California Girl, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 3, 1960

129 N.L.R.B. 209 (N.L.R.B. 1960)

CALIFORNIA GIRL, INC. 209
rector is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the
labor organization selected by the majority of the employees in voting
group 2 or in the pooled group, as the case may be, which the Board,
in such circumstances, finds to be a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
c The Employer contends that two firemen , who are not currently working, should be
eligible to vote. The Steelworkers took no position . The record shows that the two men
are laid off each spring and rehired each fall . The Employer's secretary-treasurer stated
at the hearing that they will be recalled this year . We find that the two firemen are
eligible to vote.
California Girl, Inc. and Local 84, International Ladies' Garment
Workers' Union. Case No. 21-CA-3808. October 3, 1960
DECISION AND ORDER
On May 17, 1960, Trial Examiner William E. Spencer issued his
Intermediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that
the Respondent had engaged in and was engaging in certain unfair
labor practices, and recommending that it cease and desist therefrom
and take certain affirmative action, as set forth in the copy of the
Intermediate Report attached hereto. Thereafter, the Respondent
filed exceptions to the Intermediate Report and the General Counsel
and Respondent filed briefs. The Board 1 has reviewed the rulings
made by the Trial Examiner at the hearing and finds that no prej-
udicial error was committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. The
Board has considered the Intermediate Report, the exceptions and
briefs, and the entire record in the case, and hereby adopts the Trial
Examiner's findings,2 conclusions,' and recommendations.
" Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the
Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three -member panel
[ Members Rodgers , Jenkins, and Fanning].
2 The Trial Examiner drew a parallel between the conduct of the Respondent Employer's
negotiator in this case , and the similar conduct of the same negotiator in Duro Fitting8
Company, 121 NLRB 377, a prior case involving a different employer. We do not rely on,
nor do we read the Trial Examiner's references to the facts of the Duro case as an indica-
tion that he relied on, those facts as evidence of the instant Respondent 's refusal to bar-
gain in good faith. We adopt the Trial Examiner's findings because they are adequately
supported by a preponderance of reliable evidence in the record in this case, and we rely
on the Duro case only as a legal precedent for our ultimate conclusion herein.
8 The Trial Examiner found that "on and after August 3, 1959," the Respondent vio-
lated the Act by refusing to bargain with its employees' statutory bargaining representa-
tive in the appropriate unit. As the Respondent engaged in a course of conduct, the
totality of which failed to comply with the statutory requirement of good-faith bargaining,
we find that the violation of 'Section 8(a) (5) and (1) commenced on August 5, 1959, the
date on which the Respondent and Union met for their first bargaining session.
129 NLRB No. 21.
586439-61-vol. 129-15
210 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ORDER
Upon the entire record in the case, and pursuant to Section 10 (c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the Respondent, California Girl,
Inc., Los Angeles, California, its officers, agents, successors, and
assigns , shall :
1. Cease and desist from :
(a) Refusing to bargain collectively in good faith with Local 84,
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, as the exclusive
bargaining representative of its employees in the appropriate unit
with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other
terms and conditions of employment.
(b) In any like or related manner interfering with, restraining,
or coercing its employees in the exercise of the right to self-
organization, to form labor organizations, to join or assist Local 84,
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, or any other labor
organization, to bargain collectively through representatives of their
own choosing, and to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of
collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, or to refrain
from any and all such activities 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 in Section
8(a) (3) of the Act, as modified by the Labor-Management Reporting
and Disclosure Act of 1959.
2. Take the following affirmative action, which the Board finds will
effectuate the policies of the Act :
(a) Upon request, bargain collectively in good faith with Local 84,
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union as the exclusive bar-
gaining representative in the appropriate unit, with respect to rates
of pay, wages, hours of employment and other terms and conditions
of employment and, if an understanding is reached, embody such
understanding in a signed agreement.
(b) Post at its place of business in Los Angeles, California, copies
of the notice attached hereto marked "Appendix." a Copies of said
notice, to be furnished by the Regional Director for the Twenty-first
Region, shall, after being duly signed by an authorized representative
of the Respondent, be posted by the Respondent immediately upon
receipt thereof, and maintained by it for a period of 60 days there-
after in conspicuous places, including all places where notices to em-
ployees are customarily posted. Reasonable steps shall be taken by
the Respondent to insure that said notices are not altered, defaced, or
covered by any other material.
4 In the event that this Order is enforced by a decree of a United States Court of
Appeals, there shall be substituted for the words "Pursuant to a Decision and Order" the
words "Pursuant to a Decree of the United States Court of Appeals , Enforcing an Order."
CALIFORNIA GIRL, INC. 211
(c) Notify the Regional Director for the Twenty-first Region, in
writing, within 10 days from the date of this Order, what steps the
Respondent has taken to comply herewith.
APPENDIX
NOTICE TO ALL EMPLOYEES
Pursuant to a Decision and Order of the National Labor Relations
Board, and in order to effectuate the policies of the National Labor
Relations Act, as amended, we hereby notify our employees that :
WE WILL, upon request, bargain collectively in good faith with
Local 84, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, as the
exclusive representative of all our employees in the unit described
below, with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment,
or other conditions of employment, and if an understanding is
reached, embody such understanding in a signed agreement. The
appropriate bargaining unit is:
All cutters, the bundlegirl and the patternmaker, including
the head cutter, employed at our Los Angeles, California,
plant, excluding maintenance employees, shipping and office
employees, professional employees, and all other production
employees, guards, and supervisory employees.
