United Steelworkers of America

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 19, 1955

114 N.L.R.B. 532 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

532 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
United Steelworkers of America , CIO and Mrs . Ruth C . Tillery.
Case No. 10-CB-289. October 19, 1955
DECISION AND ORDER
On August 1, 1955, Trial Examiner C. W. Whittemore 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 In-
termediate Report attached hereto. Thereafter, the General Counsel
filed exceptions to the Intermediate Report and a supporting brief;
and the Respondent filed a reply to the exceptions.
The Board has reviewed the rulings made by the Trial Examiner
at the hearing, and finds that no prejudicial error was committed.
The rulings are hereby affirmed. The Board has considered the Inter-
mediate Report, the exceptions and brief of the General Counsel, the
Respondent's reply, and the entire record in the case, and hereby
adopts the Trial Examiner's findings, conclusions, and recommenda-
tions., ,
ORDER
Upon the entire record in this case, and pursuant to Section 10 (c)
of the National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations
Board hereby orders that the Respondent, United Steelworkers of
America, CIO, and its officers, representatives, agents, successors, and
assigns, shall :
1. Cease and desist from restraining or coercing employees of Metal
Fabricators & Finishers, Inc., Vulcan Binder and Cover Co., and
Athletic • Co., Inc., by using or threatening the use of force and
violence,, or by interfering with employees' ingress and egress to and
from work, or in any other manner restraining or coercing employees in
the exercise of their right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist
labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives
of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for
the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protec-
tion, and to refrain from any or all of such activities, except to the ex-
tent that such right may be affected by an agreement requiring inem-
bership in a labor organization as authorized in Section 8 (a) (3)
of the Act.
I The Oeneral Counsel excepts to the Trial Examiner's failure to find that the Respondent
violated Section 8 (b) (1) (A) of the Act by other conduct not relied on by the Trial
Examiner. In view of the fact the other alleged violations of Section 8 (b) (1) (A)
would be merely cumulative and would not affect the remedial order issued herein, we
find it nnnecessar3 to decide whether this other conduct violated the Act
114 NLRB No. 98.
UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO • 533
2.. Take the following affirmative action which the Board finds
will effectuate the policies of the Act :
(a) Post in- its business office in Birmingham, Alabama, copies of
the notice attached hereto marked "Appendix." 2 Copies of said
notice, to be furnished by the Regional, Director for the Tenth Region,
shall,, after being signed by the Respondent's representative, be
posted by the Respondent immediately upon receipt thereof and main-
tained by it for a period of sixty (60) consecutive days thereafter in
conspicuous places, including all places where notices to its members
are customarily posted. Reasonable steps shall be taken by the Re-
spondent to insure that said notices are not altered, defaced, or cov-
ered by any other material.
(b) Mail to the Regional Director for the Tenth Region signed
copies of said notices for posting, the Employers willing, at the plants
of Metal Fabricators & Finishers, Inc., Vulcan Binder and Cover Co.,
and Athletic Co., Inc., in places where notices to employees are cus-
tomarily posted. Copies of said notice, to be furnished by the
Regional Director for the Tenth Region, shall, after being duly
signed as provided above, be returned forthwith to the Regional Di-
rector for such posting.
(c) Notify said Regional Director in writing, within ten (10)• days
from the date of this Order, what steps the Respondent has taken to
comply herewith.
MEMBER MURDOCK took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.
n 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."
APPENDIX
NOTICE TO ALL MEMBERS OF UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Pursuant to -a Decision and Order of the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and in order to effectuate the policies of the National
Labor Relations Act, we hereby give notice that :
WE WILL NOT restrain or coerce employees of - Metal Fabrica-
tors & Finishers, Inc., Vulcan Binder and Cover Co., and.Athletic
Co., Inc., by using or threatening the use of force and violence; or
by interfering with employees' ingress and egress to and from"
work, or in any other manner restraining or coercing employees
in the exercise of their right to self-organization, to form, join,
or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through
representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other
concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or
534 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
other mutual aid or protection, and to refrain from any or all
of such activities, except to the extent that such right may be
affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor or-
ganization as authorized in Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act.
UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO,
Labor Organization.
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.
INTERMEDIATE REPORT
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
This proceeding , brought under Section 10 (b) of the National Labor Relations
Act, as amended , 61 Stat. 136, herein called the Act, was heard before a duly desig-
nated Trial Examiner at Birmingham , Alabama, on July 19, 1955, pursuant to due
notice. All parties were represented at the hearing and were afforded full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross -examine witnesses , to introduce evidence relevant
and material to the issues , to argue orally upon the record, and to file briefs and pro-
posed findings . The parties waived the filing of briefs , but argued upon the record.
