NLRB v. Acme

CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedFebruary 4, 1993
Docket92-1525
StatusPublished

This text of NLRB v. Acme (NLRB v. Acme) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
NLRB v. Acme, (1st Cir. 1993).

Opinion

USCA1 Opinion


February 4, 1993 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

____________________

No. 92-1525

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD,

Petitioner,

v.

ACME TILE AND TERRAZZO CO.;
ADMIRAL TILE CO., INC.;
JOLICOEUR RESMINI CO., INC.
AND ROMAN TILE & TERRAZZO CO.,

Respondents.

____________________

UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS LOCAL 36-T,

Intervenor.

____________________

No. 92-1595

ACME TILE AND TERRAZZO CO.;
ADMIRAL TILE CO., INC.;
JOLICOEUR & RESMINI CO., INC.
AND ROMAN TILE & TERRAZZO CO.,

Petitioners,

v.

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD,

Respondent.

____________________

UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS LOCAL 36-T,

Intervenor.

____________________

ON APPLICATION FOR ENFORCEMENT AND
CROSS-PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF
THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

____________________

Before

Torruella and Cyr, Circuit Judges,
______________

Keeton,* District Judge.
______________

_____________________

Girard R. Visconti, with whom Visconti & Petrocelli Ltd.,
___________________ ___________________________
were on brief for Acme Tile and Terrazzo Co.; Admiral Tile Co.,
Inc.; Jolicoeur & Resmini Co., Inc. and Roman Tile & Terrazzo Co.
David Habenstreit, Attorney, National Labor Relations Board,
_________________
with whom Jerry M. Hunter, General Counsel, Yvonne T. Dixon,
________________ ________________
Acting Deputy General Counsel, Nicholas E. Karatinos, Acting
_______________________
Associate General Counsel, Aileen A. Armstrong, Deputy Associate
___________________
General Counsel, and Peter Winkler, Supervisory Attorney, were
_____________
on brief for National Labor Relations Board.

____________________

____________________

____________________

* Of the District of Massachusetts, sitting by designation.

Per Curiam. This is an appeal of a National Labor
___________

Relations Board (the "Board") decision that appellants, Acme Tile

and Terrazzo Co., Roman Tile and Terrazzo, Jolicoeur & Resmini

Co., and Admiral Tile Co., Inc. (the "employers"), violated

8(a)(1), (2), and (3) of the National Labor Relations Act (the

"Act"), 29 U.S.C. 151, et seq. (1973). Specifically, the Board
______

found that the employers conditioned employees' further

employment on their membership in an employer-recognized Union

before the statutorily required, seven day grace period ended.

Because we find that the Board based its decision on an erroneous

assumption, we vacate the order and remand for proceedings

consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
__________

The employers entered a contract with the International

Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen, Local No. 1 Rhode

Island (the "Union"). The contract required employees to join

the Union within eight days of the agreement's execution.

The administrative law judge (the "ALJ") found that on

March 31, 1989, the employers told the employees that they must

secure a referral from the Union by April 3, 1989, two days after

the agreement's execution, if they wanted to continue working,

and that the employees would have to join the Union. The ALJ

concluded that the employer's actions did not violate the Act.

On appeal, the Board found that the employers did violate the

Act. In arriving at this conclusion, it erroneously noted that

the ALJ credited testimony that on March 31, 1989, the employers

-3-

required their employees to join the Union by April 3, 1989 in
____

order to keep their jobs. The Board and the ALJ agreed that

regardless of the employer's actual words, the employees did not

join the Union and did not work on April 3.

LEGAL ANALYSIS
LEGAL ANALYSIS
______________

We will enforce an order by the Board if the Board

correctly applied the law and if substantial evidence on the

record supports the Board's factual findings. Destiler a
__________

Serrall s, Inc. v. NLRB, 882 F.2d 19, 20-22 (1st Cir. 1989)
________________ ____

(quoting Penntech Papers, Inc. v. NLRB, 706 F.2d 18, 22-23 (1st
_____________________ ____

Cir. 1983)).

The Act requires a seven day grace period for employees

to join an employer-recognized union in the construction

industry. 29 U.S.C. 158(f) (1973). Thus, if the employers

required the employees to join the Union by April 3, only two

days into that grace period, they violated the Act.

It is unclear, however, whether substantial evidence on

the record would support the Board's factual findings. At least

five employees testified that the employers required them to join

the Union by April 3.

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