Asseo ex rel. National Labor Relations Board v. Molex Caribe, Inc.

687 F. Supp. 25, 129 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2910, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5661
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedMay 17, 1988
DocketCiv. No. 87-1149 (JP)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 687 F. Supp. 25 (Asseo ex rel. National Labor Relations Board v. Molex Caribe, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Asseo ex rel. National Labor Relations Board v. Molex Caribe, Inc., 687 F. Supp. 25, 129 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2910, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5661 (prd 1988).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

PIERAS, District Judge.

Petitioner Asseo, a Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), has petitioned the Court for an injunction reinstating certain employees of respondent Molex Caribe and ordering respondent to cease and desist from certain specified activities which may constitute unfair labor practices under section 8(a) of the Labor Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act of 1947. 29 U.S.C. § 158(a). The jurisdiction of this Court to entertain this petition is found in section 10(j) of the Taft-Hartley Act, 29 U.S.C. § 160(j). The Court is empowered by that section to grant interim relief to petitioner during the pendency of the unfair labor practice proceedings before the NLRB.

The Court need not decide the merits of the underlying unfair labor practice, for that determination has been committed by Congress to the expertise of the Board. Asseo v. Pan American Grain Co., 805 F.2d 23, 25 (1st Cir.1986). The district court’s role is to determine whether there is reasonable cause to believe that the unfair labor practices charged by the Board occurred, i.e., whether the Board’s position is fairly supported by the evidence. Maram v. Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, 722 F.2d 953, 959 (1st Cir.1983). If that determination runs in favor of the petitioner, the Court must then proceed to examine whether the issuance of temporary relief is “just and proper”. Gottfried v. Frankel, 818 F.2d 485, 493 (6th Cir.1987). The issuance of a 10(j) injunction should preserve the status quo to give the Board time to make the necessary unfair labor practice determination, but “the relief to be granted is only that reasonably necessary to preserve the ultimate remedial power of the Board and is not a substitute for the exercise of that power.” Kobell v. Suburban Lines, Inc., 731 F.2d 1076, 1091 (3d Cir.1984).

I. Background

The Regional Director for Region 24, petitioner Asseo, issued a complaint pursuant to a charge filed by one Ivys Maldonado, an employee of respondent Molex Caribe. The complaint charged that during the month of May 1987 members of the management of Molex Caribe questioned employees concerning the possibility of union organizing at the Molex Caribe plant, threatened discharge on plant closure on account of employees’ organizational efforts, and created the impression that employees were under surveillance by management for possible organizational activities. These activities, if true, would constitute unfair labor practices under section 8(a) of the Taft-Hartley Act, restraining or coercing employees [27]*27from exercising their organizational rights under section 7 of the Taft-Hartley Act. Further, on May 14, 1987, respondent discharged complainant Maldonado and one Edda Quintana, and on May 19, discharged one Ana Hernández. The complaint charges that these three employees were discharged because of their activities on behalf of organizational efforts at respondent’s plant. This activity would constitute an unfair labor practice under section 8(a)(3) of the Taft-Hartley Act, discriminating against employees because of their exercise of section 7 rights under the Taft-Hartley Act.

The parties have submitted the administrative record in this case, including the complete transcript of the nine-day hearing before an Administrative Law Judge for the Board. Testimony and documentary evidence presented at that hearing revealed the following:1

1. Respondent Molex Caribe is a Puerto Rico corporation, a subsidiary of Molex, Inc. Molex Caribe is engaged in a business the normal conduct of which affects interstate commerce to an extent sufficient to bring the corporation under the NLRB’s jurisdiction under the Taft-Hartley Act. 29 U.S.C. §§ 152(2), (6), and (7).

2. Union General de Trabajadores Agrícola e Industriales is an organization which exists for the purpose of dealing with employers over wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment through the administration of collective bargaining agreements within the meaning of the Taft-Hartley Act. 29 U.S.C. § 152(5).

3. In April 1987 Quintana met with a representative of the union to discuss the possibility of organization at Quintana’s place of employ, the Molex Caribe plant.

4. Quintana spoke to other employees after meeting with the union representative. Those conversations concerned an informal canvassing of the workforce to ascertain worker interest in organizing under union auspices. One of the workers Quintana spoke with was Hernández.

5. Hernández, through a subterfuge, obtained a list of addresses of certain employees from Maldonado, using Maldonado’s access to personnel files. Persons for whom Hernández obtained addresses apparently had expressed an interest in organizing. The list contained over forty names. Respondent, at that time, employed nearly seventy workers who would be susceptible to organizational efforts. Quintana’s locker at the plant was where the list was. ensconsed.

6. The list disappeared from Quintana’s locker in late April. Maldonado, who as part of her duties kept duplicate keys to the lockers, subsequently discovered that Quintana’s duplicate key, among others, was missing.

7. On or about May 1, a supervisor for Molex Caribe, Humberto Wys, called a meeting of workers to exhort them to improve their efficiency. Wys related, as one problem hindering efficiency, his observation that female employees were taking too many bathroom breaks. Wys further described a company where such absences from duty station were recorded by the workers signing a sheet. Hernández openly expressed disapproval of the prospect of such a system being instituted at Molex Caribe.

8. Later that day, Wys spoke to Hernández. Hernández testified before the administrative hearing that Wys said the following: “Your attitude, I do not like it at all. You are mobilizing the employees and if you continue with that attitude you either resign or I’ll fire you.” Hernández further testified that Wys went on to state “that he had the power to fire anybody that wanted to form a group or wanted to belong to a group.”

9. Quintana met again with the union representative in early May and attempted to reconstruct the disappeared list. Quintana also supplemented the list with the names of other workers who may have felt favorably disposed towards a union.

[28]*2810. In early May a supervisor asked Hernández if she had any knowledge of possible union organizing at Molex Caribe. The supervisor told Hernández that the General Manager of the facility, Luis Dávi-la, had asked the supervisor to investigate whether workers were considering organizing.

11. On May 12 Quintana was directed to Dávila’s office.

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687 F. Supp. 25, 129 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2910, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5661, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/asseo-ex-rel-national-labor-relations-board-v-molex-caribe-inc-prd-1988.