Warehousemen And Distribution Workers Union

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 27, 1959

124 N.L.R.B. 743 (N.L.R.B. 1959)

WAREHOUSE AND DISTRIBUTION WORKERS UNION 743
Accordingly, we find that the Paperhandlers is not lawfully en-
titled to require the News to assign the disputed work to the News'
employees who are members of the Paperhandlers rather than to other
employees who are members of Teamsters Local 807.
DETERMINATION OF DISPUTE
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings and the entire record in
this case, the Board makes the following determination of dispute
pursuant to Section 10 (k) of the Act :
1. Paperhandlers' & Straighteners' Union No. 1, International
Printing Pressmen & Assistants' Union, AFL-CIO, is not, and has
not been, lawfully entitled to force or require News Syndicate Co.,
Inc., to assign the work in dispute to members of the Paperhandlers
rather than to members of any other labor organization.
2. Within 10 days from the date of this Decision and Determination
of Dispute, Paperhandlers' & Straighteners' Union No. 1, Interna-
tional Printing Pressmen & Assistants' Union, AFL-CIO, shall notify
the Regional Director for the Second Region in writing, whether or
not it accepts the Board's determination of this dispute and whether or
not it will refrain from forcing or requiring News Syndicate Co., Inc.,
by means proscribed by Section 8(b) (4) (D) of the Act, to assign
the work in dispute to members of the said Union rather than to other
employees who are members of Teamsters Local 807.
Warehouse and Distribution Workers Union, Local 688, affiliated
with International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America and Bachman Machine
Company. Case No. 14-CC-114. August 27, 1959
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND ORDER
On October 10, 1958, the National Labor Relations Board, with
one member dissenting, issued its Decision and Order in the above-
entitled proceeding dismissing a complaint, based on charges filed
by Bachman Machine Company which alleged that the Respondent,
Warehouse and Distribution Workers Union, Local 688, affiliated
with International Brotherhood of Teamsters, ^Chaufteurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers of America, had violated Section 8(b) (4) (A)
of the National Labor Relations Act.'
More specifically, the Board found that the Union's picketing of
Bachman Machine Company in furtherance of its economic strike
against Plastics Molding Company, the primary employer with which
1121 NLRB 1229.
124 NLRB No. 98.
744 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Union had a dispute arising out of contract negotiations, was not
illegal action proscribed by Section 8(b) (4) (A) of the Act. The
basis for the Board's conclusion was that, because of the common own-
ership, and common control over labor policies of Plastics Molding
Company and Bachman Machine Company, the two employers consti-
tuted a single employer for the purposes of Section 8(b) (4) (A).
Thereafter, the case was considered by the United States Court of
Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upon Bachman Machine Company's
petition for review of the Board's Order of dismissal.
On May 15, 1959, that court set aside the Board's Order.2 In so
doing, the court ruled that the Board erred in finding that the two
companies were a single employer for the purposes of Section
8(b) (4) (A). Accordingly, the court remanded the case to the Board
for further proceedings not inconsistent with the court's opinion.
The Board hereby accepts the remand, and will treat the court's
opinion as establishing the law governing this case.
The relevant facts, as found by the Trial Examiner and adopted
by the Board in its original decision, are in substance as follows :
Plastics Molding Company, St. Louis, Missouri, manufactures cus-
tom plastic parts for industrial use. The Respondent was certified on
August 16, 1957, as the representative of Plastics' production and
maintenance employees. On September 23, 1957, the Respondent
called an economic strike against Plastics in an attempt to secure a
satisfactory contract. The strike was still in progress at the time of
the hearing.
Bachman Machine Company manufactures tools, dies, jigs, and spe-
cial machinery. It operates in two buildings, one located a block away
from Plastics, and the other, referred to as plant No. 1, located oppo-
site, and two streets away from, the Plastics plant. Bachman's em-
ployees are represented by another union, not involved in this
proceeding.
From December 9, 1957, until February 20, 1958, the Respondent
picketed Bachman plant No. 1 in furtherance of its strike against
Plastics. The picket signs were carried from the office entrance of
plant No. 1, which the office and plant employees apparently used, to
the shipping and receiving entrance, and stated, "This Company
[Bachman] has allied itself with Plastics Molding Company whose
employees are on strike."
After a short work stoppage of less than a full day's duration,
Bachman Company employees have continued to work, but employees
of some of Bachman's suppliers and their carriers refused to cross the
picket line at Bachman plant No. 1.
When the case was pending before the Trial Examiner, the Re-
spondent defended its conduct on the ground that Bachman Machine
' 266 F. 2d 599.
WAREHOUSE AND DISTRIBUTION WORKERS UNION 745
Company had aligned itself with Plastics Molding Company in the
latter's dispute with Respondent and hence was not a neutral employer
entitled to the protection of Section 8(b) (4) (A). In his Intermedi-
ate Report the Trial Examiner found that the Respondent's conduct
in picketing Bachman Machine Company would be violative of Sec-
tion 8(b) (4) (A) unless there was merit to the Respondent's defense.
The Trial Examiner then sustained the Respondents' defense and
found that the two companies, because of their common ownership and
control of labor policies, constituted a single employer for the purposes
of Section 8 (b) (4) (A). Exceptions to the Intermediate Report were
filed by the General Counsel and the Charging Party. No exceptions
were filed by the Respondent.
Being in substantial agreement with the Trial Examiner, the Board,
