International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 21, 1950

90 N.L.R.B. 526 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of LOCAL 596, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELEC-
TRICAL WORKERS , A. F. L. and WEST VIRGINIA ELECTRIC COR-
PORATION
Case No. 6-CD-3.Decided June 201, 1950
DECISION AND ORDER
This proceeding arises under Section 10 (k) of the Act, as amended
by Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, which provides that.
"Whenever it is charged that any person has engaged in an unfair
labor practice within the meaning of paragraph 4 (d) of Section &
(b), the Board is empowered and directed to hear and determine the
dispute out of which such unfair labor practice shall have arisen...."
On October 18, 1949, West Virginia Electric Corporation, herein
called the Company, filed with the Regional Director for the Sixth
Region of the Board a charge alleging that Local 596, International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, A. F. L., herein called the IBEW,
had violated Section 8 (b) (4) (D) of the Act in that on or about
September 1, 1949, and thereafter, the IBEW, through its agents
and members, had engaged in a strike and induced the employees of
other employers to engage in a strike, with the object of forcing and
requiring the Company to assign the electrical work on an elementary
school at Bridgeport, West Virginia, to members of the IBEW rather
than to members of Local 625 of United Construction Workers, Dis-
trict 50, United Mine Workers of America, herein called UMWA.
Thereafter, pursuant to Section 203.74 and 203.75 of the Board's
Rules and Regulations, Series 5, the Regional Director investigated
the charge and provided for an appropriate hearing, upon due notice
to all the parties. The hearing was held before a hearing officer of
the Board on November 14 and 15, 1949. The UMWA was permitted
to intervene in the proceeding. At the hearing, all parties appeared,,
participated, and were afforded a full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to adduce evidence bearing
on the issues. The rulings of the hearing officer made at the hearing
are free from prejudical error and are hereby affirmed. All parties
were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
90 NLRB No. 82.
526
LOCAL 596, INT'ERNAT'L BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS 527
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS or FACT
The Company is engaged in the business of electrical installation
and repair work. It has its principal place of business in Fairmont,
West Virginia.
The labor dispute here in question pertains to the construction of
an elementary school at Bridgeport, West Virginia. The total con-
struction cost of the school is $121,721. The Company, under contract
with the county school board, was engaged to do the electrical work
at a cost of $4,545. The approximate value of the materials and sup-
plies used by the Company in connection with this work amounted
to $1,800; of this sum, only $350 represents purchases made directly
outside the State of West Virginia. In the performance of the gen-
ei al contract, Jarvis-Courtney Corporation, the general contractor,
purchased approximately $15,000 worth of materials directly outside
the State. The only other contractor on the school job, Joseph laquin-
ta and Son, purchased approximately $3,800 worth of materials
directly outside the State.
During the 12 months preceding the hearing date, the Company
purchased for its general electrical work approximately $80,000 worth
of materials and equipment of which about $64,000 worth was pur-
chased outside the State of West Virginia. During the same period,
it installed electrical equipment and did electrical repair work in the
sum of approximately $100,000, of which about 25 percent was done
outside the State.
On the basis of the foregoing, we find that the building project
involved in this proceeding is essentially local in character, and that
the effect of the Company's operations on interstate commerce with
respect to the project is so insubstantial that to assert jurisdiction
would not effectuate the policies of the Act.' Accordingly, we shall
dismiss the proceeding.
ORDER
Upon the entitre record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board hereby orders that the above-entitled proceeding be, and the
salve hereby is, dismissed.
? Building and Construction Trades Council of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , A. F. L., et al.
(George Petredis and William S. Fryer), 85 NLRB 241 ; Walter J. Mentzer, 82 NLRB 389.
In the Mentzer case a Board majority stated :
In a number of recent cases involving aspects of the building -construction industry,
the Board has refrained , we think wisely , from applying the Federal power to small
and strictly local enterprises , without necessarily concurring in the contention that
jurisdiction was utterly lacking under the commerce clause of the constitution.
528 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CHAIRMAN HERZOG, dissenting :
I cannot concur in my colleagues ' refusal to assert jurisdiction in
this case . I think the Board should adhere to its previously well-
settled policy of considering all the operations of the Employer and
not just the particular project involved 2
Here the general operations of the West Virginia Electric Corpora-
tion clearly affect commerce . I would therefore assert jurisdiction.
MEMBER REYNOLDS, dissenting :
For the reasons expressed in my dissent in the Churches case,3 I
would assert jurisdiction in this case.
2 Denver Building and Construction Trades Council, et at. (The Grauman Company),
87 NLRB 755; Denver Building and Construction Trades Council, et at. (Earl C. Gould and
John C. Preisner, d/b/a Gould and Preisner), 82 NLRB 1195; United Brotherhood of Car-
penters and Joiners of America, et at. (Wadsworth Building Company, Inc., et al.), 81
NLRB 802; Local 71, United Brotherhood of. Carpenters and Joiners of America, A. F. of L.
et at. (Ira A. Watson Company, d/b/a Watson's Specialty Store), 80 NLRB 533 (enforced
April 4, 1950, C. A. 6) ; Singer Sewing Machine, 87 NLRB 460; Collins Baking Co., 83
NLRB 599; Childs Company, et at., 88 NLRB 720.
3 Denver Building and Construction Trades Council (William G. Churches, et al.), 90
NLRB 378.