Opinion ID: 277261
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Violations of Sections 8(a)(1), (a)(3), and (a)(5)

Text: 16 As in all cases involving judicial review of administrative decisions, we begin with the often-repeated principle that the Board's order must be sustained if supported by substantial evidence in the record considered as a whole. NLRB v. Brown, 1965, 380 U.S. 278, 85 S.Ct. 980, 983, 13 L.Ed.2d 839, 849; Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 1951, 340 U.S. 474, 71 S.Ct. 456, 95 L.Ed. 456. Accordingly, if the Board's determination is based upon such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support it, we are not at liberty to deny enforcement simply because the evidence may also reasonably support other conclusions or because we might justifiably have reached a different conclusion had the matter come before us de novo. NLRB v. Camco, Inc., 5th Cir. 1966, 369 F.2d 125, 127. With this standard in mind, we turn to the unfair labor practices found by the Board. 17 Section 8(a)(1) makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer 'to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in section7.' Section 7 gives employees the right to orgainize, to bargain collectively, to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining and also the right to refrain from engaging in any or all of these activities. Section 8(a)(5) makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer to refuse to bargain in good faith with properly selected representatives of the employees. The Board based its finding that these two sections were violated on the company's whole course of conduct between May and August, 1964 but particularly on statements allegedly made by Mr. John Wallace to the employees. Two employees-- Frank Edward Cogdel, the shop steward, and John Wesley Cogdel-- testified that on May 15, 1964 Mr. Wallace read the entire collective-bargaining agreement to all of the employees and then proceeded to tell them that he was determined to 'get rid of the union.' Frank Edward Cogdel further testified that on two occasions in June Mr. Wallace told him that there was no need for a union and that the employees need not be concerned about a cut in pay if they would abandon it. Quincy Knox (the hospitalized employee who joined the strikers late) said that on July 6 Wallace told him that he could return to work for $1.45 per hour but that he would not feel the impact of this cut if he would simply withdraw from the union and quit paying dues. On the basis of these statements and of the persistence with which the company's negotiators demanded a reduction in wages, the trial examiner concluded that the company had not bargained in good faith and had restrained the employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed under section 7. The examiner felt that the demands for reduced wages and other unfavorable changes were motivated by anti-union sentiment since the company had offered to extend the terms of the old agreement before negotiations ever began. 11 18 Of course, respondent presented some rather persuasive rebuttal evidence. First, it offered witnesses whose testimony tended to support the position that it demanded a reduction in wages because it was pricing itself out of the market by paying higher wages than competitors. Second, it offered evidence which tended to show that Mr. Wallace could not have made the statements he allegedly made to Frank Edward Cogdel on two separate occasions in June because he was not at the plant on either of those days. The making of the statements to all employees in May and to Quincy Knox in July was denied but not effectively refuted. Although this rebuttal evidence might have led us to a different result had we been the original triers of fact, we cannot, under the substantialevidence rule, say that the Board, following the examiner, was unreasonable in believing the employees or that its findings were not based upon such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept. 19 Any uneasiness we might have about the credibility of Frank Edward Cogdel, the General Counsel's principal witness, is overcome by the fact that respondent clearly violated section 8(a)(5) when it reduced wages on July 1. As early as June 15, the company hinted that it planned to reduce wages on July 1; and when advised on June 30 that a strike would start the following day, it announced that the plan would be put into effect. The law is clear that unilateral changes in terms under negotiation constitute bargaining in bad faith if made before there is an impasse. NLRB v. Katz, 1962, 369 U.S. 736, 82 S.Ct. 1107, 8 L.Ed.2d 230. In the instant case, a bargaining impasse had not been reached when the unilateral change was made. The union appears to have been willing to negotiate at all times-- in fact, it was constantly revising proposals until finally it announced in August that it was prepared to accept the exact terms of the expired contract. The company, while less compromising, did revise its wage proposal upward just before putting into effect the reduction of fifteen cents for drivers and twenty-nine cents for warehousemen. 12 Further, the conduct of Mr. Wallace indicates that the company was not making a bona fide effort to reach agreement. Where good faith on the part of management is lacking, the courts will not recognize the existence of a bargaining impasse. NLRB v. Herman Sausage Co., 5th Cir. 1960, 275 F.2d 229, 234; NLRB v. Andrew Jergens Co., 9th Cir. 1949, 175 F.2d 130, 136, cert. denied, 338 U.S. 827, 70 S.Ct. 76, 94 L.Ed. 503. The only factor which might seem to reflect the existence of an impasse would be the strike, but the use of economic pressure by a union does not relieve the company of the duty to bargain. As Judge Brown stated in NLRB v. Rutter-Rex Mfg. Co., 5th Cir. 1957,245 F.2d 594, 596, 'A strike does not in and of itself suspend the bargaining obligation'. 20 Section 8(a)(3) prohibits discrimination by an employer 'in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment'. The Board's determination that this section was violated by the company's refusal to reinstate the strikers upon unconditional application rests upon the finding that the men were engaged in an unfair-labor-practice strike as opposed to an econmic strike. A strike is characterized in this way so as to give employees the right to be reinstated if an unfair labor practice had anything to do with causing it. Mastro Plastics Corp. v. NLRB, 1956, 350 U.S. 270, 76 S.Ct. 349, 100 L.Ed. 309; NLRB v. American Aggregate Co., 5th Cir. 1962, 305 F.2d 559. As we have agreed that respondent violated sections 8(a)(1) and (a)(5), the conclusion that the strike was caused in part by unfair labor practices is unavoidable. Even if there were no unfair labor practice other than the unilateral reduction in wages, the strike would still have been the kind which entitled the employees to reinstatement. It is true that the reduction in wages occurred on the same day the strike began so that it would not have been the initial cause of the strike, but this unilateral change would nevertheless have contributed to the continuation of the strike. Where an unfair labor practice intervenes to prolong a strike, the employer is bound to reinstate all strikers. General Drivers & Helpers Union, Local 622 v. NLRB, D.C.Cir. 1962, 302 F.2d 908; NLRB v. Crosby Chemicals, Inc., 5th Cir. 1951, 188 F.2d 91; NLRB v. Remington Rand, Inc., 2d Cir. 1942, 130 F.2d 919, 929.