Opinion ID: 410970
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: 71 This Court has jurisdiction of the issues under Section 10(e) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 160(e), because the alleged unfair practices occurred in Missouri. Discussion of Contentions of Respondent A. 72 Tamara first contends that the NLRB erred in concluding from the uncontroverted facts that the walkout of the eleven employees was concerted activity (or strike) protected by Section 7 of the Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 157. Tamara contends in detail that this conclusion of the NLRB is based on an erroneous subjective standard to determine whether an employee safety protest is protected, rather than whether the protest activity was directed to actual or objectively perceived danger in the workplace. Further, Tamara argues that Section 7 protection of safety protest matters is limited to circumstances, said to be absent in this case, in which the protesting employees had no other alternative but to perform work perceived to be dangerous, or under conditions perceived to be dangerous. 73 Next Tamara contends that the NLRB erred in failing to balance and accommodate the employees' rights of protest against the claimed superior legitimate interests of Tamara to conduct business with loyalty of the employees, and without harassment or other disruptive conduct. 74 These contentions and arguments are lacking in merit under the controlling decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in National Labor Relations Board v. Washington Aluminum Co., 370 U.S. 9, 82 S.Ct. 1099, 8 L.Ed.2d 298 (1962), and of this Court in First National Bank of Omaha v. National Labor Relations Board (C.A.8 1969) 413 F.2d 921. The following quotations from the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in National Labor Relations Board v. Washington Aluminum Co., supra, demonstrate that the NLRB did not err in concluding that the walkout of the eleven employees of Tamara was concerted activity protected under Section 7 of the Act unless forbidden by other lawful prohibitions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act or of the Labor Management Relations Act: 75 The Court of Appeals ... refused to enforce an order of the [NLRB] directing respondent ... to reinstate and make whole seven employees whom the company had discharged for leaving their work in the machine shop without permission on claims that the shop was too cold to work in. 76    77    78 We cannot agree that employees necessarily lose their right to engage in concerted activities under Sec. 7 merely because they do not present a specific demand upon their employer to remedy a condition they find objectionable. The language of Sec. 7 is broad enough to protect concerted activities whether they take place before, after, or at the same time such a demand is made. To compel the Board to interpret and apply that language in the restricted fashion suggested by the respondent here would only tend to frustrate the policy of the Act to protect the right of workers to act together to better their working conditions. Indeed, as indicated by this very case, such an interpretation of Sec. 7 might place burdens on employees so great that it would effectively nullify the right to engage in concerted activities which that section protects. The seven employees here were part of a small group of employees who were wholly unorganized. They had no bargaining representative and, in fact no representative of any kind to present their grievances to their employer. Under these circumstances, they had to speak for themselves as best they could. As pointed out above, prior to the day they left the shop, several of them had repeatedly complained to company officials about the cold working conditions in the shop. 79    80   Although the company contends to the contrary, we think that the walkout involved here did grow out of a labor dispute within the plain meaning of the definition of that term in Sec. 2(9) of the Act which declares that it includes any controversy concerning terms, tenure or conditions of employment.... The findings of the Board ... show a running dispute between the machine shop employees and the company over the heating of the shop on cold days--a dispute which culminated in the decision of the employees to act concertedly in an effort to force the company to improve that condition of their employment. The fact that the company was already making every effort to repair the furnace and bring heat into the shop that morning does not change the nature of the controversy that caused the walkout. At the very most, that fact might tend to indicate that the conduct of the men in leaving was unnecessary and unwise, and it has been long settled that the reasonableness of the workers' decision to engage in concerted activity is irrelevant to the determination of whether a labor dispute exists or not.... 81    82    83 Nor can we accept the company's contention that because it admittedly had an established plant rule which forbade employees to leave their work without permission of the foreman, there was justifiable cause for discharging these employees, wholly separate and apart from any concerted activities in which they engaged in protest against the poorly heated plant. 84    85    86 It is of course true that Sec. 7 does not protect all concerted activities, but that aspect of the section is not involved in this case. The activities engaged in here do not fall within the normal categories of unprotected concerted activities such as those that are unlawful, violent or in breach of contract. Nor can they be brought under this Court's more recent pronouncement which denied the protection of Sec. 7 to activities characterized as indefensible because they were found to show a disloyalty to the workers' employer which this Court deemed unnecessary to carry on the workers' legitimate concerted activities. The activities of these seven employees cannot be classified as indefensible by any recognized standard of conduct. Indeed, concerted activities by employees for the purpose of trying to protect themselves from working conditions as uncomfortable as the testimony and Board findings showed them to be in this case are unquestionably activities to correct conditions which modern labor-management legislation treats as too bad to have to be tolerated in a humane and civilized society like ours. 87 The striking similarities of the facts in the Washington Aluminum Co. case, supra, and in this case make it clear that the NLRB did not err in concluding that the walkout in this case was concerted activity protected by Section 7 of the Act. 88 An opinion by Judge Heaney, for this Court, following the Washington Aluminum Co. case, supra, emphasizes the importance of considering the lack of representation of the employees, as in this case, by a labor organization and the absence of a collective bargaining agreement. First National Bank of Omaha v. National Labor Relations Board (C.A.8 1969) 413 F.2d 921 at 926. 