Automotive Teamsters, Local 165

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 18, 1974

211 N.L.R.B. 707 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

AUTOMOTIVE TEAMSTERS, LOCAL 165
Automotive Teamsters & Chauffeurs Local Union No.
165, International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of Ameri-
ca and Royal Arnold.
Automotive Teamsters & Chauffeurs Local Union No.
165, International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of Ameri-
ca and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Cases
20-CB-3050 and 20-CB-3063
June 18, 1974
DECISION AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS FANNING, KENNEDY, AND
PENELLO
On February 26, 1974, Automotive Teamsters &
Chauffeurs Local Union No. 165, International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse-
men and Helpers of America; Royal Arnold;
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company; and the
General Counsel of the National Labor Relations
Board entered into a Motion To Transfer Proceeding
to the Board and Stipulation of Facts in the above-
entitled proceeding. The parties agreed that the
stipulation of facts, and the exhibits attached thereto,
constitute the entire record in this proceeding and
that no oral testimony is necessary or desired by the
parties. They waived a hearing before an Administra-
tive Law Judge, the making of findings of fact and
conclusions of law by an Administrative Law, Judge,
the issuance of an Administrative Law Judge's
decision and recommended Order, and submitted the
case for findings of fact, conclusions of law, and
Order directly to the Board. The parties requested
that the Board set a time for the filing of briefs.
On March 7, 1974, the Board issued an order
granting the Motion To Transfer Proceeding to the
Board for the purpose of making findings of fact and
conclusions of law, and for the issuance of a
Decision and Order; approved the Stipulation of
Facts as part of the record; and set March 21, 1974,
as the time limit for filing briefs.
Thereafter, the General Counsel, the Employer,
and Respondent Union all filed briefs.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board
makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
707
At all times material herein, Goodyear has been an
Ohio corporation with two places of business in
Sacramento, California, at which locations Goodyear
has been engaged in the retail sale of tires. During
the past year, Goodyear, in the course and conduct
of its business operations, sold products valued in
excess of $500,000, and sold products valued in
excess of $50,000 directly to customers located
outside the State of California. We find that at all
times material herein Goodyear has been an employ-
er engaged in commerce and in operations affecting
commerce within the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7)
of the Act.
II. THE LABOR ORGANIZATION
Respondent is, and at all times material has been, a
labor organization within the meaning of Section
2(5) of the Act.
III. THE FACTS
From an unknown date in the past to on or about
August 15, 1973, Respondent was the collective-
bargaining representative of the battery and tire floor
servicemen and fleet servicemen employed by Goo-
dyear at two of its stores in Sacramento, California.
The three employees who constituted the above unit,
Royal Arnold, Alan Aday, and Larry Peer, were also
members of Respondent. On April 4, 1973, Royal
Arnold filed a petition for a decertification election
with the Board, seeking to decertify Respondent as
collective-bargaining representative, and, on August
7, 1973, all of the employees who participated in the
election did vote to decertify Respondent. On August
15, 1973, the Regional Director for Region 20 of the
Board, on behalf of the Board, certified the results of
the election, and certified that no labor organization
was the collective-bargaining representative of the
above employees of Goodyear.
Subsequently, on or about August 17, 1973,
Respondent charged Royal Arnold with signing a
petition to the Board seeking decertification, which
act caused secession from the Union, and violated an
oath of loyalty to the Local and International Union,
thereby causing disruption and rendering local union
officers unable to negotiate a working agreement
with Goodyear. On or about the same date, Respon-
dent charged Alan Aday and Larry Peer with
violating their oaths of obligation to the Union and
participating in balloting procedures which placed
them in violation of the International's constitution.
Respondent found the three guilty as charged, and
211 NLRB No. 100
708 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
fined Arnold $750 and Peer and Aday approximately
$450 each, or or about September 10.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In International Molders' and Allied Workers Union,
Local No. 125, AFL-CIO (Black Tanning Co., Inc.),'
the Board held that while a labor organization may
properly seek to defend its status as collective-
bargaining representative by expelling employee-
members2 who filed decertification petitions or
participated in activities in support thereof, it may
not fine a member for filing a decertification petition
since that action is punitive and improper rather than
defensive and, therefore, in violation of the Act:
In short, where the union member is seeking to
decertify the union, the Board has said that the
public policy against permitting a union to
penalize a member because he seeks the aid of the
Board should give way to the union's right to self-
defense. But when a union only fines a member
because he has filed a decertification petition, the
effect is not defensive and can only be punitive
-to discourage members from seeking such
access to the Board's processes; the union is not
one whit better able to defend itself against
decertification as a result of the fine. The
dissident member could still campaign against the
union while remaining a member and therefore be
privy to its strategy and tactics.3
The rationale enunciated by the Board in Black-
