Opinion ID: 287676
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Alleged Unilateral Changes in Wages and Working Conditions5

Text: 17 The Union contends that in three instances the Company unilaterally granted higher wages to strike replacements in violation of Section 8(a) (1) and (5) of the Act. These wage changes were payment of $2.75 rather than $2.70 an hour to two painter helpers who were brought in on a temporary basis the second day of the strike and quit the same day, a twenty-five cent wage increase given to crewman Willett late in October, and a higher $2.75 an hour wage rate paid to replacement boom operator Rogers. However, we conclude that the Board acted reasonably in finding none of these to be unlawful. Evidence of a five cent overpayment to the painter's helpers, attributable to a clerical error, is, as stated by the trial examiner hardly more than the proverbial scintilla. The record also shows that the twenty-five cent an hour increase paid to crewman Willett was given to him in contemplation of his promotion to leadman status. 18 The higher $2.75 rate paid to Rogers merits greater consideration. The trial examiner found that Rogers was hired as the replacement for the striking Mitchell who had earned only two dollars an hour. The Board disagreed, finding that Rogers was not Mitchell's replacement, but that he was hired specially to operate the boom. There is substantial evidence in the record to support this conclusion. The evidence shows that before the strike the Company had no formal system of job classifications for crewmen and often interchanged these employees at will. Under this practice Mitchell at one time did gardening and general maintenance work in addition to his other duties. The fact that Mitchell was devoting substantially all of his time to the boom operation just before the strike does not alter his continuing status as an allaround crewman, nor does it compel a conclusion that Rogers was in fact the replacement for Mitchell. 6 The record indicates, on the contrary, that strike replacement Rogers, an experienced boom operator, was hired specially to operate the boom. 19 When the strike began and all four of the men trained to operate the boom joined the strike, the Company lacked the time and the personnel necessary to train a new boom operator as it ordinarily would have done. In order to continue its business, it was obliged to hire an experienced boom operator at a wage commensurate with his skill. That such a replacement was not readily available is evidenced by the hiring of Rogers at $2.75 an hour, notwithstanding that he was partially incapacitated and interested only in temporary work. His employment at five cents an hour more than had previously been paid any man who had operated the boom was a legitimate attempt by the Company to meet a compelling business need and was justified by valid considerations. Cf. N.L.R.B. v. Tom Joyce Floors, Inc., 353 F.2d 768, 772 (C.A. 9, 1965). It was designed to meet some temporary or transient need rather than to alter permanently the basic structure of the enterprise. Puerto Rico Telephone Co. v. N.L.R.B., 359 F.2d 983, 987 (C.A. 1, 1966). Moreover, the reduction of Rogers' wages to $2.70 an hour after about four weeks, when he indicated his willingness to stay on permanently, brought his wages into line with the established crewmen's rates. Recognizing that where unilateral wage action of this kind is shown the inferences to be drawn from the evidence must be left to the Board, N.L.R.B. v. Tom Joyce Floors, Inc., 353 F.2d 768, 772 (C.A. 9, 1965), we defer to the Board's conclusion that in the circumstances here described one isolated wage increase during negotiations cannot be characterized as an unfair labor practice probative of bad faith. See N.L.R.B. v. Fitzgerald Mills Corp., 313 F.2d 260, 268 (C.A. 2), cert den., 375 U.S. 834, 84 S.Ct. 47, 11 L.Ed.2d 64 (1963).
20 In the first three weeks of the strike, the Company secured replacements for virtually all of its employees. Four of the replacements, Fred and Roger Frost, Robert Lannum and Donald Willett, who had previously worked for the Company as crewmen, were hired at their old wage rates of $1.50 an hour and were among the lowest paid of the replacements. The other replacements were new at the job, many of them being untrained migrant workers. On October 4, the Company's billboards were threatened by a hurricane. The Frosts, Lannum and Willett took the novice employees out to secure the billboards, directed their work and successfully prepared the billboards to withstand the storm. In appreciation, the Company gave each of the four a twenty-five dollar bonus. The Union's argument that this was a unilateral change constituting an unfair labor practice was accepted by the trial examiner but was rejected by the Board. 21 Although it is true that hurricane alerts are not uncommon in Miami and the Company had never before granted a hurricance bonus, the Board found it significant that the Company had not previously been confronted with a shortage of trained employees under such emergency conditions. It thus not unreasonably concluded that the unilateral granting of a bonus to a few employees under such unusual conditions did not violate Section 8(a) (1) or (5). A struck employer clearly has the right to keep his business operating, Hawaii Meat Co. v. N.L.R.B., 321 F.2d 397, 400 (C.A. 9, 1963), and often emergency situations justify emergency responses, particularly in the midst of a strike. Cf. N.L.R.B. v. Abbott Publishing Co., 331 F.2d 209, 213 (C.A. 7, 1964). The payment of a twenty-five dollar bonus to the Frosts, Lannum and Willett for their outstanding action in the wake of an emergency threatening the Company's business was a small matter resulting from `circumstances which the Board could or should accept as justifying or excusing unilateral action.' United Steelworkers, etc., Local 5571 v. N.L.R.B., 130 U.S.App.D.C. 369, 373, 401 F.2d 434, 438 (1968), quoting from N.L. R.B. v. Katz, 369 U.S. 736, 748, 82 S. Ct. 1107, 8 L.Ed.2d 230 (1962). It was prompted by a desire to meet a temporary emergency need rather than by an effort permanently to alter the relationship between the Company and the Union. Cf. Puerto Rico Telephone Co. v. N.L.R.B., 359 F.2d 983, 987 (C.A. 1, 1967).
22 Before the strike the Company did not supply uniforms or work clothing to any employees except those who worked around the plant and came into contact with the public. During negotiations, the Union proposed that free uniforms be provided for all employees. The Company at first objected, saying that employees should continue to provide their own work clothes. Later the Company countered with an offer to provide work uniforms if and when required. The Union rejected this counterproposal. After the strike commenced and many of the replacements, largely unskilled migrant workers, were unable to afford the kind of clothing that the Company considered necessary in order that they might make a presentable appearance, the Company began supplying uniforms to all of its employees. 23 The Union contends that the Company's proposal to provide uniforms to its employees at such time as they were needed was tantamount to a flat refusal to recognize the Union's right to negotiate on this subject, and that its subsequent grant of the benefit constituted an abrupt about-face in the Company's recent bargaining position. The Board acted consistently with the policies of the Act in finding these contentions to be without merit. The first argument overlooks the fact that implicit in the Company's counterproposal were concessions to the Union, namely, that the Company would not require employees to furnish uniforms at their own expense and that if the uniforms were required they would be furnished free of charge. The second contention overlooks the changed circumstances following the strike, namely, that the impoverished replacements did not make a presentable appearance in their own clothes. 7 In short, the Company made a legitimate offer to furnish uniforms when needed, did not revoke the offer, and acted on that offer under the changed circumstances following the strike. Cf. Caroline Farms Division of Textron, Inc. v. N.L.R.B., 401 F.2d 205, 211 (C.A. 4, 1968). Since the new benefit conferred after the strike was not more favorable to the employees than the offers which the Company had previously extended to the Union at the bargaining table the Board not unreasonably found that by conferring it the Company did not violate Section 8(a) (1) and (5) of the Act. American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, etc. v. N.L.R.B., 129 U.S.App.D.C. 399, 406, 395 F.2d 622, 629-630 (1968). Cf. N.L.R.B. v. Crompton-Highland Mills, Inc., 337 U.S. 217, 225, 69 S.Ct. 960, 93 L.Ed. 1320 (1949).