National Labor Relations Board v. Link-Belt Co.

311 U.S. 584, 61 S. Ct. 358, 85 L. Ed. 368, 1941 U.S. LEXIS 1238, 7 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 297
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedJanuary 6, 1941
DocketNos. 235, 236
StatusPublished
Cited by432 cases

This text of 311 U.S. 584 (National Labor Relations Board v. Link-Belt Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States 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. Link-Belt Co., 311 U.S. 584, 61 S. Ct. 358, 85 L. Ed. 368, 1941 U.S. LEXIS 1238, 7 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 297 (1941).

Opinion

Me. Justice Douglas

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The court below refused to enforce certain portions of an order of the National Labor Relations Board, entered in proceedings 1 under § 10 of the Act (49 Stat. 449), requiring an employer to cease and desist from dominating or interfering with a labor organization and to withdraw recognition from it as a collective bargaining representative of employees; and directing the employer to reinstate or to make whole certain.employees 2 against' whom the Board fuund the employer had discriminated because of their union membership and activities. Enforcement of those portions of the order was refused because, in the view of the court below, they were not *586 "supported by evidence” as required by § 10 (e) of the Act. The petition for writs of certiorari was granted because of the importance in an orderly administration of the Act of the mandate contained in § 10 (e) that the findings of the Board as to the facts "if supported by evidence, shall be conclusive.” See National Labor Relations Board v. Waterman Steamship Corp., 809 U. S. 206.

Disestablishment of Independent. Independent Union of Craftsmen was organized within a few days after the decision by • this Court,. on April 12, 1937, -of National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U. S. 1, which upheld the constitutionality of the Act. From 1933 down to that date the employer, Link-Belt Co., had maintained a company union, apparently continuing to recognize it even- after passage of the Act in 1935 and even though under the Act it was concededly an improper bargaining unit. In any event, that union remained in existence until Independent’s membership drive was .successfully , concluded.. The organization of Independent was conceived on April 12 and 13, 1937, by. -certain employees, who were disappointed at the decision upholding thé constitutionality of the Act. Linde, who was a leader in organizing Independent, testified: “A. The Wagner Act had been declared constitutional, and a group of us were dismayed, I am frank to admit, or we thought there was nothing for us to do. Q. Why were you dismayed? A. I will tell you, we had banked our hopes that it -would be declared illegal, and immediately the labor unrest and trouble would have stopped-and our company would proceed and all the other companies would proceed to enjoy the prosperity which we thought was coming at that time.” The membership drive tookplace in the main on April 14, 15, and 16, resulting in a membership of 760 out of about 1,000 employees. The constitution was drafted on April 17. On April 18, it. *587 was decided to seek dissolution of the old company union and recognition of Independent. Accordingly, .on April 19 an agreement was reached between the employee, representatives and’plant manager Berry dissolving the old union; and he was asked to obtain exclusive recognition for Independent. That request was granted by the employer on April 21; and Independent. held its first meeting on April 22. .

An “inside” union, as well as an “outside” union, may be the product of the right of the employees to self-organization and to collective bargaining “through representatives of their own choosing,” guaranteed by § 7 of the Act. The question here is whether the Board w.as justified in concluding that Independent was not the result of the employees’ free choice because the employer had intruded to impair their freedom.

Respondents point to numerous earmarks of independí ence which Independent evidences. They emphasizé that after it was recognized it held many bargaihing conferences and as a result obtained w;age increases* changes in seniority policy, bonus payments for nigfit workers, a better vacation policy, better lighting and idr conditions, and improved safety measures — in fact, áll of its major objectives except a closed shop;. They stress the facts that it is not financéd by the employer, that its meetings are held off company property, that its leadérship is substantially different from the employee representation in the old company union, and that its genesis was a suggestion 'made not by the employer but by1 a group of employees.

In the latter connection they urge that the employees chose Independent because that was the type of labor organization which they honestly preferred; or as stated by one of the employees who led the membership drive, “It was so.big a feature that they (the employees) were all anxious to get on the band wagon and do something. *588 That was the general attitude.” And they maintain that there was in fact no connection between Independent and the old company union; that the success of Independent’s membership drive was not the result of ana compulsion or belief as respects the employer’s attitude.

It would indeed be a rare case where the finders of fact could probe the precise factors of motivation which underlay each employee’s choice. Normally, the conclusion that their choice was restrained by the employer’s interference must of necessity be based on the existence of conditions or circumstances which the employer created or for which he was fairly responsible and as a result of which it may reasonably be inferred that the employees did not have that complete and unfettered freedom of choices which the Act contemplates.

Here no one fact is conclusive. But the whole congeries of facts before the Board supports its findings!

The employer’s attitude towards unions is relevant. As we, have indicated, it maintained a company union both before and after the Act. And the court below sustained the Board’s finding as to the employer’s longstanding industrial espionage, through the National Metal Trades Association, which continued at least until an investigation was made late in 1936 by the La Follette Committee of the Senate. 3 Further, the employer evidenced hostility towards an “outside” union. In 1936, plant manager Berry told the board of the company union that “in the event outside people came into our .plant and told us how to run the plant, then I had enough of industry.” At the hearing he testified that he meant “that the' Link Belt Company was able and had *589 for many years ran their organization and we did not need outside people to tell us how to run the plant economically and efficiently.” In September, 1936, Salmons, an employee of 14 years standing, who was an employee representative in the company union. and who became dissatisfied with it, initiated the formation of Amalgamated, an “outside” organization. 4 Amalgamated held its first organizing meeting on September 20, 1936. Salmons was discharged the next'day by plant manager Berry for “spreading union propaganda around here.” He was given half an hour to leave. The employer does not deny this but adds that Salmons was discharged because he engaged in union activities on company time.

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Bluebook (online)
311 U.S. 584, 61 S. Ct. 358, 85 L. Ed. 368, 1941 U.S. LEXIS 1238, 7 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-labor-relations-board-v-link-belt-co-scotus-1941.