Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/596/267/447155/
Timestamp: 2019-07-22 18:08:17
Document Index: 211116045

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 10', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 157', '§ 158', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8']

National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner, v. Intertherm, Inc., Respondent, 596 F.2d 267 (8th Cir. 1979) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Eighth Circuit › 1979 › National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner, v. Intertherm, Inc., Respondent
National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner, v. Intertherm, Inc., Respondent, 596 F.2d 267 (8th Cir. 1979)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit - 596 F.2d 267 (8th Cir. 1979)
Submitted Dec. 13, 1978. Decided March 19, 1979. As Amended April 25, 1979
The National Labor Relations Board petitions this court pursuant to § 10(e) of the National Labor Relations Act for enforcement of its order against Intertherm, Inc. This order enumerates ten instances where the conduct of the Company's management and supervisory personnel allegedly violated § 8(a) (1) of the NLRA by interfering with, restraining or coercing employees who were exercising their rights to gain union representation by consent election in accord with § 7 of the Act. Intertherm was directed to cease and desist from these unfair labor practices and to post notices which detailed the rights of its employees and stated that the Company would comply with the Board's order. In addition, the Board found one violation sufficiently serious to warrant setting aside the consent election in which Intertherm's employees had rejected representation by the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America. We grant enforcement of the Board's order insofar as it relates to the seven instances where we affirm the Board's finding of a violation. But we refuse enforcement with regard to the remaining three alleged violations.
* Section 7 of the NLRA guarantees employees "the 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 protection . . ." 29 U.S.C. § 157. Section 8(a) (1) protects these rights by making it an unfair labor practice for an employer "to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in (Section 7) . . . ." 29 U.S.C. § 158(a) (1). In evaluating employer conduct pursuant to this latter provision, we have stated that the test is not whether an attempt at coercion has succeeded or failed, but whether "the employer engaged in conduct which reasonably tends to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the free exercise of their rights under Section 7." Russell Stover Candies, Inc. v. N. L. R. B., 551 F.2d 204, 208 (8th Cir. 1977).
We are, of course, bound to accept the Board's determination of a § 8(a) (1) violation in accord with this standard provided that its findings are supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole. Universal Camera Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 340 U.S. 474, 71 S. Ct. 456, 95 L. Ed. 456 (1951); R. J. Lallier Trucking v. N. L. R. B., 558 F.2d 1322, 1325 (8th Cir. 1977); N. L. R. B. v. Fremont Mfg. Co., 558 F.2d 889 (8th Cir. 1977). Such findings are entitled to respect and must not be set aside unless "the record before a Court of Appeals clearly precludes the Board's decision from being justified by a fair estimate of the worth of the testimony of witnesses or its informed judgment on matters within its special competence or both." Universal Camera Corp. v. N. L. R. B., supra, 340 U.S. at 490, 71 S. Ct. at 466. And
The Board charged Intertherm with three § 8 [a] violations for its supervisory activities at the 38th Street Plant. These violations related to two separate incidents in which plant supervisors interfered with the employees' right to wear union insignia. It has long been recognized that an employer may not restrict that right absent exigent circumstances relating to employee efficiency or plant discipline. Republic Aviation Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 324 U.S. 793, 802 n.7, 65 S. Ct. 982, 89 L. Ed. 1372 (1945); Serv-Air, Inc. v. N. L. R. B., 395 F.2d 557, 563 (10th Cir.), Cert. denied, 393 U.S. 840, 89 S. Ct. 121, 21 L. Ed. 2d 112 (1968); Fabri-Tek, Inc. v. N. L. R. B., 352 F.2d 577, 584-87 (8th Cir. 1965). And we grant enforcement of the Board's order with respect to these three violations.
The Board found seven § 8(a) (1) violations at the Gustine Plant relating to six separate incidents. We grant enforcement of the Board's order with respect to four of these violations.
The Board initially asserts that Intertherm violated the NLRA at the Gustine Plant by conducting unlawful, overt surveillance of employee union activity. Employee Robert Longworth was a union supporter who signed a union authorization card early in the campaign and subsequently distributed similar cards to other employees. The ALJ found that sometime in October, while Longworth was driving a forklift with a number of authorization cards sticking out of his pocket, supervisor Graham "directed Longworth's attention away from himself, stepped up on the forklift, pulled one of the cards part way out of Longworth's pocket, saw what it was, and thrust it back." The ALJ did not find a violation of the Act, however, because he felt Graham had not interfered with Longworth's efforts to distribute the cards. He also noted that Graham had replaced the card after satisfying his curiosity. The Board rejected this finding and determined Graham's actions constituted unlawful surveillance in violation of § 8(a) (1).
