Opinion ID: 2996276
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Jack Neal and Anthony Bane

Text: As mentioned above, Jack Neal was the business agent for Local 661, and distributed copies of Masiongale’s job application to unemployed union members in January 1997. Shortly thereafter, Neal saw a different Masiongale advertisement and called the company. He was asked whether he had a plumber’s license and was encouraged to pick up an application. In March, 1997, Neal delivered his completed application to Masiongale’s office, along with 13 other applications. He called Masiongale’s office two weeks later regarding his application and was put in contact with the supervisor at the Greenwood jobsite, Michael Woods. Woods asked about his plumber’s license and prior experience, asked for his driver’s license number to do a background check, and offered him a position beginning that next Monday. Neal told Woods about a friend, Anthony Bane, who also had a plumber’s license and was looking for work. Woods asked Bane to call him, and after Woods asked about Bane’s plumber’s license, experience, and driver’s license number for a background check, Woods also offered Bane a position beginning that next Monday. Neither Neal nor Bane told Woods that they were union members. The next Monday morning, Woods asked Neal and Bane to fill out job applications and other paperwork, telling them that plumbers were needed for the 18-month job. Bane listed the union’s apprenticeship program on his job application, but Woods did not look over the applications before telling Neal and Bane to report to their foreperson on the jobsite. Before Neal and Bane left Wood’s office to report to their foreperson, Bane told Woods that he and Neal were 6 Nos. 00-3194, 00-3576, 02-1227 & 02-1591 union organizers. Woods’s demeanor apparently changed dramatically, as he slammed both hands down on his desk and told Neal and Bane to “sit in your truck until Mike Masiongale comes to the jobsite.” As they were leaving the office, Neal and Bane saw Woods make a telephone call. Woods then came to Neal and Bane’s truck and told them that Masiongale’s standard hiring procedure was to have a private detective conduct a background check before people were hired. Neither Bane nor Neal had previously been informed of a background check that required more than their driver’s license numbers. Bane and Neal reminded Woods of their conversations with him earlier, but Woods said, “Well, that is just part of it.” Bane told Woods as they were leaving the jobsite that they were there to do a good job, to which Woods replied, “no you didn’t, you are here to screw up my operation.” Bane telephoned Masiongale’s office when he returned home that day and scheduled an appointment to meet with the private detective, which he had to cancel due to a prior commitment. A second appointment was canceled by the company, and Bane never heard anything else about the background check or resuming work on the jobsite. Neal met with the private detective for about 30 minutes and was asked about his union background and affiliation. He did not hear anything from Masiongale for three weeks, so he called Masiongale’s office, and was told that they did not think he was still interested in a job. He said that he was still interested, and he was contacted the next day by a superintendent, John Blevins, who asked that he come to Masiongale’s office. Neal showed up at the office wearing a union T-shirt, and was asked to fill out additional paperwork and watch a safety film. He was offered $13 an hour instead of the earlier $14 offer. Neal then met with Mike Masiongale, who told Neal that he did not like Neal wearing the union T-shirt. Blevins Nos. 00-3194, 00-3576, 02-1227 & 02-1591 7 then told Neal that he would not be going to a jobsite, but would be working out of the office’s shop putting together shower faucet heads. Neal was shown the office’s storage garage and was told that it would be his workspace. After space was cleared out of the garage for him and a workbench improvised out of sawhorses and plywood, Neal told Blevins that he could not find any shower faucets. Blevins said that he would order some and asked Neal to cut some copper pipe. After Neal had begun cutting the pipe, Blevins and Mike Masiongale approached Neal, with Masiongale saying “that he did not want [Neal] talking about the union to his employees, handing out literature, and did not want him to talk to his employees about the Union on the job, in his office, or on his property.” Mike Masiongale also said that “he did not want the union, they messed with me before.” Neal told Blevins that Mike Masiongale did not have the right to talk to him that way, and that he was going on strike, packing his tools, and leaving the garage. The next day, Neal returned to the garage to find that it was being used for storage and no one was working there. Neal called Blevin and Woods, but none of his calls were returned.