WE WILL NOT, by refusing to bargain in good faith with Local
84, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union or in any like
or related manner, interfere with, restrain, or coerce our employees
in the exercise of their rights to self-organization, to form, join,
or assist said Union, or any other labor organization, to bargain
collectively through representatives of their own choosing, to
engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bar-
gaining or other mutual aid or protection, and to refrain from
any and all such activities, 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 in
Section 8(a) (3) of the Act, as modified by the Labor-
Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959.
All our employees are free to become or remain, or refrain from
becoming or remaining, members of the above-named or any other
labor organization.
CALIFORNIA GIRL, INC.,
Employer.
Dated---------------- By---------------------------------------
(Representative ) ( Title)
This notice must remain posted for 60 days from the date hereof,
and must not be altered , defaced , or covered by any other material.
212 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
INTERMEDIATE REPORT AND RECOMMENDED ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
In this proceeding, heard before the duly designated Trial Examiner in Los
Angeles, California, on February 29 and March 1, 1960, California Girl, Inc., the
Respondent herein, was charged with a refusal to bargain with Local 84, Inter-
national Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, herein the Union, in violation of Section
8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended (61 Stat. 136),
herein called the Act. All parties participated in the hearing and subsequent thereto,
on or before April 20, the General Counsel and the Respondent, respectively, filed
briefs.
Upon the entire record in the case and from my observation of the witnesses, I
make the following.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE RESPONDENT
California Girl, Inc., is a California corporation with its principal office and place
of business in Los Angeles, California, where it is engaged in the manufacture,
sale, and distribution of dresses. In the conduct of its operations during a 12-month
period preceding issuance of the complaint herein, it shipped products valued in
excess of $50,000 to points outside the State of California.
II. THE LABOR ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Union is a labor organization within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
III. THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
Preliminary findings of fact: On July 9, 1959, pursuant to election results, the
Union was certified as bargaining representative of Respondent's employees in the
following appropriate unit:
All cutters, the bundlegirl and the patternmaker, including the head cutter, of
Respondent employed at its Los Angeles, California, plant, excluding mainte-
nance employees, shipping and office employees, professional employees, and
all other production employees, guards, and supervisory employees.
There are only some 4 or 5 employees in the bargaining unit out of a total of
some 40-odd persons of nonsupervisory status employed by the Respondent.
After the election but prior to its certification, the Union requested a bargaining
conference and was told by Mrs. Edwin Selvin, the Respondent's negotiator, that
no meetings could be held until after the certification. Following the certification,
on July 15, the Union, by telegram duly received by the Respondent, again requested
a bargaining conference. Respondent replied by letter over the signature of its
Secretary-Treasurer Raymond Fahn, directing the Union to make arrangements
for a conference with its negotiator, Selvin. In a telephone conversation between
Selvin and the Union's representative, Sam Swartz, occurring about July 17, July 23
was agreed on as a date fora first meeting. The conference was not held, however,
due to the fact that Selvin later informed Swartz that she would be unavailable for
a meeting on that date. The Union then filed a charge of unfair labor practices
against the Respondent. Shortly thereafter, Selvin inquired of Swartz why the
charge had been filed and he replied that it was because the Union had not been able
to arrange a bargaining conference, and believed that Selvin was "stalling." Selvin
replied that she was not and would meet with the Union on August 5 if the charge
of refusal to bargain was withdrawn. The Union agreed to withdraw the charge
and did so. The first meeting was accordingly held on August 5. Other meetings
followed on August 17, October 2, and 28. After the October 28 meeting the Union
rested on a new charge of unfair labor practices and sought no further bargaining
conferences with the Respondent. Tape recordings of the August 5, October 2, and
28 conferences, of which both the Respondent and the Union made recordings,
were stipulated into evidence. Only the Respondent made a tape recording of the
August 17 meeting and it was not produced because, according to Selvin, there was
some mechanical difficulty in the recording which spoiled it. Selvin and John
Ulene, a union negotiator, testified on the August 17 meeting.
The August 5 meeting: No actual negotiations occurred at this meeting and,
accordingly, it will be briefly summarized. The Union made a general oral state-
ment of its bargaining objectives which, it stated, it would present in two categories:
"bread and butter" and "administrative." Its objective was to reach agreement
on the "bread and butter" items before negotiating on "administrative" proposals.
CALIFORNIA GIRL, INC. 213
More specifically, it sought the Respondent's reaction to the following proposals:
(1) a wage increase; (2) a reduction in hours without reduction in pay; (3) a
health and welfare program; (4) paid holidays; and (5) a union-shop clause which
would meet the requirements of the Act as construed by the Board. The Union's
representatives explained to Selvin that instead of making specific demands on
these items, which might prove unreasonable in the light of Respondent's economic
situation, it would prefer first to hear what the Respondent would suggest in the
proposed areas of bargaining. Selvin, apparently expecting a written contract pro-
posal, expressed surprise and puzzlement at this approach. She agreed that she
would canvass the matters broached by the Union with the Respondent and would
be ready at a later meeting to give the Respondent's reaction to the five items pro-
posed by the Union for a bargaining agenda.