89 The many authorities relied on by Tamara in support of the foregoing contentions are either not in point or distinguishable. 90 We examine next the contentions of Tamara concerning the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) and the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA). B. 91 Tamara further contends that the NLRB erred in ignoring (1) the provisions and standards of the OSH Act, 29 U.S.C. Secs. 651 et seq., and (2) Section 502 of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 143. These contentions will be discussed separately.1. The OSH Act and Standards 92 Tamara complains of the failure of the NLRB to cite and apply the OSH Act and standards promulgated thereunder, 29 C.F.R. Secs. 1910.1000(a)(2) and 1977.12, as prohibiting the action of the eleven employees in walking off the job, particularly in the absence of a reasonable apprehension of death or serious injury by objective evidence, and in the absence of no choice other than a refusal to work while exposed to death or serious injury. This complaint of Tamara is without merit under the controlling decision of Whirlpool Corporation v. Marshall, 445 U.S. 1, 100 S.Ct. 883, 63 L.Ed.2d 154 (1980). In denying contentions similar to those of Tamara, the Supreme Court of the United States said (445 U.S. 1 at 8-11, 100 S.Ct. 883 at 888-890, 63 L.Ed.2d 154 at 161-163): 93 The Act itself creates an express mechanism for protecting workers from employment conditions believed to pose an emergent threat of death or serious injury. Upon receipt of an employee inspection request stating reasonable grounds to believe that an imminent danger is present in a workplace, OSHA must conduct an inspection. 29 U.S.C. Sec. 657(f)(1). In the event this inspection reveals workplace conditions or practices that could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm immediately or before the imminence of such danger can be eliminated through the enforcement procedures otherwise provided by the Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 662(a), the OSHA inspector must inform the affected employees and the employer of the danger and notify them that he is recommending to the Secretary that injunctive relief be sought. Sec. 662(c). At this juncture, the Secretary can petition a federal court to restrain the conditions or practices giving rise to the imminent danger. By means of a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction, the court may then require the employer to avoid, correct, or remove the danger or to prohibit employees from working in the area. Sec. 662(a). 94 To ensure that this process functions effectively, the Act expressly accords to every employee several rights, the exercise of which may not subject him to discharge or discrimination. An employee is given the right to inform OSHA of an imminently dangerous workplace condition or practice and request that OSHA inspect that condition or practice. 29 U.S.C. Sec. 657(f)(1). He is given a limited right to assist the OSHA inspector in inspecting the workplace, Secs. 657(a)(2), (e), and (f)(2), and the right to aid a court in determining whether or not a risk of imminent danger in fact exists. See Sec. 660(c)(1). Finally, an affected employee is given the right to bring an action to compel the Secretary to seek injunctive relief if he believes the Secretary has wrongfully declined to do so. Sec. 662(d). 95 In the light of this detailed statutory scheme, the Secretary is obviously correct when he acknowledges in his regulation that, as a general matter, there is no right afforded by the Act which would entitle employees to walk off the job because of potential unsafe conditions at the workplace. By providing for prompt notice to the employer of an inspector's intention to seek an injunction against an imminently dangerous condition, the legislation obviously contemplates that the employer will normally respond by voluntarily and speedily eliminating the danger. And in the few instances where this does not occur, the legislative provisions authorizing prompt judicial action are designed to give employees full protection in most situations from the risk of injury or death resulting from an imminently dangerous condition at the worksite. 96 As this case illustrates, however, circumstances may sometimes exist in which the employee justifiably believes that the express statutory arrangement does not sufficiently protect him from death or serious injury. Such circumstances will probably not often occur, but such a situation may arise when (1) the employee is ordered by his employer to work under conditions that the employee reasonably believes pose an imminent risk of death or serious bodily injury, and (2) the employee has reason to believe that there is not sufficient time or opportunity either to seek effective redress from his employer or to apprise OSHA of the danger. 97 Nothing in the Act suggests that those few employees who have to face this dilemma must rely exclusively on the remedies expressly set forth in the Act at the risk of their own safety. But nothing in the Act explicitly provides otherwise. Against this background of legislative silence, the Secretary has exercised his rulemaking power under 29 U.S.C. Sec. 657(g)(2), and has determined that, when an employee in good faith finds himself in such a predicament, he may refuse to expose himself to the dangerous condition, without being subjected to subsequent discrimination by the employer. (Footnotes omitted.) 