We agree with the ALJ and the Board that the Company committed two § 8(a) (1) violations by interrogating and threatening reprisals against Kenneth Lay. As to the coercive interrogation, we recognize that under some circumstances an employer may properly question employees about union activities.2 Thus we stated in N. L. R. B. v. Midwest Hanger Co. & Liberty Eng. Corp., 474 F.2d 1155, 1161 (8th Cir.), Cert. denied, 414 U.S. 823, 94 S. Ct. 124, 38 L. Ed. 2d 56 (1973), that we must look not only to the questioning itself but also to the circumstances surrounding the interrogation. In particular, we have noted five factors which should receive close attention. These are:
Moreover, it is clear that Whited's statement threatening Lay with loss of privileges for engaging in protected activities is sufficient, standing alone, to violate the Act. N. L. R. B. v. Louisiana Mfg. Co., 374 F.2d 696, 702 (8th Cir. 1967); Jas. E. Matthews & Co. v. N. L. R. B., 354 F.2d 432, 439-44 (8th Cir. 1965). And, obviously, implied threats of discharge, such as that made by Vogt, are also violations. Federal Prescription Service v. N. L. R. B., 496 F.2d 813, 816 (8th Cir.), Cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1049, 95 S. Ct. 624, 42 L. Ed. 2d 643 (1974); N. L. R. B. v. Midwest Hanger Co., supra, 474 F.2d at 1162; N. L. R. B. v. Speed Queen, supra, 469 F.2d at 192.
The Board found a violation in supervisor Graham's polling of six employees concerning how they would vote in the upcoming consent election. Admittedly, such interrogation constitutes a violation of the Act absent unusual circumstances. N. L. R. B. v. Harry F. Berggren & Sons, Inc., 406 F.2d 239, 243-46 (8th Cir.), Cert. denied, 396 U.S. 823, 90 S. Ct. 64, 24 L. Ed. 2d 74 (1969); N. L. R. B. v. Louisiana Mfg. Co., supra, 374 F.2d at 700-01. But Intertherm management took prompt and effective steps to remedy this violation which, in our opinion, make superfluous and counterproductive the Board's cease and desist order and its requirement that the Company post a Board notice.
The final violation found by the ALJ and the Board relates to a preelection speech made by Intertherm Vice President John Oxley. Oxley read a prepared speech to assembled employees at all four of the company's St. Louis plants. The Board asserts that one paragraph of this speech contains a threat of plant closure in violation of § 8(a) (1).
It is well established that employers have a free speech right to communicate their views on unionization to employees and that this right cannot be infringed by a union or the Board. N. L. R. B. v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575, 617, 89 S. Ct. 1918, 23 L. Ed. 2d 547 (1969). Section 8(c) of the NLRA implements this first amendment right by providing that
In reviewing a challenged statement by an employer, we look to the context of its particular labor relations setting and balance the employer's right of expression against the equal right of employees to associate freely with a collective bargaining setting. And, as the Supreme Court has stated, any balancing of those rights must take into account "the economic dependence of the employees on their employers, and the necessary tendency of the former, because of (their) relationship, to pick up intended implications of the latter that might be more readily dismissed by a more disinterested ear." N. L. R. B. v. Gissel Packing Co., supra, 395 U.S. at 617, 89 S. Ct. at 1942.
We have carefully considered these remarks in the context of the entire speech and with regard to the particular labor relations setting within which it was made. N. L. R. B. v. Wilson Lumber Co., 355 F.2d 426, 429 (8th Cir. 1966). And, while it is apparent that Oxley took the precarious step of predicting the adverse effects that unionization might have on Intertherm, his remarks did not contain any implication that the company would shut down its plants on its "own initiative for reasons unrelated to economic necessities . . . ." N. L. R. B. v. Gissel Packing Co., supra, 395 U.S. at 618, 89 S. Ct. at 1942. In fact, Oxley was careful to state that his remarks were not threats but simply his view of the possible economic consequences of a union victory. Thus, we find no threat of retaliation based on misrepresentation or coercion and determine that the speech was protected by the first amendment and § 8(c) of the Act and cannot be deemed a § 8(a) (1) violation.