The August 17 meeting: This meeting also will be dealt with briefly because it is
evident that it reflected few developments in negotiations of a nature critical to the
issues which were not reflected in the October 2 meeting, of which we have the
benefit of a tape recording stipulated to be an accurate rendering of that meeting.
,At the August 17 meeting, when asked if she had any proposals to make on the
five items the Union had proposed for negotiation, Selvin again expressed puzzle-
ment over the Union's failure to submit a written contract proposal and said that
she had nothing to say and no "offers" to make on behalf of the Respondent. Ulene
explained that in view of past experiences in negotiating with Selvin, it was thought
that delays and long conferences might be avoided by submitting proposals in general
language, thereby affording her an opportunity to confer with her client and make
such offers as she considered reasonable. Selvin replied that she was not ready
to make any offers. Ulene proposed canvassing each of the five items previously
proposed for negotiations, and then proceeded to make the Union's proposals more
specific. He proposed a 10-percent wage increase, reduction of working hours to
35 a week without an accompanying reduction in rate of pay, an 81/a percent
contribution to a welfare retirement and severance fund, 6 paid holidays annually,
and a union shop. Selvm replied that she could not agree to any of these proposals.
She stated her reasons for her position on each. The discussion was interrupted
when Selvin was called to the phone. When the conference was resumed, the
Union reduced its demands as follows: It now proposed a 5-percent wage increase;
a 371/2 hour workweek; and a 4-percent contribution to a health and welfare fund.
It repeated its proposals of 6 paid holidays annually and a union shop. According
to Ulene's credited testimony, Selvin replied to these modified proposals that she
had discussed all these matters with her client and their decision on each was
"no," and that she had no counteroffers to make. The meeting was adjourned and
the Union thereafter again filed a charge of unlawful refusal to bargain against the
Respondent. This charge, like the first, was withdrawn, and negotiations continued.
The October 2 meeting: This conference opened with the Union restating its five
bargaining objectives previously enumerated, and adding proposals for an arbitra-
tion clause, a checkoff of dues, and a discharge clause.
Selvin's position on the five items discussed in the previous meeting remained the
same. On the issue of a wage increase she stated that it was the Employer's view
that the wages now being paid its employees in the bargaining unit were fair and
adequate. She specifically did not plead financial inability to pay the increase
proposed by the Union. The reduction in the workweek and paid holidays proposed
by the Union, she considered in the same category as a wage increase and accord-
ingly rejected these proposals, giving as an additional reason that to grant these
benefits in the bargaining unit would cause dissatisfaction among employees outside
the unit. The following exchange across the bargaining table is illustrative of her
position maintained throughout the negotiations:
UNION: Have you come here prepared to negotiate a wage increase?
SELVIN: I have come prepared to say that we're not going to give any wage
increase. Not as yet. . . These are a few people in an island of a larger
group of people. A general wage increase to these people would lead the
other people to be very dissatisfied and very unhappy and they'd say you gave
them a 5 percent increase to these people, now give us a 5 percent increase and
the Company would be embarrassed not to do it. So the company feels that
these people are being adequately recompensed for the work they do and
the company has instructed me to reject any wage increase.
UNION: These people are in a separate unit.
SELVIN: That is correct.
UNION: And the conditons of employment affecting them are not similar
or the same as those affecting any other people employed by the company
214 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and they have to be treated on the merit and all I can think is you've come
here prepared to do nothing about it.
SELVIN: No, I've come prepared to negotiate it and to reject it. The
fact is-
UNION: You've come to reject, what are you going to negotiate; your
rejection?
SELVIN: We've rejected it. We have listened to the proposal and we dis-
cussed it and whether or not we want to do it, and we've decided we don't.
UNION: In other words, then, I take it, that you're not willing to grant any
condition, any improvement in the conditions of employment of these people
because it might have some effect on other people.
SELVIN: I have not said that. If we only had these people to consider, if
that was all, it's very possible that we would grant a holiday or two but as long
as we have other factors to consider, we, the company doesn't ... .
Further discussion of the wage issue centered on the granting of merit increases.
The granting of such increases may be construed as a counterproposal to the Union's
demands for wage benefits, presented by Selvin in this manner: "We would like
to write into a contract that we have the right to give merit increases when and if
they are needed without negotiating through the Union." To this the Union
responded that it was ready to negotiate a merit increase program based on objective
criteria, but on this point also Selvin was adamant. The following exchange of
views is enlightening:
SELVIN: I'm suggesting that you recognize the fact that the company has
the knowledge and the only knowledge that could possibly be of value in giving
the merit increases. Therefore I am suggesting that we, I'm proposing that we
write into the contract a clause in which the Union in effect waives its right
to negotiate merit increases.
I say that a merit increase has to be at the discretion of the employer. If
he wants to give a merit increase he has to be willing to do it.
UNION: Even though the worker has met all the objective criteria?
SELVIN: That is right. There may be some other factors, the wage may
already be at a scale that fully takes care of all of the ... .
To the Union's proposal to negotiate a maximum wage scale as a ceiling over merit
increases , Selvin replied:
We will negotiate with you and give you a proposal, a counterproposal
based on minimum scales. Now a maximum scale is based on merit and that
I'm proposing to you that we have control of the merit increases . Not the
normal review of increases but anything that falls within the classification of
a merit increase, the employer alone.
