Court Opinion

ID: 9455351
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:19:43.116744+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:34.011343
License: Public Domain

CASTLE, Senior Circuit Judge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I agree with the majority that the record supports the Board’s finding that employee Kowal was discharged in violation of the Act.
However, I respectfully dissent from the part of the majority opinion which enforces the Board’s holding that the employer violated § 8(a) (1) of the Act by interrogating certain employees as to whether they had signed union authorization cards. Even if all issues of credibility are resolved in favor of the Board, the interrogations disclosed by the record do not rise to the level of restraint or coercion necessary to sustain a finding of an unfair labor practice. See N. L. R. B. v. M. J. McCarthy Motor Sales Co., 309 F.2d 732, 734 (7th Cir. 1962), N. L. R. B. v. Welsh Industries, 385 F.2d 538, 540 (6th Cir. 1967). Such interrogations, which, as here, were not part of an anti-union campaign and which were made without threats or promises, do not violate the Act. See N. L. R. B. v. Mid West Towel & Linen Service, Inc., 339 F.2d 958, 961 (7th Cir. 1964); N. L. R. B. v. Peerless Products, Inc., 264 F.2d 769, 772, 83 A.L.R.2d 527 (7th Cir. 1959); Burke Golf Equip. Co. v. N. L. R. B., 284 F.2d 943, 944 (6th Cir. 1960).
Thus, based upon the record as a whole, Universal Camera Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 340 U.S. 474, 488, 71 S.Ct. 456 (1951), I am of the opinion that the General Counsel failed to meet his burden of proving the unlawfulness of the employer’s interrogations. See N. L. R. B. v. Welsh Industries, supra, 385 F.2d at 540; N. L. R. B. v. Peerless Products, Inc., supra, 264 F.2d at 772.