The complaint , as issued by the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations
Board and as amended before and during the hearing ,' alleges in substance , and .the
answer denies , that on various dates between February and April 1955, agents and
pickets of the Respondent Union engaged in assaults and uttered threats of assault
upon employees of Vulcan Press, Inc., Metal Fabricators & Finishers, Inc., Vulcan
Binder and Cover Co., and Athletic Co., Inc., for crossing a picket line , in violation
of Section 8 (b) (1) (A) of the Act.
Upon the entire record in the case, and from his observation of the witnesses, the
Trial Examiner makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF EMPLOYERS INVOLVED
For the purpose of establishing jurisdiction in this case , parties at the hearing stip-
ulated that Official notice be taken of finding of the Board in its Decision and Direc-
tion of Election , in Metal Fabricators & Finishers , Inc., issued January 3, 1955, in
Case No. 10-RC-2886, in respect to commerce matters. On the basis of findings
fully set forth in that decision , the Board concluded and found that the employer there
involved-Metal Fabricators-was engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act. The Respondent Union , at the hearing, conceded that it would not contest the
Board 's conclusion previously reached . Since the Board 's decision , above cited, both
by stipulation and as documentary evidence , has been made a part of this record, it
appears needless to the Trial Examiner to quote in full the Board's commerce findings.
In consonance with the Board 's conclusion, the Trial Examiner concludes and finds
that the Employer, Metal Fabricators & Finishers, Inc., is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act, and that the Board has jurisdiction.
II. THE LABOR ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Steelworkers of America, CIO, is a labor organization as defined in Section
2 (5) of the Act.
'The original complaint in the above -entitled case was issued on May 17, 1955. On
June 10, 1955 , the Regional Director for the Tenth Region issued an order consolidating
this case with Cases Nos . 10-CC-90 and 91 and at the same time issued a consolidated
complaint . On June 21 the Regional Director issued an order severing the CC cases
and amending the consolidated complaint . During the hearing General Counsel amended,
by correcting an apparent typographical error , the order amending the consolidated
complaint.
UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO - 535
III. THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES •
The Respondent offered no evidence at the hearing. The testimony of General
Counsel's witnesses is unrefuted. The Respondent apparently rests upon its counsel's
contention, voiced early during the hearing and in his oral argument, that General
Counsel ought not to have brought the complaint to hearing, among other reasons be-
cause the individual filing the charge upon which it was based had sought to have it
dismissed and because the Respondent had offered, but the Regional Director had
refused to accept, an informal settlement. At the hearing full opportunity was offered
the parties, by the Trial Examiner, to settle the matters. General Counsel stated, how-
ever, "Settlement attempts have broken down because of our insistence of a formal
settlement.... I think we have exhausted that possibility. I would be willing to take
any time that would be suitable, but I think we have already crossed that bridge. I
would say there is no possibility of the parties getting together." Union counsel
agreed.
Witnesses for General Counsel told of several coercive acts on the part of pickets,
in attempting to prevent employees from crossing the picket line, during a strike
which the Respondent Union concedes was conducted by it against the Employer,
Metal Fabricators, beginning in February 1955 and ending, apparently, sometime in
June. The evidence is clear, and General Counsel conceded, that the acts complained
of were not continuing at the time of the hearing.
The coercive incidents will be described briefly, since there is no controversy as to
facts.
On February 24, 2 days after the strike began , employee Roy Phillips was threatened
by George B. Elliott, Jr., a representative and agent of the Respondent Union.
.Phillips is employed by Vulcan Binding and Cover Co., which is associated with Metal
Fabricators and is housed in the same building., Phillips and a number of female
employees crossed the picket line to enter the building. Phillips was grabbed by an
unidentified picket in the presence of Elliott and warned not to go in . Elliott finally
instructed the picket to let him go but told Phillips that he "would have to come out
and they would carry" him "out in an ambulance or undertaker wagon." He was not
assaulted , apparently, that afternoon. Some weeks later, however, while on his way
home in a car, he was followed by pickets Parker and Isbell, conceded to be such by
Elliott. Some 5 miles from the plant, when Phillips got out of the car to change to
a bus, Isbell warned him that he would "not be able to go back in the morning."
