National Labor Relations Board v. Laister-Kauffmann Aircraft Corp.

144 F.2d 9, 14 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 861, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 2733
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJuly 18, 1944
Docket12784
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 144 F.2d 9 (National Labor Relations Board v. Laister-Kauffmann Aircraft Corp.) 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. Laister-Kauffmann Aircraft Corp., 144 F.2d 9, 14 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 861, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 2733 (8th Cir. 1944).

Opinion

*11 WOODROUGH, Circuit Judge.

This is a petition to enforce an order of the National Labor Relations Board requiring respondent to cease and desist from certain unfair labor practices, set out in the margin hereof, 1 to offer reinstatement with back pay to Marie Noeth, to make whole Emma Schaper, an employee not desiring reinstatement, to post appropriate notices and notify the regional director. The Board’s order was based on its conclusions of law, drawn from its findings, that "By discriminating in regard to the hire and tenure of employment of Emma Schaper and Marie Noeth, and thereby discouraging membership in International Association of Machinists, District No. 9, the respondent has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices, within the meaning of Section 8(3) of the Act [29 U.S.C.A. § 158(3)]and that “By interfering with, restraining, and coercing its employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act [29 U.S.C.A. § 157], the respondent has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices, within the meaning of Section 8(1) of the Act.” Respondent on this appeal contends (1) that there was no substantial evidence to support the finding of the Board that respondent was guilty of interference with and restraint of its employees in their right to self organization in violation of Section 8(1) of the Act; (2) that there was no substantial evidence to support the finding of the Board that Emma Schaper and Marie Noeth were discharged because of their union affiliations and activities in violation of Section 8(3) of the Act; (3) that the Board erred in finding that Bertha Rice was a representative of management for whose statements respondent was responsible; (4) that the Board erred in overruling the examiner’s denial of a motion *12 to strike testimony pertaining to the arrest of a witness for the Board; (5) that the Board erred in finding that certain supervisory and executive personnel made the statements attributed to them, and that the testimony given by the Board’s witnesses on this point was not substantial evidence.

1. The Board had before it substantial evidence from which it could infer and find as a fact that respondent was guilty of interference with and restraint of its employees in their right to self organization in violation of Section 8(1). A detailed discussion of the evidence is unnecessary. 2 It appears that respondent was organized and began the production of airplane gliders in St. Louis in the fall of 1941. Its executives were, at all the times mentioned herein, John W. Laister, president and general manager; M. N. Whitehead, vice-president and director of personnel ; J. R. Kauffmann, secretary-treasurer; and W. F. Nesbit, assistant secretary. The latter also had certain managerial functions. Organizational efforts on behalf of the Union were begun in September, 1942. The circumstances upon which the Board based its findings of unfair labor practices may be summarized as follows: At a meeting of employees interested in the Union, Emma Schaper, an employee in the rib assembly section of the woodshop, was chosen “Steward.” Union bargaining authorizations were signed, and Union buttons distributed. Emma Schaper received a button somewhat larger than those given the other employees and bearing the designation “Steward” thereon. On the following day Nesbit, during an inspection of the plant, noticed the button and requested Emma to come to his office and discuss the Union. There is testimony that he asked her how many of respondent’s employees belonged to the Union, “what she thought she would gain by trying to get a Union in there;” threatened that the plant would shut down if the Union came into the plant, asked her to influence the other girls in the woodshop to cease their organizational activities, and hinted at a promotion in store for her. That on the same day Guy E. Williams, supervisor of the woodshop, asked a group of the girl workers in the rib assembly section what they expected to gain from getting a union in the shop, and on receiving a reply indicating that the girls expected wage increases, stated: “Well, you know, -I have belonged to a union too, and all you do is pay your money in and don’t get nothing out of it.” That on the following day, September 24, Nesbit, in the presence of Williams, remarked to Pfeiffer, an employee, concerning Emma Schaper and Marie Noeth: “I see we got a couple of union stewards in here * * * Emma and Marie must have went out with some union official and got drunk and joined the Union.” That Bertha Rice, lead girl in the rib assembly section of the woodshop, told Andrew Eckert, an employee, that “she didn’t think the company would stand for it [the Union] because she didn’t think they had enough money to pay any more salaries.” That in October, after Schaper and Noeth had been discharged, Rice remarked to Eckert that “if we didn’t all be careful we would all get it;” and that Rice, after ascertaining that employee Hairgrove was planning to attend a Union meeting, asked her to “come back and let me know who all is there and let me know what goes on.” That after the meeting Rice asked Hairgrove for information as to the persons attending and asserted that Kauffmann had asked her “to come into the office and talk anything over with him that [she] didn’t think was just right,” and that Kauffmann had asked with respect to the Union activities in the plant: “How is everything going along? * * * Have they settled down? * * * Is there any union talk?”

Under the facts and circumstances and the inferences to be drawn therefrom the Board was within its rights in concluding under the evidence that respondent had engaged in unfair labor practices in violation of Section 8(1) of the Act. The acts and conduct of respondent present a patteni expressive of management hostility to the rights of its employees to choose their labor affiliations independently of management interference; and respondent’s attempts to discourage the employees from affiliating with the Union by statement evincing hostility to the Union, veiled threats of discharge, warnings that the plant would shut down because of the Union and interroga *13 tion of employees concerning Union affiliation and activities constitute well recognized forms of interference, restraint, and coercion, in violation of Section 8(1) of the Act. Cf. International Association of Machinists v. N. L. R. B., 311 U.S. 72, 78, 61 S.Ct. 83, 85 L.Ed. 50; H. J. Heinz Co. v. N. L. R. B., 311 U.S. 514, 518, 61 S.Ct. 320, 85 L.Ed. 309; N. L. R. B. v. Brashear Freight Lines, Inc., 8 Cir., 119 F.2d 379, 381; American Smelting & Ref. Co. v. N. L. R. B., 8 Cir., 126 F.2d 680, 684, 685; Canyon Corporation v. N. L. R. B., 8 Cir., 128 F.2d 953, 955; Gamble-Robinson Co. v. N. L. R. B., 8 Cir., 129 F.2d 588, 590; N. L. R. B. v. Locomotive Finished Material Co., 8 Cir., 133 F.2d 233, 234; N. L. R. B. v. Harbison-Walker Refractories Co., 8 Cir., 135 F.2d 837, 838; N. L. R. B. v. Glenn R. Martin-Nebraska Co., 8 Cir., supra; N. L. R. B. v. Crown Can Co., 8 Cir., 138 F.2d 263.

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Bluebook (online)
144 F.2d 9, 14 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 861, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 2733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-labor-relations-board-v-laister-kauffmann-aircraft-corp-ca8-1944.