Evening star., 1948-04-11
Meat Cutters Are First
To Be Found Guilty Of
Refusal 10 Bargain
by the Associated Press

hartley Act, q union was IOunQ
guilty yesterday of refusing to bar
gain with an employer.
The same case marks the first time
that trial examiner for the Ma
tional Labor Relations Board has
held that q chain of retail grocery
stores comes under the Federal
labor law.
The union is Los Angeles Local
No. 421 Of the AFL Amalgamated
Meat Cutters; the employer is A. & P.
Contract Held Illegal.
Examiner william E. Spencer
found that the union violated the
refusal-to-bargain provision of the
law by insisting on an illegal closed
shop contract in Los Angeles A. g. p.
stores and deadlocking negotiations.
The ONCE OF the NLRB general
counsel had charged both the local
union and its parent organization
with three unfair labor practices.
Mr.. Spencer recommended dis
nissal of all charges against the
national union. AS for local 421,
he recommended dismissal of all ex-
eept the refusal-to-bargain charge.
Board May Review Findings.
Findings of trial examiners are
automatically adopted by the five
man NLRB if no exceptions are
filed within 20 days. Exceptions are
usually filed. If they are. the board
reviews the case and either dismisses
the charges or orders the offending
party to cease the unfair practices.
There are no criminal penalties
for unfair practices. But board Or
ders can be enforced by the Fed
eral courts.
AS for the Los Angeles case,
NLRB attorneys said the union and
the company have reached settle
ment of their dispute without a
closed shop contract. But they
added that the case will probably
be carried on to final NLRB set
tlement anyhow.
Case May Be Withdrawn.
The General Counsels Office had
asked a Federal court for a tenn
porary Injunction to block the
unions practices. But in view of
the settlement, the injunction case
has been postponed and the attor-
neys said today it will probably be
withdrawn.
Local 421, in seeking renewal
of its closed shop contract, argued
that the Taft Hartley Act didn't
apply because the stores weren't in
Interstate commerce.
Mr.. Spencer rejected that argu-
ment. He said the II A. & P. stores
in Los Angeles received more than
$4,000 worth of meat alone from
outside California.
A closed shop contract. which is
banned under the new law, provides
among other things that the en-
ployer shall hire only members of
the union.
Two Charges Dismissed.
Mr.. Spencer dismissed charges
against the union of:
l. Trying to cause an employer
to discriminate against non-union
men in hiring. r
2. Coercing employees in the ex-
ercise of their right to bargain COL
lectively, bv refusing to bargain.
Mr.. Spencers rejection of the two
charges, if the fve-man board
agrees with him, could have import
ant effects.
Would Set Precedent. -
For example, in the pending case
Of the American Newspaper Pub
fishers Association versus the Inter
national Typographical Union, the
general counsel's Office made the
same two charges against the union
The ITU lawyers in resisting them
are using arguments similar to the
reasoning in Mr.. Spencer's decision.
Mr.. Spencer said of the discrimi-
nation charge that closed shop
agreement in itself is not discrimi-
nation-not until some future con-
tingency arises that would bring the
contract into play.
He said there appears to be no
Justification for strained, illogical
construction" under which the mere
attempt to cause an, employer to
enter into such a contract" would
be construed as an attempt to
cause the employer to discriminate
in hiring.
Mr.. Spencer said the coercion
charge that the refusal to bargain
did not constitute coercion as