Litton Industries, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 18, 1971

189 N.L.R.B. 1 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

AUTOMATED BUSINESS SYSTEMS I
Automated Business Systems , Division of Litton
Industries , Inc.' and Robert L . Greer, Petitioner.
Case 27-RD-233
March 18, 1971
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
By MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN, AND JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing
was held before Hearing Officer Allison E. Nutt of the
National Labor Relations Board. Thereafter, the
Employer and the Intervenors filed briefs.
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.
The Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The parties stipulated and we find that the
Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the Act and it will effectuate the purposes of the
Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The Intervenor is a labor organization within
the meaning of the Act.
3. We find that a question affecting commerce
exists 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, for the following
reasons:
The Employer, a Delaware Corporation, is engaged
in the printing of business forms at its Ogden, Utah,
facility. Since 1956 the Intervenor has represented
employees of the Employer at the Ogden, Utah,
facility in the following unit:
All employees who perform work in the finishing
operations of the printing department, including
shipping, receiving, and janitors, but excluding all
other employees, sales personnel, engineers, office
and clerical employees, guards, watchmen, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
Recognition was granted voluntarily and there has
been no formal Board certification. There are
approximately 30 employees in the unit.
The Intervenor and the Employer have been parties
to a series of collective-bargaining agreements. The
term of the current agreement is from August 1, 1969,
to July 31, 1971. Although the Intervenor's Interna-
tional has not participated in past contract negotia-
tions, it has been a signatory to all of the contracts
except the present one. In 1968 the International
forbade its president from signing any future con-
tracts which did not provide for a shorter workweek.
As the current contract does not contain such a
provision, the International president refused to sign
it. Neither the union constitution nor the current
contract requires International approval of the
contract.
In April 19703 the Intervenor had 32 members.
After April the members began revoking their
checkoff authorizations and resigning from the
Intervenor. The current membership consists of four
people, three of whom are life-member retirees and
one of whom is a retiree paying a per capita tax to the
International. On July 1 the Intervenor held a meeting
of unit employees. The employees voted 26 to 3 to
"disaffiliate" from the Union. They also voted to
request the Employer to terminate the contract. All of
the unit employees signed a petition to the Interna-
tional stating that they were canceling their member-
ship, effective July 2. All of the employees also signed
a petition to the Employer asking him to terminate the
contract as of July 2. The president and secretary of
the Intervenor pr"sented the second petition to the
Employer on July 2. They informed Robert Panaro,
the Employer's vice president for industrial relations,
that they were acting as officers of the Intervenor in
presenting this petition. Panaro agreed to terminate
the contract and signed the petition to that effect.
On July 6 all officers of the Intervenor informed the
International, by mail, that they were resigning their
official positions. On July 8 Greer, an employee, filed
this petition for a decertification election. On July 13
the International appointed Walter R. Stansberry, an
International representative, to be trustee of the
Intervenor. The Employer, at the request of the
employees, stopped any further dues checkoff. The
record shows that the Intervenor has $4.88 in a bank
account, has not held any meetings since July 1, and
does not have any grievances pending. The only
members of the Intervenor are the four retirees
previously mentioned.
The Petitioner and the Employer take the position
that the agreement has been terminated by mutual
assent and that the Intervenor is defunct. The
Intervenor contends that the contract has not been
effectively terminated and that it is not a defunct
labor organization.
The Intervenor asserts that the action of the
members was ultra vires. As authority for this
contention it cites a provision in the union constitu-
I name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
2 International Brotherhood of Bookbinders , Local 77, AFL-CIO,
hereinafter referred to as the Intervenor, was permitted to intervene on the
basis of a current collective -bargaining agreement between the Employer
and the Bookbinders.
3 This and all dates hereafter mentioned are 1970, unless otherwise
stated.
189 NLRB No. I
2 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tion which forbids local members from suspending or
in any way affecting a local contract. While the union
constitution prohibits such action by the members, it
does not establish what procedure is to be followed to
achieve termination of a contract.
In North American Philips Company, Inc., 78 NLRB
666, 668, the Board held that the failure of a local
union to give notice to its international of the
termination of a contract was not sufficient to invoke
the contract as a bar to a representation petition.
Despite the fact that the contract required the local to
notify the international, the Board found that the
international, although it had signed the contract, had
no real interest in the contract and that it was only a
nominal party hereto.
In Remington Rand, Inc, 78 NLRB 181, the
international constitution required a local to notify
the international of a proposed contract termination.
The Board, stating that the local's failure to notify the
international was not material to the determination of
whether the contract was a bar to a representation
petition, held that the contract was not a bar.
Under the circumstances in this case, we find that
the members and officers of the Intervenor had the
authority to terminate the contract and that their
actions in that respect were effective. The Board
stated in Deluxe Metal Furniture Company, 4 121
NLRB 995, 1004, that, "a contract may be terminated
by mutual assent of the parties" and that "a contract
which has been terminated at a time other than during
the 60-day insulated period will not bar a petition A
contract will be deemed terminated if it is terminated
by mutual assent . . ." We find that the contract has
' See also G C Murphy Company, 128 NLRB 908, 909
In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to
be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all
parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their
addresses which may be used to communicate with them Excelsior
Underwear Inc, 156 NLRB 1236, N L R B v Wyman-Gordon Co, 394 U S
759 Accordingly, it is hereby directed that an election eligibility list,
containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters, must be filed
been effectively terminated and that it is not a bar to
this petition
Trustee Stansberry claims that the Intervenor is
ready, willing, and able to represent the unit employ-
ees. In these circumstances, and upon the entire
record in this case, we find that the Intervenor is not
defunct and, accordingly, that a question affecting
commerce exists concerning the representation of
employees of the Employer.
4. The parties stipulated and we find that the
following employees constitute an appropriate unit
for collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9(b) of the Act:
All employees who perform work in the finishing
operations of the printing department, including
shipping, receiving, and janitors, but excluding all
other employees, sales personnel, engineers, office
and clerical employees, guards, watchmen, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Direction of Election a omitted from publication.]
MEMBER BROWN, dissenting:
Contrary to my colleagues, I would find that Local
77 has become defunct. The undisputed facts show
that the unit employees voted to "disaffiliate" from
the Local. All of the unit employees then resigned
from the Local. Shortly thereafter, all of the officers
resigned their official positions. The Local has not
held a meeting since voting to disband. No grievances
are pending The only individuals remaining as
members of the Local are four retirees. Under these
circumstances, I would find the Local to be defunct
and would therefore dismiss the petition in this case.
by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 27 within 7 days of
the date of this Decision and Direction of Election The Regional Director
shall make the list available to all parties to the election No extension of
time to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in
extraordinary circumstances Failure to comply with this requirement shall
be grounds for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are
filed