
(c) Post at its place of business at 805 Bloomfield
Avenue, Windsor, Connecticut, copies of the attached
notice marked "Appendix." 2 Copies of said notice, on
forms provided by the Regional Director for Region 1,
after being duly signed by Respondent's representative,
shall be posted by Respondent immediately upon receipt
thereof, and be maintained by Respondent for 60 con-
secutive days thereafter, in conspicuous places, including
all places where notices to employees are customarily
posted. Reasonable steps shall be taken by Respondent to
insure that said notices are not altered, defaced, or cov-
ered by any other material.
(d) Notify the Regional Director for Region 1, in writ-
ing, within 20 days from the date of this Order, what
steps Respondent has taken to comply herewith.
2 In the event that this Order is enforced by a Judgment of a United
States Court of Appeals, the words in the notice reading "Posted by
Order of the National Labor Relations Board" shall read "Posted Pursu-
ant to a Judgment of the United States Court of Appeals Enforcing an
Order of the National Labor Relations Board."