in its original decision, adopted the Intermediate Report 3
As the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth
Circuit rejects the "allied-employers" defense and we have accepted
that decision as the law of the case, we find that the Respondent's
defense is without merit.
Accordingly, we find that the Respondent, by picketing Bachman
Machine Company in furtherance of its strike against Plastics Mold-
ing Company, induced and encouraged the employees of Bachman
Machine Company and of other employers to engage in a strike or a
concerted refusal, in the course of their employment, to perform serv-
ices with the object of forcing or requiring such other employers to
cease doing business with Bachman Machine Company, in violation
of Section 8 (b) (4) (A).
We further find that the activities of the Respondent set forth above,
occurring in connection with the operations of the employers set forth
in section I of the Intermediate Report, 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
commerce and the free flow of commerce.
THE REMEDY
Having found that the Respondent engaged in unfair labor prac-
tices violative of Section 8 (b) (4) (A), we shall require it to cease and
desist therefrom and take certain affirmative action designed to ef-
fectuate the policies of the Act.
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the entire
record in this case, the Board makes the following :
8 However , the Board specifically declined to rely on the Trial Examiner's further find.
ing that Bachman Machine Company , by accepting delivery of materials consigned to
Plastics Molding Company, allied itself with Plastics Molding Company , and thereby lost
its status as a neutral employer under Section 8 (b) (4) (A).
746 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. Plastics Molding Company and Bachman Machine Company are
employers engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
2. The Respondent, Warehouse and Distribution Workers Union,
Local 688 , affiliated with International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and Helpers of America, is a labor or-
ganization within the meaning of Section 2 ( 5) of the Act.
3. By picketing Bachman Machine Company in furtherance of its
:strike against Plastics Molding Company, the Respondent induced
and encouraged employees of Bachman Machine Company and of
other employers to engage in a strike or a concerted refusal, in the
course of their employment , to perform services , an object thereof
being to force or require such other employers to cease doing business
with Bachman Machine Company , and thereby engaged in unfair
labor practices within the meaning of Section 8 (b) (4) (A) of the Act.
4. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices
affecting commerce within the meaning of the Act.
ORDER
Upon the entire record in this 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 , Warehouse and
Distribution Workers Union , Local 688, affiliated with International
Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and Helpers
of America, St. Louis, Missouri , shall :
1. Cease and desist from :
(a) Engaging in, or inducing and encouraging the employees of
Bachman Machine Company or of any employer other than Plastics
Molding Company to engage in, a strike or concerted refusal, in the
course of their employment, to perform services, where an object
thereof is to force or require any employer or person to cease doing
business with Bachman Machine Company.
2. Take the following affirmative action which the Board finds will
effectuate the policies of the Act :
(a) Post at the Respondent 's business offices in St. Louis, Missouri,
copies of the notice attached hereto marked "Appendix ." 4 Copies of
said notice , to be furnished by the Regional Director for the Four-
teenth Region, after being duly signed by the Respondent 's official
representatives , shall be posted by it immediately upon receipt thereof,
and maintained for a period of 60 consecutive days thereafter , in con-
spicuous places, including all places where notices to its members are
customarily posted. Reasonable steps shall be taken by the Respond-
ent to insure that said notices are not altered , defaced, or covered by
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."
ESQUIRE PRODUCTS COMPANY 747
any other material. The Respondent shall also sign copies of said
notice for posting at the premises of Bachman Machine Company, if
it is willing.
(b) Notify the Regional Director for the Fourteenth Region in
writing, within 10 days from the date of this Order, what steps it has
taken to comply herewith.
MEMBER FANNING took no part in the consideration of the above
Supplemental Decision and Order.
APPENDIX
NOTICE TO ALL MEMBERS OF WAREHOUSE AND DISTRIBUTION WORKERS
UNION, LOCAL 688, AFFILIATED WITH INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD
OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS , WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMER-
ICA AND TO ALL EMPLOYEES OF BACHMAN MACHINE COMPANY
Pursuant to a Supplemental Decision and Order of the National
Labor Relations Board, and in order to effectuate the policies of the
National Labor Relations Act, we hereby notify you that :
WE WILL NOT engage in, or induce or encourage the employees
of Bachman Machine Company , or of any employer other than
Plastics Molding Company, to engage in , a strike or concerted
refusal, in the course of their employment , to perform services,
where an object thereof is to force or require any employer or
person to cease doing business with Bachman Machine Company.
WAREHOUSE AND DISTRIBUTION WORKERS UNION,
LOCAL 688 , AFFILIATED WITH INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS , CHAUFFEURS,
WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA,
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.
Esquire Products Company and United Service Employees Union,
Local 329, AFL-CIO , Petitioner. Case No. 13-RC-6506. Au-
gust 97, 1959
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National La-
bor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Frances P. Dom, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
124 NLRB No. 97.