Cosentino v. Carpenters District Council of St. Louis

200 F. Supp. 112, 49 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2261, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4022
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedDecember 7, 1961
DocketNo. 61 C 314(3)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 200 F. Supp. 112 (Cosentino v. Carpenters District Council of St. Louis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cosentino v. Carpenters District Council of St. Louis, 200 F. Supp. 112, 49 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2261, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4022 (E.D. Mo. 1961).

Opinion

HARPER, Chief Judge.

Petitioner, Regional Director of the 14th Region of the National Labor Relations Board, has filed for a temporary injunction pending final disposition by the Board of a charge filed by Vestaglas, Inc., an Illinois corporation. Vestaglas, which has a sales and installation facility in St. Louis for the sale and installation of prefabricated room additions, charged before the N.L.R.B. that respondent is engaged in unfair labor practices within the provisions of 29 U.S.C.A. § 158 (b) (7) (C).1 Petitioner alleges there is reasonable cause to believe respondent has violated the Act and prays for the injunction pursuant to 29 U.S.C.A. § 160 (D.

The stipulations entered into by the parties establish that respondent has picketed the St. Louis office and place of business of Vestaglas, the jurisdictional amount and the interstate business of Vestaglas is adequate, respondent is a labor organization, a petition to picket under § 159(c) was not filed within the period of time required and the investigation of the charge, required by the Act, has been made. This Court has jurisdiction. By the pleadings, the stipulations and the evidence, the only and sole issue before this Court is whether the Regional Director had reasonable cause to believe there was a violation of the Act. Petitioner contends there was and respondent contends that the picketing falls within the proviso and exception of “educational” or “informational” picketing.

The evidence here shows that Vesta-glas hired three laborers who worked in a shop at the rear of its office and who did assembling and installation of room additions to homes. The materials were shipped from Chicago to St. Louis, the business office had salesmen who sold [114]*114room additions to homes and the laborers assembled and built the additions. None of the laborers belonged to respondent union. Their work mainly embraced carpentry and some cement, concrete block, roofing and electrical work.

Respondent’s representatives called at Vestaglas’ place of business and inquired of the manager if these employees were members of a union. The manager stated he did not know and gave them permission to talk to the employees. They learned the employees were not members of a local union and that their pay scale, per hour, was below that established by respondent in this area. The employees testified that respondent’s representatives pointed out the pay scale, told them they were losing money by not belonging to a union, that they had “one card” to cover all their work and asked them to join. They further testified that the representatives did not give them any cards to sign, left no literature and made no threats. The employees indicated they were not interested in joining the union, the representatives left and they have never talked to them again.

On July 11,1961, respondent addressed a letter to Vestaglas (Exhibit 7) advising that their members received a $3.675 basic hourly wage rate and 10^ per hour for the welfare fund and they believed Vestaglas’ employees were performing carpenter and joiner’s work and being paid rates below the union scale and had sub-standard working conditions. The letter asked to be informed if the information was correct, would assume silence to confirm the information and, if so, advised the intention of the union to use picket signs, hand out leaflets and otherwise publicize to the public that Vesta-glas had sub-standard wages and working conditions; and further stated:

“I wish to make it very clear to you that our Union is not making any demands upon you. We are not claiming to represent any of your employees. We are not in any way requesting or demanding that you ask or suggest in any fashion to any of your employees that they join our Union, or in any other way seek to interfere wit(h) the rights of your employees to decide upon what Union, if any, they desire to have represent them.
“Our picketing and handing of leaflets is in no way intended nor is it an attempt to induce or encourage any of your employees, or employees of employers who either work with your employees, to engage in a refusal to work, transport or otherwise handle or work on any goods, materials, etc. We are not requesting or encouraging any employees to cease performing any services, no(r) is it intended to interfere with any of the work, deliveries or any other activity at the job site.
“We state to you now, and our pickets and people handing out leaflets will state to anyone who may inquire, that we are expressly asking all employees of any employer to continue free ingress and egress at the premises in pursuance of their jobs.”

The letter further requested notification if any interference occurred and assured immediate correction if reported, and ended with the following:

“I repeat. We desire only to exercise our right to publicize the substandard wages and working conditions of your employees.”

This letter was conveyed by the local manager of Vestaglas to the president of the concern in Chicago. After some discussion and telephone conversations, Ves-taglas requested a meeting which was arranged for and held in St. Louis with the president and union representatives present. There is some conflict in the testimony as to what was said at this and subsequent meetings. The president of Vestiglas stated that he requested the meaning of the letter of July 11, and was asked if he had any objections to his men joining the union. He replied that he had no objections and the representatives asked if they could get a contract. He stated that he replied that he would have nothing to do with a contract and they [115]*115would have to get one from the men. He further stated there was some discussion about what kind of a card could cover all the duties performed by his employees and was told that if they had respondent’s card no other union would bother them. He further testified that he later called the union after the picket was established, asked for the representative by name, but was told he was not present, and then an unidentified voice came over the phone stating, “why don’t you fellows join the union?”

Representatives of the union testified that they did not say that one card covered everything, that they never did attempt to get Vestaglas to sign a contract, that they advised the employer that his wages were below the union scale and that they were only interested in educating the public in this regard. They further testified that when they heard nothing further from Vestaglas they placed a picket at the premises.

A Mr. West, an unemployed carpenter and member of respondent, was the sole picket used. He walked only in front of plaintiff’s place of business, did not go to the shop at the rear, did not interfere with ingress and egress of the property, did not talk to people, did not take license numbers, and only handed out leaflets to those who would take them.

The leaflets used (Exhibit 3) were in the nature of a notice to the public, advising that the sole purpose of the picket was to inform the public that the employees of Vestaglas did not belong to AFL-CIO and received wages and worked under conditions which were sub-standard to those the union had sought to obtain. It pointed out that it was addressed to the public and not to any employer or employee, that no one was being induced or encouraged to engage in refusal to work, transport or otherwise handle or work on any goods, materials, etc.

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Bluebook (online)
200 F. Supp. 112, 49 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2261, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4022, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cosentino-v-carpenters-district-council-of-st-louis-moed-1961.