To the Union's proposal for a health and welfare program, to which the Respond-
ent would contribute an amount equal to 4 percent of the employee' s wages,
Selvin gave a negative response. Admitting that there was in existence a health
and welfare program covering supervisory personnel , she contended, as she had
in her response to wage proposals, that any health and welfare program benefitting
employees in the bargaining unit would cause dissatisfaction among employees out-
side the unit, not participating in the benefits. The only health "program" then
existing among nonsupervisory personnel was the inclusion of such employees on a
voluntary basis in a Blue Cross group to which the Respondent made no contribution.
To the Union's proposal of an arbitration clause , first proposed at this meeting,
Selvin replied, "No, we're not going to grant an arbitration clause. Now do you
want to go into the reasons?"
To the Union's proposals of union-security provisions, Selvin's answer was simi-
larly negative. The following is an exchange between the negotiators on the
subject of the union shop:
UNION: Well, you're opposed to union shop as a matter of principle or
philosophy.
SELVIN: No, I'm no different than you are. . . You have a philosophy, I
also have a philosophy and we would be rather be coming into a vacuum if we
didn't have some sort of thinking. Now my thinking naturally influences my
bargaining, yours very definitely does your. You want something and I have
reasons why I am opposed to it. Now I'm willing to tell you all my reasons if
CALIFORNIA GIRL, INC. 215
you wish to listen for 2 hours and 25 minutes, I'll tell you some of the reasons
why I'm opposed to a union shop.
UNION: The point is I am pro-union shop and I am willing and my associate
is willing to negotiate something less than a union shop. Are you willing to
negotiate something more than an open shop?
SELVIN: In this case no.
UNION: In any case?
SELVIN: I'm only willing to agree to recognize the union as the bargaining
representative and to agree that there will be no discrimination as between
people who exercise their lawful right to join a union and those who exercise
what we consider an equally lawful right to refrain from membership in a
union and there are people in this plant, in this particular plant, I have been
told that at least two people will quit that plant and seek work elsewhere if
things work out if we are ever required to ... .
To the Union's proposal for a checkoff of dues, Selvin stated, preliminary to a
discussion of the issue: "But I'm going to tell you that for the same reasons that
we're going to reject Union Shop that we reject the check-off on dues." To the
Union's argument that the checkoff it proposed would be voluntary, Selvin replied
that it would not be voluntary in the case of an employee who after affiliating
with the Union changed his mind and withdrew. Her position remained unaltered
when the Union proposed that the employee might withdraw his checkoff authoriza-
tion on 7 days' notice. On this modified proposal the following exchange occurred:
SELVIN: We, we're not going to interfere in any way . . . this employee
may not even want us to know whether he is a member of the Union. We're
not going to invade his privacy. If these people want to belong to a Union,
alright let them belong to the Union but we're not going to have any part of it
or do anything about checking off dues.. .
UNION: That's ridiculous, Mrs. Selvin, with all due apologies to you, any-
body who wants to be a member of the Union and doesn't want the Employer to
know it will come to us and tell us, "Look, I want to be a member of the
Union. I don't want my Employer to know it, so therefore, please, I don't
want a check-off."
SELVIN: On the other hand if we don't wish to interfere with the union
membership we don't want to interfere even in the remotest manner and a
check-off of these dues is something we don't wish to assume.
UNION: We're asking you as a matter of convenience to check off the dues.
SELVIN: We don't wish to grant that convenience, we don 't wish to be respon-
sible for checking it off and sending the dues to the Union.
To the Union's proposal for a maintenance-of-membership clause, Selvin replied
in similar vein, "We're not willing to interfere in their [employees'] right to belong
to a union or to refrain from belonging to a union . .
Finally, with respect to a bulletin board in Respondent's plant for the posting of
union notices to its members, this exchange occurred:
UNION: How about a bulletin board on which we could post notices of
union meetings?
SELvIN: No sir.
UNION: Union business.
SELVIN: No. . . We don't have a bulletin board up in that department
and I'm sure we don't
UNION: We'll pay for the bulletin board.
SELVIN: Well we don't . . . you have contact with your people without a
bulletin board, you have adequate means to reach people without that. We
don't feel that it will be helpful to have a union bulletin board.
With respect to the Union's proposed discharge clause,' Selvin stated that she
would make a counterproposal and the November 2 meeting closed with an agree-
ment that Selvin would submit her counterproposals at the next meeting.
The October 28 meeting: At this meeting Selvin presented her so-called counter-
proposal in writing and most of the discussion centered on it.
It was actually a proposal for a contract of 6 months' duration which would bring
its expiration date close to the end of the Union's certification period.
3 This proposal was not developed with much detail but it appears that the Union
wanted an agreement that the employer would not discharge an employee after an
agreed-upon probationary period except on the basis of negotiated criteria.
216 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
To the Union's proposals of a union shop and various other union-security meas-
ures, Selvin counterproposed that the Respondent would recognize the Union as
required by law, and would not discriminate against employees because of their
union or nonunion affiliation, also as required by law in the absence of a valid union-
shop contract.
To the Union's proposals for a reduced workweek, Selvin counterproposed a con-
tinuance of the 40-hour week in conformity with existing law. She told the Union's
negotiators: "Well, you have proposed certain hours of work. . . . We, it's true
we counterproposed what is the law and no more. That's what we are willing to do."