98 The regulation, 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1977.12, providing this right to employees in paragraph (b)(2) is quoted in full in footnote 3 of Whirlpool Corporation v. Marshall, supra. The regulation, and particularly the protection it affords employees who in good faith and with reasonable apprehension of death or serious bodily injury refuse to expose themselves to dangerous conditions, were found to be valid. 99 We conclude that the NLRB was not required to deny relief because of the existence of the OSH Act. The employees had sought relief in 1979 and in July, August and September 1980 under the OSH Act without relief from the conditions that continued repeatedly until the walkout. Thus the NLRB properly affirmed the findings of these facts of the ALJ. The NLRB also found that the ammonia fumes caused the employees to experience nausea, burning sensations in their noses, headaches, tightness in their chests and difficulty in breathing. These symptoms and the apprehension of injury were reasonable and objectively proven in light of the commonly known effects of exposure to ammonia. See part of the description of ammonia in The New Columbia Encyclopedia (Columbia University Press 1975) at page 92 as follows: 100 ammonia, chemical compound, NH3 , colorless gas that is about one half as dense as air at ordinary temperatures and pressures. It has a characteristic pungent, penetrating odor. It is extremely soluble in water; one volume of water dissolves about 1,200 volumes of the gas at 0?C (90 grams of ammonia in 100 cc of water), but only about 700 volumes at room temperature and still less at higher temperatures. The solution is alkaline because much of the dissolved ammonia reacts with water, H2 O, to form ammonium hydroxide, NH 4 OH, a weak base. The ammonia sold for household use is a dilute water solution of ammonia in which ammonium hydroxide is the active cleansing agent. It should be used with caution since it can attack the skin and eyes. The vapors are especially irritating--prolonged exposure and inhalation cause serious injury and may be fatal. 101 The OSH Act is not designed to provide relief in these urgent circumstances. See the sometimes protracted deliberate proceedings possible under the unusual procedures of the OSH Act, described in Donovan, Secretary of Labor v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. (C.A.8 1981) 666 F.2d 315 at 323-324. 102 The NLRB did not err in concluding that the rights guaranteed to these employees by the Act are superior to the provisions of the OSH Act. 103 Nor does the failure of the employees to expressly demand specific corrective action affect the rights of these unorganized employees. As the NLRB found, the repeated complaints of the employees under the OSH Act and the experiences on the day of the walkout made evident the desires of the employees for action by Tamara. 2. Section 502 of the LMRA 104 Tamara argues that under Section 502 of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 143, objective evidence and good faith belief of abnormally dangerous conditions of work are required to support a finding of activity protected by Section 7 of the Act; and that this was not considered by the NLRB in this action. To the extent required by Section 502, the facts found by the NLRB and the ALJ were supported by objective evidence, and good faith belief was proven. 105 Section 502 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 143) is as follows: Saving provision 106 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require an individual employee to render labor or service without his consent, nor shall anything in this Act be construed to make the quitting of his labor by an individual employee an illegal act; nor shall any court issue any process to compel the performance by an individual employee of such labor or service, without his consent; nor shall the quitting of labor by an employee or employees in good faith because of abnormally dangerous conditions for work at the place of employment of such employee or employees be deemed a strike under this Act [LMRA]. 107 This provision does not modify Section 7 of the Act and is not relevant to the action of the NLRB in this case. The purpose of Section 502 was described, by the Supreme Court of the United States, in footnote 29 of Whirlpool Corporation v. Marshall, supra, as follows: 108 Similarly, Section 502 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 143 provides that the quitting of labor by an employee or employees in good faith because of abnormally dangerous conditions for work at the place of employment of such employee or employees [shall not] be deemed a strike. The effect of this section is to create an exception to a no-strike obligation in a collective-bargaining agreement. Gateway Coal Co. v. Mine Workers, 414 U.S. 368, 385, 38 L.Ed.2d 583, 94 S.Ct. 629 . 109 The existence of these statutory rights also makes clear that the Secretary's regulation [29 C.F.R. Sec. 1977.12(b)(1) ] does not conflict with the general pattern of federal labor legislation in the area of occupational safety and health. See also 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1977.18 (1979). 110 There was no collective bargaining agreement in this case, to make Section 502 applicable. C. Remaining Contentions of Tamara 111 Except for the complaint about the remedy, the remaining contentions of Tamara that the NLRB erred in its Decision and Order are determined to be lacking in merit by disposition of its primary contentions A and B above. 112 The remedy of the NLRB requiring reinstatement of the employees and awarding back pay was authorized, although the employees did not request reinstatement or offer to return to work. Abilities and Goodwill, Inc., 241 NLRB, No. 5, 27 (1979), reversed on other grounds (C.A.1 1979) 612 F.2d 6; National Labor Relations Board v. Lyon & Ryan Ford, Inc. (C.A.7 1981) 647 F.2d 745 at 755-757, cert. denied, 454 U.S. 894, 102 S.Ct. 391, 70 L.Ed.2d 209; National Labor Relations Board v. Mars Sales & Equipment Co. (C.A.7 1980) 626 F.2d 567 at 573-575; National Labor Relations Board v. Trident Seafoods Corp. (C.A.9 1981) 642 F.2d 1148 at 1149-1150.