hawk has also been applied to cases where employee-
members were fined for filing deauthorization
petitions with the Board and for activities in support
thereof;4 and where fines were imposed upon
employee-members who had signed authorization
cards and solicited fellow employees to sign authori-
zation cards on behalf of a rival union in support of
an election petition.5
Accordingly, as the Union here has admittedly
fined the three men involved for sponsoring and
participating in a decertification election, the Union
has violated Section 8(b)(1)(A) of the Act.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. At all material times, Goodyear has been an
employer engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the Act.
2. At all material times, Respondent Union has
i 178 NLRB 208
2 Tawas Tube Products, Inc, 151 NLRB 46, expulsion , United Steelwork-
ers of America, Local No 4028, AFL-CIO (Pittsburgh -Des Moines Steel
Company, 154 NLRB 692, suspension
3 178 NLRB at 209
been a labor organization within the meaning of the
Act.
3. By fining Royal Arnold, Alan Aday, and Larry
Peer for sponsoring and participating in an election
to decertify Respondent as their collective -bargain-
ing representative , Respondent has engaged, and is
engaging, in unfair labor practices in violation of
Section 8(b)(1)(A) of the Act.
THE REMEDY
Having found that Respondent has engaged in the
aforesaid unfair labor practice , we shall order that it
cease and desist therefrom and take certain affirma-
tive action designed to effectuate the policies of the
Act.
To remedy the coercive effect of the fines assessed
against Arnold , Aday, and Peer, Respondent will be
required to rescind the fines and notify these
employees and other employees of the rescission and
of their right to seek the use of processes of the Board
in determining any question regarding the continuing
representative status of Respondent , without being
fined for doing so.
ORDER
Upon the foregoing findings of fact, conclusions of
law, and the entire record, and pursuant to Section
10(c) of the Act, the National Labor Relations Board
hereby orders that Respondent, Automotive Team-
sters & Chauffeurs Local Union No. 165, Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers of America, Sacramento,
California, its officers, agents, and representatives,
shall :
1. Cease and desist from:
(a) Fining employees of Goodyear for sponsoring
and participating in an election to decertify Respon-
dent as their collective-bargaining representative.
(b) In any like or related manner restraining or
coercing employees in the exercise of their rights
guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.
2. Take the following affirmative action, which
the Board finds necessary to effectuate the policies of
the Act:
(a) Rescind the fines assessed against Royal
Arnold, Alan Aday, and Larry Peer for sponsoring
and participating in the aforesaid decertification
election.
(b) Post in Respondent's business offices and
4 Tool and Die Makers Lodge No 113, International Association of
Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO (Midwest American Dental
Division of American Hospital Supply Corporation), 207 NLRB No 127
5 Independent Shoe Workers of Cincinnati, Ohio (The United States Shoe
Corporation), 208 NLRB No 64
AUTOMOTIVE TEAMSTERS, LOCAL 165
meetings halls copies of the attached notice marked
"Appendix."6 Copies of said notice, on forms
provided by the Regional Director for Region 20,
after being duly signed by Respondent's authorized
representative, shall be posted by Respondent
immediately upon receipt thereof, and be maintained
by it for 60 consecutive days thereafter, in conspicu-
ous places, including all places where notices to
members are customarily posted. Reasonable steps
shall be taken by Respondent to insure that said
notices are not altered, defaced, or covered by any
other material.
(c) Sign and mail sufficient copies of said notice to
the Regional Director for Region 20 for posting by
Goodyear, if such employer be willing, at all places
where notices to its employees are customarily
posted.
(d) Notify the Regional Director for Region 20, in
writing, within 20 days from the date of this Order,
what steps the Respondent has taken to comply
herewith.
MEMBER FANNING, dissenting:
For the reasons set forth in the dissenting opinion
in International Molders' and Allied Workers Union,
Local No. 125, AFL-CIO (Blackhawk Tanning Co.,
Inc.), 178 NLRB 208, I dissent herein.
6 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 Pursuant to a
Judgment of the United States Court of Appeals Enforcing an Order of the
National Labor Relations Board."
APPENDIX
NOTICE To EMPLOYEES
POSTED BY ORDER OF THE
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
An Agency of the United States Government
709
employees of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Compa-
ny, Sacramento, California, for sponsoring and
participating in an election to decertify this
Union as their collective-bargaining representa-
tive.
WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner
restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of
their rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.
WE WILL rescind the fines assessed against
Royal Arnold, Alan Aday, and Larry Peer for
sponsoring and participating in a decertification
election.
AUTOMOTIVE TEAMSTERS
& CHAUFFEURS LOCAL
UNION No. 165,
INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF
TEAMSTERS , CHAUFFEURS,
WAREHOUSEMEN AND
HELPERS OF AMERICA
(Labor Organization)
Dated By
(Representative) (Title)
This is an official notice and must not be defaced
by anyone.
This notice must remain posted for 60 consecutive
days from the date of posting and must not be
altered, defaced, or covered by any other material.
Any questions concerning this notice or compli-
ance with its provisions may be directed to the
Board's Office, 13018 Federal Building, Box 36047,
450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, California
94102, Telephone 415-556-3197.
WE WILL NOT fine our members who are