While she made no counterproposal on wages and paid holidays, she adhered to
the position that she had asserted from the first on these topics: no change in the
status quo. To the Union's health and welfare proposals, she also adhered to her
initial position: that the Respondent had nothing to offer further than the existing
group health insurance established on a voluntary basis to which the Respondent
made no contribution.
Her counterproposal to the Union's demand for a discharge clause which would
protect an employee following an agreed-upon probationary period from arbitrary
discharge, may be said to be included in the following proposal headed "Company
prerogatives":
The rights of the Company in the operation and management of its business
are recognized, and it is expressly agreed that the right to hire, promote, trans-
fer, or discharge for just cause, to maintain the discipline and efficiency of
employees, to determine the type of products to be manufactured, the schedules
of production and work, the methods, processes and means to be used, are
prerogatives of Management.
Allied to this proposal was a proposal for grievance procedure, which may be
regarded as her counterproposal to the Union's request for an arbitration clause. It
provided that the employees in the bargaining unit should elect a chairman from
among themselves, and that any employee in the unit who feels aggrieved may take
up his grievance with the said chairman. Only in the event, however, that the griev-
ance is not "inconsistent" with company prerogatives, as stated above, may the
chairman "elect to take the matter up with the immediate supervisor of the employee
who feels aggrieved, or the chairman may elect to submit the grievance to the repre-
sentative of the Union. The union representative and the Company or the Com-
pany's duly designated representative, shall then meet, at a time and place mutually
agreeable, and shall attempt to adjust such grievance in fair and just manner."
Other provisions of the "grievance procedure" were: all grievances must be dis-
posed of within 10 days following their submission; no "outside arbitration" could
be invoked by either party in the settlement of any dispute arising under the contract;
the Union would be prohibited from conducting any union business on Respondent's
premises and no union representative should visit the plant at any time except with
the express permission of the Respondent; employees were granted the right of con-
ferring with the Respondent on any matters affecting working conditions.
To the Union's request for negotiations on arbitration, Selvin replied: "I'll talk
and negotiate about anything you want to propose." The following colloquy ensued:
UNION: Will you agree to arbitration in principle?
SELVIN: I will not agree to arbitration in principle no; we've talked
about. .
UNION: So what's there to talk about?
SELVIN: If you want to propose it more specifically than you did, why you're
free to do it.
UNION: If you are willing to agree to arbitration as a terminal step in the
processing of a grievance I will give you concrete proposals as to who the
arbitrator shall be, how a complaint is brought to him, when he shall hold the
bearing, what notice there shall be of a hearing, what parties must participate,
the entire machinery, of how the arbitration machinery works. I'll give you
concrete proposals on every item of it, but if you're not going to accept arbitra-
tion machinery in principle what's the sense of wasting time?
SELVIN: Well I think you're right. We're not going to accept it in principle.
To the Union's query whether the Respondent would enter into any agreement
which did not contain the proposed "Company prerogatives" clause, on which-as
has been seen-the proposed grievance machinery was based, Selvin concluded:
We will not yield our right to hire our own employees, we will not yield our
right to discharge for just cause, we will not yield our right to maintain the
discipline and efficiency of employees and to determine the type of product to
CALIFORNIA GIRL, INC. 217
be manufactured, the schedules of production and work, the methods, processes
and means to be used. Now . . . it does not necessarily need to be spelled
out in the contract but in essence those, we are not willing to yield those, to
make those concessions. I consider for us to give you any part of our right
to hire promote transfer and discharge or to maintain the discipline in our
own factory would be asking us to make a concession and we are not obligated
to do so that I known anything about.
To this the Union replied:
Now we want to negotiate the question of transfer and discharge. We want to
negotiate on the question of discipline so that if an employee thinks he has been
disciplined unjustly he shall have recourse and that the employer shall not be the
sole determinant of whether the discipline is warranted or not warranted. We
want also that any rules to be set up shall be made explicit and shall be the
result of mutual negotiations between the employer and the Union. On these
matters, matters of promotion, transfer discharge discipline and the determina-
tion of efficiency-now by that I don't mean that insofar as efficiency of em-
ployees goes, we don't mean to say that we insist the employer keep inefficient
workers, but we do mean that whether a worker is efficient or not shall not be
subject to the unilateral decisions of either party, but that there shall be a
grievance procedure whereby whether or not the worker is efficient can be ade-
quately tested and determined by a forum.
Selvin's only response was to recount an occasion under another contract whereby,
according to her, the employer was required to retain two employees he regarded as
inefficient because the contract provided for divided authority between the employer
and the union in the matter of discharges. There were accordingly, no actual nego-
tiations on any of the matters put forward by the Union as stated above.
Other proposals contained in Selvin's written offer of a contract were: That
employees might be granted a leave of absence "at the discretion of the employer"
upon complying with stated procedures; that the employees should receive "Report-
ing Pay" as required by law; that there should be "no general lockout, general strike,
individual shop strike, shop or Union meetings called during working hours, or shop
stoppage for any reason or cause whatsoever, and there shall be no individual lock-
out, strikes or stoppage pending the determination of any complaint or grievance";
and "Any working conditions existing at the time of the execution of this Agreement
more favorable to the employees than the terms of this Agreement shall be
continued."
