National Labor Relations Board v. Local 1976

241 F.2d 147, 39 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2428, 1957 U.S. App. LEXIS 4381
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 12, 1957
Docket11-99003
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 241 F.2d 147 (National Labor Relations Board v. Local 1976) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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. Local 1976, 241 F.2d 147, 39 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2428, 1957 U.S. App. LEXIS 4381 (9th Cir. 1957).

Opinion

241 F.2d 147

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner,
v.
LOCAL 1976, UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF
AMERICA, AFL, and Los Angeles County District
Council of Carpenters and Nathan
Fleisher, Respondents.

No. 15026.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Feb. 12, 1957.

Theophil C. Kammholz, General Counsel, Marcel Mallet-Prevost, Asst. Gen. Counsel, Washington, D.C., and Norton J. Come, Washington, D.C., for National Labor Relations Board.

Arthur Garrett and James M. Nicoson, Los Angeles, Cal., for Local 1976, United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners, etc., et al.

Before HEALY, LEMMON, and FEE, Circuit Judges.

LEMMON, Circuit Judge.

While the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq., hereinafter referred to as the Act, has been termed in 'its inception a novel experiment', which 'has remained a controversial piece of legislation',1 its provisions dealing with secondary boycotts-- at least insofar as they are applicable to the instant case-- seem to us to be tolerably clear and eminently fair.

1. Statement of the Case

The Sand Door and Plywood Company, of Los Angeles, California hereinafter Sand, on August 25, 1954, filed a charge against the respondents, hereinafter the Union, alleging that the latter had engaged in unfair labor practices within the meaning of 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(b)(4)(A).

On September 24, 1954, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, hereinafter the Board, before which the charge had been filed, presented a complaint against the Union, which in substance alleged that the Union, 'since on or about August 17, 1954, * * * (had) instructed the employees of Havstad & Jensen' at a certain college to be detailed hereinafter, and the employees of other employers, 'to refuse to install Paine Rezo doors (infra) because (the Union's) rules and by-laws prohibit the installation of products not bearing the union label,' etc. It was further alleged that by such conduct the Union had 'engaged in, and * * * induced and encouraged the employees of Havstad & Jensen and of other employers to engage in, strikes or concerted refusals in the course of their employment to use, manufacture, (etc.) * * * goods, articles, (etc.) * * * or to perform services.'The complaint also averred that an object of the Union's 'acts and conduct * * * is to force or require Havstad & Jensen, Watson and Dreps (infra) and other employers or persons to cease using, (etc.) or otherwise dealing in the products of Sand and Paine and to cease doing business with Sand and Paine'.

By the above acts, the complaint continued, the Union was engaging in unfair labor practices within § 158(b)(4)(A).

The Union's answer denied the commission of the unfair labor practices alleged, and affirmatively averred that 'the Board lacked jurisdiction over the subject matter of the complaint or of the persons of the respondents'.

On October 15, 1954, Sand filed a 'First Amended Charge', and on the same day the Board filed an 'Amendment to Complaint', neither of which materially altered their respective original allegations.

On December 13, 1954, the Trial Examiner filed an 'Intermediate Report and Recommended Order', in which it was 'recommended that the complaint be dismissed in its entirety'.

On August 26, 1955, the Board handed down a 'Decision and Order' holding that 'By inducing and encouraging employees of Havstad and Jensen to engage in a strike or concerted refusal in the course of their employment to handle or install doors manufactured by Paine Lumber company (hereafter Paine), an object thereof being to force and require Havstad and Jensen to cease using, handling or otherwise dealing in the products of Paine * * * and to force or require Sand * * * to cease doing business with Paine * * *, the (Union has) engaged in and (is) engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8(b) (4)(A) of the Act'. 113 NLRB 1210, No. 123.

The Decision and Order were signed by two members of the Board, including the chairman, and was specially concurred in by a third member. Two members dissented.

On February 3, 1956, the Board filed in this Court a petition for enforcement of the Board's order. It is that petition which we are here considering.

2. Statement of Facts

Havstad and Jensen, joint venturers, were engaged in the construction of a hospital and other buildings on the campus of the College of Medical Evangelists, a medical school and nurses' training school owned and operated by the Seventh Day Adventists in Los Angeles.

Doors for the hospital, which was known as the White Memorial Hospital, were manufactured by Paine, and were purchased by Sand, a wholesale jobber and exclusive agent for Paine in Southern California. Sand sold the doors to Watson & Dreps, mill work contractors, with delivery between August 14, 1954, and August 17, 1954. Although counsel for the Union claims that 'The record does not show what Watson & Dreps did with these doors', there is testimony that delivery of the doors to the job, where Havstad & Jensen were in charge, commenced on the Friday before August 17, and that on August 17, a member of the firm of Watson & Dreps informed James C. Barron, vice president and general manager of Sand, that Emmett R. Jensen, one of the joint venturers with Larry C. Havstad, had reported 'that the carpenters on the job had refused to handle the doors because the doors did not have a union label.' This testimony provides a sufficient link between Watson & Dreps and Havstad & Jensen, as regards the doors.

Between 10 and 11 o'clock in the forenoon of August 17, 1954, Arnold Steinert, carpenter foreman of Havstad & Jensen, was told by Nathan Fleisher, business agent of Local 1976, one of the respondents herein, that 'we'd have to quit hanging the doors until they got it settled that they were union or non-union doors, and they were going to check on 'em and in a day or two they would be cleared and then we could go ahead and go to work * * * he said they were non-union doors, and they didn't have a label and we'd have to quit hanging the doors until it was settled.'

Earlier in the morning, Steinert had assigned laborers 'to move the doors from floor to floor, the doors that went on each floor'. He had also assigned Sam Agronovich, a carpenter, to start hanging doors. When Steinert received the order from Fleisher 'to quit hanging the doors', he proceeded to carry out the mandate:

'Well, the laborers were moving the doors from floor to floor so I told them to leave them alone, leave 'em set and we went down into the basement where Sam Agronovich was working and told him we'd have to quit hanging the doors because they weren't union until they got it settled.'

Fleisher was present when Steinert talked to Agronovich.

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241 F.2d 147, 39 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2428, 1957 U.S. App. LEXIS 4381, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-labor-relations-board-v-local-1976-ca9-1957.