National Labor Relations Board v. Arrow Specialties, Inc.

437 F.2d 522, 76 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2351, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 12236
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 25, 1971
Docket20382
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 437 F.2d 522 (National Labor Relations Board v. Arrow Specialties, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Labor Relations Board v. Arrow Specialties, Inc., 437 F.2d 522, 76 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2351, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 12236 (8th Cir. 1971).

Opinion

HEANEY, Circuit Judge.

The National Labor Relations Board petitions this Court for enforcement of an order issued against Arrow Specialties, Inc. The Board found that Arrow violated §§ 8(a) (1), (2) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 151, et seq. The Board ordered Arrow to bargain with the Union and to post appropriate notices. The Board’s decision and order are reported at 177 N.L. R.B. No. 92, 72 L.R.R.M. 1025 (1969).

The record shows that District No. 9, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, initiated an organizing campaign of the Arrow Plant in March of 1968. The Company responded by interrogating employees with respect to Union activities, making various promises and threats to employees, and sponsoring the formation of an employees’ committee to discuss grievances with the company.

By May 16th, the Union had received signed authorization cards from twelve employees. On that date, the Union requested recognition and indicated its willingness to submit to a card check by a neutral third party. Arrow expressed doubt about the Union’s majority.

On May 21, the Union filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board alleging violations of §§ 8(a) (1), (2) and (5) of the Act. The company filed a petition for a representation election about the same date.

On July 3, the Board issued a complaint based on the Union’s charges.

On August 26, Arrow entered into a settlement agreement under which it agreed to post a notice assuring the employees that it would not interfere with their rights under § 7 of the Act 1 or attempt to bargain with the employees directly or through an employee committee. As a part of the settlement agreement, the Regional Director of the Board withdrew the § 8(a) (5) charge, and the Union and Arrow stipulated for certification on a consent election.

Arrow posted the required notice and the settlement agreement, but simultane *524 ously posted its own notice. 2 Both notices remained posted for thirty days.

On October 1, the Regional Director indefinitely postponed the election. On October 2, the Union filed a new charge reviving its allegation of Arrow’s refusal to bargain and charging Arrow with interference and coercion subsequent to the settlement agreement. On October 3, the Regional Director withdrew his approval of the settlement agreement and vacated it on the grounds that he had received evidence showing that Arrow had violated the settlement agreement. He issued a complaint consolidating the old charges with the new ones. The consolidated complaint was subsequently amended to include further § 8(a) (1) allegations.

On October 30, the Union went on strike.

The Board found:

“ * * * that [Arrow] violated Section 8(a) (1) of the Act by coercively interrogating its employees concerning their Union membership and activities; creating the impression of surveillance ; soliciting employees to withdraw Union authorization cards; and promising and granting benefits, as well as threatening reprisals, in order to discourage Union adherence. The Board found that [Arrow’s] fostering the formation of the Employee Committee was violative of Section 8(a) (2) and (1) of the Act. In addition, the board found that [Arrow] violated Section 8(a) (5) and (1) of the Act. Further, the Board found that [Arrow’s] post-settlement conduct in violation of Section 8(a) (1) of the Act and the posting of its side notice constituted a violation of the Settlement Agreement, and accordingly, that the Regional Director was justified in setting aside the agreement.
“The Board ordered [Arrow] to cease and desist from the unfair labor practices found and from in any other manner interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed by Section 7 of the Act. Affirmatively, the Board directed the Company to bargain, upon request, with the Union as the lawfully designated representative of a majority of the employees in an appropriate unit, and to post the appropriate notices.”

Arrow, while not conceding that it committed unfair labor practices prior to the execution of the settlement agree *525 ment and while arguing that the violations, if any, were minor, does not question the sufficiency of the evidence to support the Board’s findings. It rather argues (1) that the Union did not represent a majority of the employees in an appropriate unit as of a relevant date, (2) that Arrow did not violate the act by posting its own notice simultaneously with that prepared by the Board and that it committed no unfair practices subsequent to the posting of the notices, and (3) that the character of the unfair labor practices, if there were any, did not justify the issuance of a bargaining order.

(1) The Union’s majority in an appropriate unit on a relevant date.

The Board found that on May 17, the Union had valid authorization cards from twelve of twenty unit employees. Arrow contends that the unit should have included one additional employee, William Hof, excluded by the Board because he was a student. Arrow further contends that Virgil Burkett revoked his authorization card on August 25, and that Isaac Perryman’s card was secured by misrepresentations and was subsequently revoked. Thus, it argues the unit consisted of twenty-one employees with the Union representing only ten of them.

We need not determine whether Hof was properly included in the unit or whether Burkett’s alleged revocation was effective because we hold that Per-ryman’s card was not secured by misrepresentation and was not effectively revoked. Thus, at a minimum, the Union had eleven cards in a unit of twenty-one employees.

Perryman testified that he was given an authorization card by a Union adherent who said to him, “Let’s get a union in here. We will have better insurance and better working conditionsthat the wife of a fellow employee told him that “if we could get enough cards signed, we could get the union in there; ” that he signed a card after the second conversation; that employee Burkett told him, before he signed the card, that “he and I might just as well go along with [the Union]. * * * If the union comes in we wouldn’t be allowed to work in a union shop unless we went along with them;” and that he never notified the Union that he was withdrawing his authorization.

No objection is made to the form of the authorization card; thus, employee Perryman was bound by the authorization card signed by him unless he was clearly misled by one acting on behalf of the Union as to the purpose of the card. N.L.R.B. v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575, 608, n. 27, 89 S.Ct. 1918, 23 L.Ed.2d 547 (1969). We find no evidence in this record to support Arrow’s view that misrepresentations were made by a Union representative. On the contrary, the Union solicitor’s language was totally free from false or misleading statements. We cannot attribute Burkett’s remarks to the Union.

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437 F.2d 522, 76 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2351, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 12236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-labor-relations-board-v-arrow-specialties-inc-ca8-1971.