The meeting closed without agreement having been reached on any matter that
constituted an issue between the parties. As Selvin stated, she had said "No" to the
Union's proposals and had afforded them an opportunity to say "No" to hers. No
further meetings between the parties have been held and none requested.
Concluding findings: This is not the first time we have encountered the redoubt-
able Mrs. Edwin Selvin as the negotiator for an employer charged with an unlawful
refusal to bargain. In Duro Fittings Company, 121 NLRB 377 (a decision of which I
take official notice), it was found that the employer refused to bargain, inter alia,
on proposals of union security and merit wage increases. In that case it was found
that Selvin, representing her employer, stated to the union negotiators that she would
not under any circumstances execute a contract containing union-security provisions
and would represent no employer who was inclined "in any way to grant any sem-
blance of union security." In an address to her client's employees she declared that
union security was not a mandatory subject for collective bargaining, although it was
established at the time she made these remarks, and long before, by both Board and
court decisions, that the contrary was true .2 Her position on merit increases in the
Duro case was equally adamant and was articulated by both herself and her client in
remarks addressed to the latter's employees, when Selvin declared her client would
"accept no contract except as it includes a merit system for the payment of
wages," and the latter declared, "I will always reserve the right to give anybody an
increase in pay at any time I feel they deserve it.... .
Of course, each case is decided on its own facts, and if the facts of the instant
case show that Selvin has profited from her experience in Duro and has entered
upon a course of bona fide bargaining on proposals for union security, merit in-
creases, and other mandatory subjects of collective bargaining, this Respondent is
not to be prejudiced by her adamant, predetermined position in such matters in a
3 NLRB v Andrew Jergens Co , 175 F. 2d 130, 134 (C A. 9) ; N L.R B. v. W. T. Grant
Company, 199 F. 2d 711 (C.A. 9) ; N.L.R.B. v. Bradley Washfountain Co., 192 F. 2d 144,
145 (C.A. 7).
218 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
prior case. Neither do we, in evaluating her good faith here, have to ignore her
declaration of interests in the earlier case when she declared that her opposition to
all forms of union security is common knowledge to all who are acquainted with
her activities in the Los Angeles area. As indeed it is. Questioned in the instant
proceeding whether her position on such bargainable matters as union security had
undergone change since the Duro decision, she testified, cautiously, that while there
had been no change in her "philosophy" she would now do what she had previously
stated she would not do-represent employers who had contracts containing union-
security provisions. Further examination disclosed that she had on no occasion
negotiated, in the first instance, a contract containing union-security provisions, and
on one occasion when a client-employer bypassed her and executed such a contract
she resigned as his negotiator. She did represent this same client at a later date and
in the renegotiation or renewal of contracts containing union-security provisions
which she did not negotiate in the first instance, she has represented employer
clientele. Therefore her testimony that she is now willing to represent employers
who have union-security provisions in their contracts with labor organizations, is
literally true but tells us nothing of a change in her basic approach to bargaining
on this issue. As will be seen, there are in fact marked similarities between her
conduct as negotiator in the Duro case, and here.
Before there had been any negotiations between this Union and this Employer,
the Union had filed a charge of refusal to bargain because of what it viewed as
"stalling" tactics on the part of Selvin. On learning that the charge had been filed,
Selvin very promptly agreed to meet with the Union if it would withdraw the
charge. Regardless of whether the filing of the charge was justified-and on the
facts of this case alone I think it was not-she could not lawfully make the with-
drawal of the charge a condition precedent to negotiations, but the charge was
withdrawn and meetings were held and inasmuch as I am convinced of Selvin's
willingness to meet with the Union at reasonable times I attribute no great signifi-
cance to the point.
At the first bargaining conference on August 5, the Union instead of coming
forward with a specific contract proposal in writing, suggested improvements in
five specified categories and requested Selvin to canvass the matter with her client
and advise, at the next meeting, what the Respondent was willing to offer in these
five categories. This may have been a somewhat novel approach but this Union
had had prior experience with this negotiator and had decided that it would save time
and extended conferences by this approach. Its proposals were nonetheless pro-
posals because they were made orally and were phrased in general instead of specific
terms sand there was nothing ambiguous about them. Nevertheless, when .the parties
next met on August 17, Selvin again expressed puzzlement over the Union's
failure to submit a written contract proposal and said in effect that she had no
"offers" to make on the part of the Respondent. What she meant by this presently
became quite clear when in response to the Union's more specific proposals in each
of the five designated areas of bargaining, she responded with an unequivocal "No."
It is obvious from her explanations of her position that she had indeed canvassed
each of the five categories with her employer and that it had been decided before
she came to this second conference that the Respondent would not agree to any
change in its present scale and conditions of employment and would agree to no
innovations.
