The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-12-15

the Taft Hartley crowd talks some
times you'd almost think they had
the welfare Of their employees al
heart and welcomed the chance To
sit down with the workers own re-
representatives.. But the labor haters
would be more refreshing if they'd
simply say, eve hate unions"
A good example Of how com
pany can jam things up is the fight
the Cities Service Oil Co. has been
putting on to keep the Seafarera
Int1 Union-AFL off it's tankers
! You don't even have to go to the
unions records to get the story.
Enough of it is in the order certi-
flying the union on the last nine of
the Cities Service ships, issued the
other day by the Natl Labor Re-
lations Board.
This is the NLRB's second order
certifying the STU in the Cities
Service fleet. The first one, handed
down more than a year earlier,
named the union as bargaining
lagent on seven ships, but disallow-
led certification on one ship that
hadn't been voted in an NLRB-con-
Quoted election because the COM
pany kept it out Of reach and on
eight more which the company
bought after the election was or
dered.
Why the NLRB split fleet is
something of a legal mystery. AS
result, the STU had to get a second
election for the extra ships, and it
! is the story of the second election
which is contained in the NLRB's
latest certifcation order. 1t shows
just how thorny a path back
ward-looking company can make a
union tread, even in so militantly
organized an industry as maritime.
Cities Service just stalled and
stalled. However, the union and the
Cities Service crews didn't give up,
and presumably won't give up until
the company signs contract.
1t was in the middle of l948 that
the STU set out to have the second
election scheduled. But it was late
in December before the NLRB
could issue an election order, so
many objections did the company
make, and so many hearings and
postponements Of hearings did
Cities Service request. And it was
late in February, 1949, before the
voting could take place. Finally,
when the ships crews had cast
their ballots and after the STU had
been shown to be nine-to-one vic
tor, Cities Service filed new OBJ
jections-objections to the conduct
of the election.
This was late in April 1949. The
company, trying to stall off the in
evitable, was doing its best to set
up a company union to Offset the
STU, although the story of the COM
pany union is not a part OF the
NLRB's story. The NLRB looked
into the objections, and in mid
August the New York regional dir
ector recommended they be over
ruled. But the company immedi-
ately filed exceptions to the recon-
Meanwhile, the union
from time to time printed in it's
paper, the Seafarers Log, pictures
and stories of seamen who claimed
they had been fired by the COM
pany for union activity.
The company's objections and ex-
ceptions boiled down to FIVE, ac-1
cording to the NLRB. These were:
(D Cities Service was not given
sufficient advance notice of the
election to have representative at
the polling places; (2) ships crews
were not given sufficient notice.;
90 STU agents coerced crew mem
bers; (4) NLRB agents conducted
the election improperly; (5) NLRB
agents were pro-union. |
Apparently the three NLRB
who finally signed the
order certifying the STU were both
and annoyed by the
maneuvers. Their re-
view is tartly written, and they
more or less say "Baloney" to all
he Cities Service arguments. /.
The NLRB found the company
1ad plenty of notice of the cleo
ion, and did its best to have the :
election procedures rigged. When, ,
On February II it saw that the
election couldn't be avoided, it tried
% insist that no ships be voted on
Sundays or holidays, |,
hat no ships be voted except be-
;ween Boston and Baltimore, and
hat no ships be voted until after /,
Nashington's birthday. All this /,
vas a bit of trickery the NLRB l
since the company knew !.
.ull we'll that seven of the nine
,essels would have hit American .
,orts and departed by the day after !
" ing o ms birthday. The I
ILRB's regional director who was Il
the actual voting spott- I
ID the deceit in advance and acted v
the board decided, in I
polling the tankers as they arrived
n port. I
On Eah Ii the repinnal director L