National Labor Relations Board v. Lummus Co.

210 F.2d 377, 33 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2513, 1954 U.S. App. LEXIS 3732
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 12, 1954
Docket14520
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 210 F.2d 377 (National Labor Relations Board v. Lummus Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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. Lummus Co., 210 F.2d 377, 33 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2513, 1954 U.S. App. LEXIS 3732 (5th Cir. 1954).

Opinion

BORAH, Circuit Judge.

The National Labor Relations Board seeks enforcement of an order requiring respondent, The Lummus Company, to cease and desist from certain unfair labor practices and to take certain affirmative action which the Board found would effectuate the policies of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq., as amended by the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C.A. § 141 et seq.

The Board and the Trial Examiner concluded that the respondent refused to hire certain specified workmen because of lack of membership in or referral by Local 1423, United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, herein called the Carpenter; that respondent by its discriminatory hiring policy discouraged membership in the International Association of Machinists, Lodge 1276, herein called the Machinists; that such conduct was in violation of § 8(a) (3) of the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(a) (3), and also interfered with, restrained, and coerced employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in § 7 of the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 157, thereby violating § 8(a) (1) , 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(a) (1). The Board ordered respondent to cease and desist from discouraging membership in the Machinists or in any other labor organization of employees or applicants for employment, or encouraging membership in the Carpenters or any other labor organization, (1) by conditioning) the employment of properly qualified applicants for employment upon membership in, or referral by, the Carpenters, or (2) by discriminating in any other manner in regard to the hire and tenure of employment of employees, or any term or condition of their employment, except insofar as such activity may be affected by an agreement, authorized in Section 8(a) (3) of the Act, requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment. The Board further ordered that respondent cease and desist from in any manner interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees or applicants for employment, in the exercise of the rights mentioned in Section 7 of the Act. 1 Affirmatively, the Board or *379 dered respondent to make whole Machinists Y. C. Reneau and O. F. Tucker for any loss of pay they may have suffered by reason of respondent’s discrimination against them; to make available to the Board upon request all records necessary to analyze the amounts of back pay due; and to post appropriate notices at such of its respective offices, places of business, construction projects, and equipment or storage yards as are “within that part of the State of Texas within which the members of the South Texas Chapter of the Associated General Contractors operate under the terms of their agreement with the Carpenters.”

Respondent, a Delaware corporation, is engaged at various places throughout the United States and in foreign countries in the designing, engineering, and construction of petroleum refineries and chemical and alcohol plants. It performs services and sells materials on a multi-state basis throughout the United States and in foreign countries; and between January 1 and November 22, 1951, was engaged in construction operations and the installation of machinery at the Taylor Refining Company in Corpus Christi, Texas, the situs of the instant case. The machinery installation work involved was of a type with respect to which the Carpenters and Machinists have a longstanding jurisdictional dispute. See N. L. R. B. v. George D. Auchter Co., 5 Cir., 209 F.2d 273; Eichleay Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 3 Cir., 206 F.2d 799; N. L. R. B. v. Local 743, etc., 9 Cir., 202 F.2d 516; N. L. R. B. v. Cantrall, 9 Cir., 201 F.2d 853; N. L. R. B. v. Oertel Brewing Co., 6 Cir., 197 F.2d 59; N. L. R. B. v. Arthur G. McKee & Co., 5 Cir., 196 F.2d 636; N. L. R. B. v. Daniel Hamm Dray-age Co., 5 Cir., 185 F.2d 1020. The principal question here is whether there is substantial evidence in the record, considered as a whole, supporting the Board’s finding that respondent, in violation of § 8(a) (1) and (3) of the Act, discriminated against applicants for employment who were members of the Machinists.

There is evidence that before and during the time of respondent’s temporary construction activities at Corpus Christi the recognized local bargaining group of employers engaged in construction work was the South Texas Chapter of the Associated General Contractors, herein called A.G.C. The policies and practices of A.G.C. during this interval included an agreement with the Carpenters 2 to be bound by the “Bylaws and Working Rules” of the Carpenters’ Union. These bylaws forbid members of the Carpenters to work with nonmembers without special union permission; require millwright foremen to be members of the Carpenters; and further require that they hire only members of the Carpenters for any work within the jurisdiction of the Carpenters including the machinery setting work in dispute. Respondent although not a member of A. G.C. or a party to this agreement did by letter which it sent to the Board on *380 November 2, 1951, admit that “in the State of Texas we follow the policies and practices of the recognized bargaining group in the area, which policies and practices have been recognized and agreed upon between the employers’ group and the various unions.” It is undisputed that by “recognized bargaining group” respondent meant A.G.C. and .although its Assistant Personnel Manager, Burke, denied that the letter referred to its hiring policy it affirmatively appears that the letter was written in response to an inquiry from the Board’s Sub-Regional Office at Houston, Texas, concerning respondent’s employment practices. Further, that at the time the letter was written respondent had received a copy of the charge which the Machinists had filed with the Board alleging primarily a refusal to hire Reneau and Tucker. And that despite such clear notice of the importance of its hiring policy, respondent did not, in the letter, exclude its hiring policy from the general phrase “policies and practices.” This evidence of respondent’s compliance with A.G.C.’s hiring policy finds further support in the testimony which shows that respondent selected Wilson, a known member of the Carpenters, to be its craft foreman over the men doing machinery setter work and gave him power to hire and fire its employees engaged in this craft. It further appears that Brown, a former member of the Carpenters and who was a responsible official of respondent, was Wilson’s immediate superior and that Wilson and Brown procured all their millwright employees from the Carpenter’s business agent, Echols, and did not hire anyone not a member of the Carpenters.

This brings us to the evidence of specific acts of discrimination against members of the Machinists.

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Bluebook (online)
210 F.2d 377, 33 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2513, 1954 U.S. App. LEXIS 3732, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-labor-relations-board-v-lummus-co-ca5-1954.