What is the significance of this? Selvin at these bargaining conferences and at
the hearing herein and in her brief filed with me, emphasized by reiteration that she
had thoroughly memorized that portion of the Act which states that the failure to
yield a point or make concessions in bargaining does not constitute a refusal to
bargain. She is of course entirely right in this. But the significance of the flat
rejection of all union proposals in the five stated categories, even when those pro-
posals were scaled down and liberalized, is that this rejection was decided upon
before there had been any discussion whatever on any of the proposals. Without
hearing the Union's arguments, without knowing the extent and scope of the Union's
demands, she and her employer-client had decided to reject everything and give
nothing. Monolithic in her opposition to every form of union advancement into
what she obviously regards as the private preserves of employers,3 granite-firm,
immovable, and unsubtle as an alp, she took her place at the bargaining table to
"negotiate and reject"-to use her own words-serenely unaware, apparently, despite
her experience in Duro, that a predetermined and fixed resolution to reject is not
compatible with the term "negotiate," no matter how much and how long she
8 As Illustrated by her proposals on merit Increases and "company prerogatives "
CALIFORNIA GIRL, INC. 219
listened to opposing arguments and repeated her predetermined rationalizations of
her position.4
Two further conferences were held and there was discussion of all the issues
raised by proposals and counterproposals but Selvin never varied from the position
she took at the outset of the second conference-that the Respondent would agree
to no change in existing conditions, with the exception of merit wage increase.
Attention is directed ,to her position on merit increases which she may have construed
as a counterproposal to the Union's wage demands. After rejecting every form of
proposed wage increase, including the proposal of paid holidays, she made it known
that the Respondent was willing to continue its practice of merit increases provided
the Union would waive its right to negotiate such increases or to participate in
any way in their effectuation! To every proposal for negotiating objective criteria
for the granting of such increases, she gave a prompt and emphatic "No," declaring,
"I say that a merit increase has to be at the discretion of the employer. If he wants
to give a merit increase he has to be willing to do it." She would allow for no review
of the employer's determinaiton in the matter, commenting, "The accuracy [of the
employer's determination] you'd just have to take our word for it." There is no
significant change here from the position she took on merit increases in the Duro
case. Her idea of conforming to that decision was to give the Union the alternative
of depriving the employees of any wage increase whatever, including merit increases,
or waiving its right to negotiate such increases, to review them, or in any way par-
ticipate in their effectuation. A clearer case of lip service to a principle would be
hard to find. Again, the vice in her position was not her failure to yield or to grant
a concession, but that it was a predetermined position, arrived at in consultation
with her employer-client before there had been any discussion of the matter at the
bargaining table and before the Union's proposal for establishing objective criteria
for a determination of merit increases had been made.
The posture of the issue with respect to union-security provisions, is much the
same. From Duro, Selvin profited enough not to proclaim publicly, contrary to
fact, that union security was not a mandatory subject for collective bargaining, nor
to assert that she would represent no employer "inclined in any way to grant any
semblance of union security," but except for such outright admissions of refusal to
bargain on the subject the parallel between her position in that case and this one is
clear. To every proposal of union security she answered a prompt and emphatic
"No." She not only forthwith rejected a proposal for a union shop but was equally
adamant on a proposal for a voluntary checkoff of union dues even when the Union
modified its initial proposal by suggesting a checkoff authorization revokable on 7
days' notice. Her answer was that to agree to any sort of checkoff would be an
unwarranted invasion of the employee's privacy! And while she testified that she
canvassed all union proposals with her employer-client, Fahn, with whom she was
supposed to confer, testified that he had no recollection of her having mentioned
maintenance-of-union membership in their discussion of the Union's contract pro-
posals. Finally, here as in Duro, as a counterproposal to all union proposals for
union-security provisions, Selvin agreed that it might be written into a contract that
the Respondent would recognize the Union and would not discriminate against any
employee because of membership or nonmembership in a labor organization-all
as required by law. True, in the course of the four meetings there was a good deal
of discussion of union security and on the issue of the union shop Selvin informed
the Union's negotiators that if they wished to hear her she could talk on the subject
for 2 hours and 25 minutes. They wisely declined the offer. With her many years
of advocating the open shop in many forums before she became a negotiator for
employers, she could no doubt have consumed this much time and more with an
expression of her views and the Union's negotiators would have had to be as mad
as King Canute to think there was any likelihood of accomplishing a reversal or
modification of those views. Selvin's total unreceptiveness to any and all forms of
union security, rooted deep in her many years of public advocacy of the open shop,
obviously deprived the Union of a legitimate bargaining lever by which it might at
least hope to win concessions on other proposals if not in the matter of union
security itself. While the Act does not require that either party yield to the other's
proposals, there must be at least a capacity and potentialiy for yielding and a willing-
ness to reach accord in a manner mutually beneficial or there can be no bona fide
collective bargaining.
4 "Enforcement of the obligation to bargain collectively is crucial to the statutory
scheme. And , as has long been recognized, performance of the duty to bargain requires
more than a willingness to enter into a sterile discussion of union-management differences."
N.L.R.B. v. American National Insurance Co., 343 U .S. 395.
220 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
This Respondent 's approach to bargaining with this Union is further reflected in
,Selvin's insistence that to grant any benefits to employees in the bargaining unit not
enjoyed by employees outside the unit, would cause dissatisfaction among the latter
with resulting "embarassment" to the Respondent. She admitted that if there were
only the bargaining unit to consider, the Respondent might be willing to grant a paid
vacation of a day or two. The practical effect of this insistence, consistently main-
tained by Selvin from the outset of negotiations, was to pitch bargaining on a plant-
wide level, and thereby to deprive employees in the bargaining unit of the right to
have their bargaining demands weighed and considered on their merits with respect
to conditions existing in the unit, and to place on the Union the onus of showing
that its proposals should have plantwide application although it had no representative
capacity outside the unit for which it was certified. To no avail the Union pleaded
that there were conditions of employment peculiar to the unit, something which
Selvin did not deny.
