Boot and Shoe Workers' Union

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 12, 1957

118 N.L.R.B. 679 (N.L.R.B. 1957)

COMPLIANCE STATUS OF BOOT AND SHOE WORKERS ' UNION 679
WE WILL NOT in any manner cause or attempt to cause A . Cestone Company
to refuse to hire prospective employees because they have not been hired or
obtained clearance , job referral or approval through or from the undersigned
labor organization , or to discriminate against its employees or prospective em-.
ployees in any other manner in regard to their hire or tenure of employment,
or any term or condition of employment , except to the extent permitted by
Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act.
WE WILL NOT in any other manner restrain or coerce employees or prospec-
. five employees of A. Cestone Company in the exercise of rights guaranteed in
Section 7 of the Act, except to the extent that such rights may be affected by
an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of
employment; as authorized by Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act.
WE WILL make whole Garrett Nagle for any loss of pay he may have
suffered as a result of the discrimination against him.
LOCAL 138, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
OPERATING ENGINEERS , AFL-CIO,
Labor Organization.
Dated----------------- By-------------------------------------------
(Representative ) ( Title)
This notice must remain posted for 60 consecutive days from the date hereof, and
must not be altered, defaced, or covered by any other material.
Compliance Status of Boot and Shoe Workers ' Union, AFL-CIO.
July 12, 1957
ADMINISTRATIVE DETERMINATION OF
COMPLIANCE STATUS
On March 29, 1957, General Shoe Corporation, an employer in in-
terest in certain proceedings pending before the Board, filed a petition
with the Board for the redetermination of the compliance status of
the above-named Union or, in the alternative, that a hearing be held
for the purpose of adducing evidence regarding the Union's alleged
noncompliance status. It alleges that the Union was not in compliance
with Section 9 (h) of the Act because general auditors and James T.
Ryal, a regional director of the Union, are officers of the Union who
failed to file the required affidavits.
In support of its contention that general auditors are officers of the
Union required to file affidavits, the Petitioner relies on provisions of
the Union's constitution dealing with the qualifications and election
of candidates to certain offices; l the fact that general auditors are
listed in these provisions along with the general executive board whose
1"Sect. 5: The General Officers, General Executive Board, and General Auditorsof the
Boot and Shoe Workers' Union shall be elected for a term of two years at the regular
convention.
"Sect . 6: Any . shoe worker who has been an active member in continuous good standing
for at least three - years, who is not a member of an independent union , shall be eligible as a
candidatd 'for any office in the Union.
"Sect. 8: In electing officers in convention , after all delegates have had an opportunity
to nominate candidates for the particular office being filled.
"Sect . 9:.The officers elected shall be Installed and take office at the adjournment of the
convention and.hold office until their successors have been elected and Installed."
118 NLRB No. 80.
1680 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
members have voluntarily filed affidavits; the nature of the power
and duties conferred on general auditors by the constitution; 2 and
the fact that general auditors qualify with general officers for retire-
ment under the constitution.' We find no merit in these contentions.
The Board has defined the statutory term "officer" as meaning "any
person occupying a position identified as an office in the constitution
of a labor organization." 4 It is settled that under this "constitutional
test" the Union itself by designation in its constitution determines
who are its "officers" and that it is not for the Board to determine who
ought to be the Union's officers on the basis of the precise duties they
may perform.5 The only provision of the Union's constitution which
designates who shall be the officers of the Union is section 4.6 This
section provides that the Union's officers shall be a president-secretary-
treasurer, and a general vice president. Neither in this section nor
in any other provision of the Union's constitution is direct reference
made to general auditors as officers of the Union. Although as pointed
out by the Petitioner, sections 6, 8 and 9 make reference to "office"
and "officers" and may be held to apply to general auditors, we do
not regard these provisions, which deal with the qualification and
election of candidates for office, as conveying an intent to "designate"
such persons as officers of the Union within the meaning of the Board's
constitutional test. Nor does the fact that section 13 imposes on gen-
eral auditors auditing duties make them constitutional officers. As
indicated above, functions performed do not determine who are offi-
cers required to file affidavits.' Similarly, neither does section 93,
any more than any other section of the constitution, designate them
as officers simply because they qualify for retirement under that
section.
As indicated above, the Petitioner also contends that general
auditors are required to file affidavits because they are covered by the
same provisions as general executive board members who have filed
affidavits. It appears that general executive board members have
voluntarily filed affidavits in order to avoid both the delays which
9 "Sect . 13 : The General Auditors shall be elected in the same manner and at the same
time as General Officers. The General Auditors so chosen shall meet at headquarters within
ten days after the close of the fiscal year (April 30), when they shall secure the services of
an expert accountant and audit all accounts of all officers and employees of the general
union and report their findings to the local unions and to the regular Convention. The
General Auditors shall assemble and perform their duties at any other time when called
upon by the General Executive Board.
"When auditing the accounts of the General Union immediately preceding a Convention,
the General Auditors shall also act as a credential committee , passing upon the validity of
the duplicate credentials and shall report their findings to the Convention in person."
