Opinion ID: 258292
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: columbia terminal

Text: 34 John Calcutt, William Calcutt, Harmon, and Laney 35 The Board requests enforcement of its order for the reinstatement of four men, John Calcutt, William Calcutt, Harmon, and Laney, employed at Overnite's Columbia terninal, who were found to have been discriminatorily discharged on July 8, 1959, in violation of sections 8(a)(3) and 8(a)(1). The examiner's conclusions rest upon the dovetailing of two types of evidence. First is the undisputed evidence of the company's opposition to the union. In addition to the testimony with respect to the discharges at the Greenville and Charlotte terminals, Carter, the terminal manager at Columbia, testified that it was his regular practice, shortly after a new man was hired, to inform him about the company's policy of 'legal' opposition to the union. A former employee, Odom, testified that in February, 1958, months before the union organization drive involved here, he was questioned by Carter's lieutenant, Roberts, as to whether anybody in the terminal was talking union and who they were. According to Odom, when he denied having heard any union talk, Roberts told him that if he 'heard anybody talk about the union for (Odom) to let (Roberts) know, and he would discharge them immediately.' 36 An important element in support of the examiner's findings of discrimination is the close proximity in time of the company's learning about the union membership drive and who had joined, with the discharge of the four men. John Calcutt testified that between 7:15 and 7:30 in the evening of July 7 he and several other man, including the three who were discharged with him, were talking outside the union hall which was over a beer saloon on a main street in Columbia. A car, driven by Carter with Personnel Director Marks sharing the front seat, slowly passed them. Shortly thereafter, the same car drove past the union hall in the opposite direction. Both times, Carter and Marks were observed carefully looking at the assembled men. Harmon and Laney corroborated Calcutt's testimony. Mrs. Laney testified that, after the men had gone inside, she was in the front seat of Laney's automobile when a car with three men parked in front of her. She saw Carter get out and try to look into the union hall. He noticed Mrs. Laney, was heard to remark about this, and drive off. Carter, for his part, denied surveillance of the union meeting, but in view of the ample contradictory evidence, the examiner was justified in discounting his testimony. 37 Employee Ellisor testified that the following morning, July 8, Carter questioned him about his union membership and that during the course of the discussion Carter indicated that he knew who were union members. Carter himself admitted that Roberts had that morning informed him of the union membership drive, and that Ellisor had come to his office to withdraw from the union. But Carter denied knowing that the four he discharged that same morning were union members. The evidence, including that pertaining to surveillance, however, is substantial to support the examiner's conclusion that Carter knew who were the union men, and that they were discharged because of their union activities. 38 As to each, the company assigns a legitimate reason for his discharge. However, given out limited scope of review and the principles stated in the Jones Sausage case, we do not find that in any of the cases the evidence is such as to warrant reversal of the conclusions of the examiner and the Board. 39 Driver John Calcutt was deprived of his job, according to Carter, because 'he wasn't worth a darn.' It is true that in May he had failed to resport a minor accident, costing Calcutt $12.50 and the company $3.00, and that a few weeks later, he was taken off the Sumter route and put on local deliveries because he had been 'killing time'-- a twenty-minute break for a coca=cola. Nevertheless, according to the credible testimony, the company did not release him from his job until after it learned of his union membership, three to five weeks later. Shortly before he was let out, Roberts told Calcutt that he was too slow in making his deliveries, but added that things would get better when he learned his way around the city, thereby indicating that there had been no plan to discharge Calcutt before finding out that he was a union adherent. On these facts, the examiner could reasonably find that the asserted reason was merely a pretext. 40 According to the company, the employment of Harmon, a pickup driver, was terminated because he was a poor worker. In addition to over-all inefficiency, the company points to two specific violations of company rules: serveral weeks earlier he failed to report that he had backed his truck into a consignee's shed, damaging a shingle, and the day before his dismissal he helped another trucker load up without radioing the dispatcher that he would be 'off the radio' for twenty minutes. This is an instance of two conflicting contentions of the reason for a man's discharge, each supported by some evidence in the record. The general testimony above outlined could be taken into account by the examiner in weighing the two versions. In the existing circumstances, the examiner's choice cannot be upset. 41 The company contends that the reason for Laney's discharge was that his serious domestic troubles, including his wife's causing him to be locked in jail overnight for nonsupport, interfered with his work and made him lose interest in it. But his domestic troubles were at their height a month before his discharge and do not explain his not being dealt with until the day after his union membership was discovered. 42 Finally, William Calcutt, brother of John, was discharged for griping to other employees about pay and working conditions. Admittedly, he was one of the terminal's better drivers and his complaints were not made the subject of any admonition by the employer for a month or more before the discovery of his union membership. The examiner was within bounds in finding that Calcutt had been discriminatorily discharged.