Withal it is not difficult to probe to Respondent's real concern in the matter.
Here was a unit of only a few employees, characterized by Selvin as "a few people
in an island of a much larger group of employees," who had chosen to be repre-
sented in collective bargaining by a labor organization , a focus of infection which
if favored might very well spread until the entire body of employees was contami-
nated and which, therefore, must be excised at all costs. Selvin's surgical skill for
performing such a delicate operation has been amply demonstrated, and is further
exemplified by her offer of is contract of only 6 months' duration. From her
remarks in bargaining conferences it appears that certain employees who voted for
the Union had left Respondent's employ and others had voiced their objections to
union representation. By the end of the certification year, provided no benefits had
been granted in the interim , she could reasonably expect to be in a favorable position
to challenge the Union's 'representative status. This objective is further exemplified
in her proposal for recognition of company prerogatives and a grievance procedure
which could function only outside the limits of the said prerogatives , a grievance
procedure so restricted that it would have the effect of depriving employees in the
unit of most of the fruits of union representation. What Selvin was actually pro-
posing was that the Union largely divest itself of its representative capacity for if it
had agreed to her proposals it would have waived its rights effectively to represent
the employees to whom it owed the duty of representation. Her contract offer in
fact offered a good deal less than the Union could claim as a matter of law outside
contractual commitments.5 As Selvin remarked, she had said "No" to all the
Union's proposals and in fulfillment of her obligations to bargain, as she saw them,
now offered them an opportunity to say "No" to hers, having made certain that her
own proposals were of such nature and scope that no labor organization which
respected the obligations inherent in its representative capacity could say anything
but "No."
Upon consideration of all the evidence , it is found that the Respondent through
its negotiator, Mrs. Edwin Selvin, in violation of Section 8(a)(1) and (5) of the
Act, refused at all times material herein to bargain in good faith with the Union,
the duly certified representative of its employees in an appropriate unit, and thereby
interfered with , restrained , and coerced its employees in the exercise of rights
guaranteed them in Section 7 of the Act.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES UPON COMMERCE
The activities of the Respondent, set forth in section III, above, occurring in
connection with the operations of the Respondent described in section I, above,
have a close , intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among
the several States and tend to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing com-
merce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE REMEDY
It having been found that the Respondent engaged in unfair labor practices by
refusing on and after August 3, 1959, to bargain with the Union, the statutory bar-
gaining representative of its employees in an appropriate unit , it will be recommended
that on request the Respondent bargain with the Union on all proposals which raise
5In her proposal on "company prerogatives" Selvin apparently overlooked the fact that
all matters affecting the tenure of employment and working conditions of employees in
the bargaining unit , were mandatory subjects of collective bargaining and that so long
as the Union 's representative status was maintained the Respondent had no right to act
unilaterally in such matters , absent an impasse in collective bargaining.
INTERNATIONAL TELEPHONE & TELEGRAPH CORP ., ETC . 221
bargainable issues, and, if an understanding is reached , embody such understanding
in a signed agreement.
Respondent 's refusal to bargain in fulfillment of an obligation which " is crucial
to the statutory scheme," convinces me that this Respondent has not yet accepted
the basic mandates of the Act, from which it is inferred that there is a likelihood
of the commission of other unfair labor practices unless the remedy be made
coextensive with the threat . It therefore will be recommended that the Respondent
cease and desist from yin any manner infringing upon the rights of employees guaran-
teed in Section 7 of, the Act.
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and upon the entire record in the
case, I make the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. The Union is a labor organization within the meaning of Section 2(5) of
the Act.
2. All cutters, the bundlegirl and the patternmaker , including the head cutter, of
Respondent employed at its Los Angeles , California , plant , excluding maintenance
employees , shipping and office employees , professional employees , guards, and
supervisory employees , constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act.
3. The Union was on July 9, 1959, and at all times since has been the exclusive
representative of all employees in the aforesaid appropriate unit for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(a) of the Act.
4. By refusing on and after August 3, 1959, to bargain collectively with the Union
as exclusive representative in the aforesaid appropriate unit, California Girl, Inc.,
has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of
Section 8(a)(5) of the Act.
5. By the said refusal to bargain , California Girl, Inc., interfered with , restrained,
and coerced its employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed them in Section 7 of
the Act, and thereby engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices within
the meaning of Section 8(a) (1) of the Act.
6. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices affecting com-
merce within the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
[Recommendations omitted from publication.]
International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation , Industrial
Products Division and International Union, United Auto-
mobile , Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of
America, AFL-CIO. Case No. 21-CA-3939. October 3, 1960
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a charge duly filed by the International Union, United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America,
AFL-CIO (herein called the UAW), the General Counsel of the
National Labor Relations Board, by the Regional Director for the
Twenty-first Region, on April 25, 1960, issued against the Interna-
tional Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, Industrial Products
Division (herein called the Respondent), a complaint alleging that
the Respondent had engaged in and was engaging in unfair labor
practices within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (1) and (5) and Section
2(6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended.
Copies of the charge, complaint, and notice of hearing before a Trial
Examiner were duly served upon the Respondent and the Charging
Party.
129 NLRB No. 24.