The next morning, as he started to enter an automobile in which he rode to work, he
was seized by one Butera, a passenger in a car being driven by Elliott, and knocked
unconscious. He was taken to a hospital, and upon returning to the plant later the
same day was again threatened by picket Hodges.
On about February 25, while entering the plant, Claude Gable, a supervisor at Vul-
can Bindery was seized by an unidentified picket, in the presence of Elliott, and
prevented from going in until a deputy sheriff intervened . Being informed of the
altercation at the time, Superintendent Cox, also of Vulcan Bindery, came out to the
scene. After the deputy disposed of the Gable incident, Cox started back into the
plant, and overheard Elliott threatening Harvey Roan, Vulcan's janitor. - Cox advised
Roan , since he was not on strike to come on in. Whereupon Elliott turned upon
Cox, and in the presence of nonstriking employees, threatened bodily violence upon
the superintendent.
On this same occasion Roan was threatened by a picket, in Elliott's presence, with
being "torn up" when he came out later in that day. Later picket Willis told Roan
that "When this thing is over . you are going to be a dead son-of-a-bitch." Roan
was also physically injured during the strike, while at work. He was burning trash,
back of the plant, when picket Hodges hit him with a rock, requiring a doctor's treat-
ment.
During the strike the Respondent's pickets followed nonstriking employees as
they left the plant, plainly for the purpose of intimidation. One evening Elliott
and other pickets followed, in their car, the automobile in which Ruth Tillery, an
employee of Vulcan Bindery, and other nonstriking employees were riding home.
Elliott repeatedly swung his car as if to run them down, while the pickets shouted
at the nonstrikers.
In addition to the injury inflicted upon the janitor, Roan, rock throwing by picket
Hodges also aroused fear among nonstrikers while at their work. He threw rocks
upon the tin roof over the heads of employees of Vulcan Bindery, in an area having
glass skylights, clearly placing such employees in danger of physical harm.
On April 9 pickets Parker and Isbell threatened to force employee James Craig, Jr.,
of Athletic Co, Inc., located next door to the building occupied by the previously
identified Employers and conceded by the Respondent Union to be affiliated with
them, to stop him from working. Isbell threatened to beat Craig, if he came out.
536 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In summary, the Trial Examiner concludes and finds that the Respondent Unior
must be held accountable for the above-described conduct on the part of ite
agent, Elliott, and,the pickets. (International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's
Union, 79 NLRB 1487.) It is further concluded and found that the following spe-
cific conduct was in violation of Section 8 (b) (1) (A) of the Act: (1) The threats
of violence and the actual violence visited upon employee Phillips (Roadway Ex-
press, Inc., 108 NLRB 874 at 876); (2) the rock-throwing by Hodges, both at em-
ployee Roan and upon the roof above the heads of nonstriking employees; (3) the fol-
lowing of nonstrikers as they proceeded from work; (4) the threats uttered to Superin-
tendent Cox in the presence of nonstriking employees (District 50, United Mine
Workers of America, 106 NLRB 903 at 922); and (5) the threat of violence to
employee Craig.
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 activities of the Employers 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
Having found that the Respondent has violated Section 8 (b) (1) (A) of the
Act, the Trial Examiner will recommend that it cease and desist therefrom, and
that-it take certain affirmative action designated to effectuate the policies of the Act.
Upon the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the entire record in the case, the
Trial Examiner makes the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. United Steelworkers of America, CIO, is a labor organization within the mean-
ing of Section 2 (5) of the Act.
2. By restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed by
Section 7 of the Act, the Respondent has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor
practices within the meaning of Section 8 (b) (1) (A) of the Act.
3. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices affecting commerce
within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
[Recommendations omitted from publication.] -
New Jersey Poultry & Egg Cooperative Association, Inc. and
Amalgamated Food & Allied Workers Union, Local 56, AFL.
Case No. 4-RM-183. October 19,1955
.DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Eugene M. Levine, hearing
officer. 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 Employer, a New Jersey corporation located near Fleming-
ton, New Jersey, is engaged in processing and packaging eggs which
it ships to customers in New Jersey and New York. Its direct out-of-
State sales for the fiscal year ending May 31, 1955, amounted to
$30,410.19, and $38,520.30 for the fiscal year ending May 31, 1954.
During the same periods, its direct purchases from points outside the
State of New Jersey amounted to $47,774.89 and $54,983.36, respec-
tively. In addition, during the fiscal year ending May 31, 1955, the
114 NLRB No. 93.