3 Sect . 93 deals in general with retirement of "officers of the General Union or Organizers
of the General Union or Representatives of the General Union" and other matters.
4 Section 102. 13 (b) (3 ) of the Board 's Rules and Regulations.
5 Kohler Co ., 117 NLRB 321. See also Ekco Products Company, 117 NLRB 137.
8 "Sect. 4: The General Officers of this General Union shall be a General President-
Secretary -Treasurer and a General Vice-President."
' Kohler Co., supra.
COMPLIANCE STATUS OF BOOT AND SHOE WORKERS' UNION 681
often beset Board proceedings when the compliance status of a labor
organization is challenged and the expense incurred in litigating such
issue. In these circumstances, we do not regard such filing by general
executive board members as an admission that they, and much less
general auditors, are officers required to file affidavits. Indeed, in an
earlier General Shoe Corporation case 8 where the Board considered
the status of general executive board members, the Board found that
a collateral proceeding was not warranted as they were not officers
designated in the constitution.
Finally, relying on other sections of the constitution,9 the Petitioner
maintains that as the constitution provides that the officers of the
general union shall be the officers of members-at-large 10 and members-
at-large are subject to the same obligations and enjoy the same bene-
fits as do members of local unions, it follows that general auditors
are officers of the members-at-large in the same manner as local
auditors are officers of local unions. However, as we read these sec-
tions, we find no warrant for holding that members-at-large must of
necessity have the same officers as do members of local unions. In
our opinion, all the constitution provides is that members-at-large
.have for their officers the officers of the general Union until such time
as they shall constitute themselves a local union and elect their own
officers. As we do not find that general auditors are officers of the
general Union, it follows that they are not officers with respect to
members-at-large.
In sum, we find that, as the Union's constitution does not designate
general auditors as officers within the meaning of the Board's consti-
tutional test, they are not officers required to file affidavits.
The Petitioner also contends that James T. Ryal, a regional di-
rector, is also an officer who failed to file an affidavit. In support of
this contention, it relies on the functions performed by Ryal. Specifi-
8 109 NLRB 618.
9 "Sect. 40 : The officers of each local union shall be : a president , vice-president , record-
ing secretary, financial secretary, treasurer, sentinel, conductor, and executive board of not
less than five, no more than seven, auditing committee of three, and a label committee of
not less than three. . . .
"Sect. 48 : There shall be elected by written or printed ballot at the last regular meeting
in March, an auditing committee of three, who shall also act as trustees to serve one year,
whose duty it shall be to audit the accounts of the treasurer, financial secretary and local
executive board. They shall also audit the dues and assessment stamp account kept be-
tween the financial secretary and the local executive board, and shall report their finding in
writing to the local union quarterly.
"Sect. 32: Members-at-large shall pay direct to headquarters the same dues and assess-
ments and have the same benefits as if members of a local union, shall have representation
in elections and in Convention the same as a local union, but shall keep headquarters in-
formed of their address at all times. The officers of the general union shall be the officers
of members-at-large and shall perform for them the same duties as officers of local unions.
The members -at-large shall in every other respect be considered as a local union and subject
to the same laws governing membership and revenue.
"Sect. 33: Shoe workers actively employed at the craft in any locality where no local
union exists, may become members-at-large by vote of the General Executive Board, but
must constitute themselves a local union when so directed by the General Executive Board."
10 There is currently no local union at the Pulaski , Tennessee, plant of the Petitioner.
682 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tally, it alleges that Ryal exercises direct supervision over all organi-
zational activities within his region, examines all contracts negotiated
within the region, negotiates disputes with grievance committees, and
approves all contracts negotiated by local union officers. But, as we
have indicated previously, the Board has specifically rejected the
functional test as a basis for determining who are a union's officers.
As the constitution does not designate regional directors as officers,
we find that they are not required to file Section 9 (h) affidavits.
This is so even though other regional directors have seen fit volun-
tarily to file such affidavits.
Accordingly, we find that the Union at all material times has been
in compliance with Section 9 (h) of the Act and that no sufficient
cause has been shown to warrant a hearing to redetermine the com-
pliance status of Boot and Shoe Workers' Union, AFL-CIO. We
therefore deny the Petitioner's petition.
J. H. Baxter and Company and International Woodworkers of
America , AFL-CIO, Petitioner
J. H. Baxter and Company and International Brotherhood of
Firemen & Oilers Local 193, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Cases Nos.
19-RC-1949 and 19-RC-1968. July 1 2,1957
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before Rachel Stover,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Rodgers, Murdock, and Jenkins].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer.is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.'
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representation
of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The International Woodworkers of America, AFL-CIO, herein
called the Woodworkers, the Petitioner in Case No. 19-RC-1949, seeks
1International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 843, AFL-CIO, herein called
Engineers, intervened in both cases on the basis of an adequate showing of interest.
Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local 2519, AFL-CIO, herein called Sawmill Work-
ers, intervened in Case No. 19-RC-1949 on the basis of a contractual interest.
118 NLRB No. 72.