National Labor Relations Board v. Local 369 International Hod Carriers' Building and Common Laborers' Union of America, AFL

240 F.2d 539
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit·Decided February 6, 1957·No. 11945·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinions

KALODNER, Circuit Judge.

This is a petition of the National Labor Relations Board pursuant to Section 10(e) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, to enforce its order issued against the respondent in proceedings under Section 10(b) of the Act.1

The Board adopted the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Trial Examiner and found that job applicant James Carr was denied employment with Frommeyer and Company2 (“Company”) by its superintendent as a result of an arrangement between the Company and respondent Local 369 International Hod Carriers Building and Common Laborers’ Union of America, AFL (“Union”) which required the Union’s approval as a condition of employment with the Company. The Board further found that the Union attempted to cause and did cause the Company to violate the Act and thus engaged in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8(b) (2) and 8(b) (1) (A).3

The factual findings of the Board may be summarized as follows:

In mid-July, 1954, James Carr, a laborer, visited the Union’s headquarters in Trenton, New Jersey, and asked for a “work slip” to permit him to work in the Trenton area. Frank Gonzales, the Union’s secretary-treasurer, told Carr, who was not a union member, that he had no work available. Carr then asked Gonzales if he would accept his initiation fee if he found a job. Gonzales replied that the initiation fee was $25.00, gave Carr his business card, and told Carr to call him if he found work.

After leaving the Union’s office Carr, through one Alex Powers, a laborer leadman of the Company, heard there was a job opening at the Company’s project at McGuire Air Base near Fort Dix, New Jersey. Subsequently he returned to the Union’s headquarters and spoke to Michael Neylan, the Union’s business agent, about joining the Union. Neylan advised him that he had “eighteen or nineteen men on the bench” waiting for work and that they “would have to be placed” before he would accept Carr’s application for Union membership.4

Several days later Carr boarded a station wagon which was transporting workmen to the construction site. En-route the driver picked up Charles Conway, the job superintendent, to whom Carr was introduced as a man Powers had sent. Carr asked Conway for a job and Conway asked Carr if he had a Union card. Carr said he did not have a card but showed Conway the business card that Gonzales had given him. Conway said it would be “all right with him if it is all right with [James] Peters” (the Union’s job steward). When the station wagon reached the construction site, Conway told Carr to talk to Peters.

Carr asked Peters for a job. Peters asked Carr if he had a Union book. When Carr said that he did not have a book and showed Peters the card which [542] Gonzales had given him, Peters pointed out that the card did not say “Okay for work”.

Peters reported to Conway that “Carr didn’t have a book” to which Conway replied “Okay”.

After his interview with Peters, Carr told Conway what Peters had said to him. Conway thereupon told Carr that there was nothing he could do for him. However, when Carr asked Conway whether a job would be open for him if he “would go to the Local and get it straightened out at the Local”, Conway replied that “he would take care of” him.

Carr then went to the Union’s headquarters and told Neylan that he had found a job5 and that he would like to join the Union. Neylan again told him that there were “eighteen or nineteen men on the bench” who “would have to be placed” before Carr could be admitted to the Union. Carr was again refused admission to the Union the following day and never returned to the construction site.

On the basis of the foregoing facts and other testimony of witnesses, the Board, in agreement with the Trial Examiner, found that the Union had violated the Act.6 The Board concluded that the Union had violated both Section 8(b) (2) and Section 8(b) (1) (A).7 In National Labor Relations Board v. Jarka Corp., of Philadelphia, 3 Cir., 1952, 198 F.2d 618, we discussed these two sections and the significance of each. See also National Labor Relations Board v. Philadelphia Iron Works, 3 Cir., 1954, 211 F.2d 937. In the Board’s opinion and in the presentation to this Court this case has been postured as involving an 8(b) (2) violation. While we agree that the Union has violated Section 8(b) (2) of the Act, we do not consider the applicability of Section 8(b) (1) (A) to this situation.

The Union urges that the Board’s order should be reversed and contends that the following findings of the Board are not supported by substantial evidence: (1) the finding that there was an agreement or understanding, between the Company and the Union that the Company would only hire the Union’s mem[543] bers; (2) the finding that the Union caused the Company to discriminate against Carr; (3) the finding that Carr was denied employment by reason of his non-union status.

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National Labor Relations Board v. Local 369 International Hod Carriers' Building and Common Laborers' Union of America, AFL, 240 F.2d 539 (3d Cir. 1957).

240 F.2d 539 (National Labor Relations Board v. Local 369 International Hod Carriers' Building and Common Laborers' Union of America, AFL) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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