Samoff ex rel. National Labor Relations Board v. Hotel, Motel & Club Employees' Union Local 568

223 F. Supp. 762, 54 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2533, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7187
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 21, 1963
DocketCiv. A. No. 34104
StatusPublished

This text of 223 F. Supp. 762 (Samoff ex rel. National Labor Relations Board v. Hotel, Motel & Club Employees' Union Local 568) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Samoff ex rel. National Labor Relations Board v. Hotel, Motel & Club Employees' Union Local 568, 223 F. Supp. 762, 54 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2533, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7187 (E.D. Pa. 1963).

Opinion

FREEDMAN, District Judge.

Petitioner, the Regional Director of the Fourth Region of the National Labor Relations Board seeks a temporary injunction pursuant to § 10 (Z-) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended <29 U.S.C.A. § 160G)),1 on a charge filed by Restaurant Management, Inc. (RMI), the operator of a restaurant known as “Singing Waters”, situated in the Penn Center Motor Inn, 20th & Market Streets, Philadelphia. The petition .alleges that respondent, an unincorporated labor organization, is engaging in an unfair labor practice within the meaning of § 8(b) (7) (C) of the Act (29 U.S.C.A. § 158(b)(7)(C))2 A full ■hearing has been held and much testimony has been presented on both sides.

It is conceded by the Union that the restaurant meets the NLRB’s jurisdictional standard of $500,000 in annual gross receipts. There is no question that a sufficient quantity of goods and materials flows to the restaurant from outside the State to establish the requisite effect on interstate commerce.

I am not called upon for a definitive decision on the merits of the case. My function is the more narrow one of deciding whether there is reasonable cause to believe that the unfair labor practice charged has been committed. The standard to be applied has been authoritatively defined in Schauffler v. Local 1291, 292 F.2d 182, 187 (3d Cir. 1961): “The Board need not show that an unfair labor practice has been committed, but need only demonstrate that there is reasonable cause to believe that the elements of an unfair labor practice are present. Nor need the Board conclusively show [764]*764the validity of the propositions of law underlying its charge; it is required to demonstrate merely that the propositions of law which it has applied to the charge are substantial and not frivolous. * *

On July 6, 1963, shortly before the formal opening of the restaurant, the Union commenced picketing at the front entrance on Market Street. From the time the picketing began until July 31st the pickets’ signs read as follows:

“To the Public SINGING WATERS does NOT have a
LABOR
AGREEMENT
with
Hotel, Motel & Club Employees Union Local 568 — AFL-CIO”
After July 31st picketing was extended to Commerce Street, at the rear of the restaurant, and the signs were changed to read as follows:
“Singing Waters Employees on
STRIKE
We request your cooperation ' Hotel, Motel & Club Employees Union
LOCAL 568 AFL-CIO”

I have no doubt from the evidence that the conduct of the Union from the very beginning, even when it used the “informational” signs, was intended, among other things, to achieve the unionization of “Singing Waters’ ” employees. Two Union organizers visited the restaurant in June, before it opened, seeking a labor agreement and Union representation. The Union leaders attended two meetings with management and brought along copies of an existing labor contract. They were willing to halt picketing during negotiations. Organizational activity took place throughout the period in question in the form of solicitation of union cards among the employees.

There is strong evidence that both before and after July 31st the Union was engaged in an attempt to organize and to obtain a collective bargaining agreement from the management of “Singing Waters”, notwithstanding its formal disclaimer of any such intention because it did not represent a majority. There is therefore reasonable cause to. believe that at least an object of the picketing was recognitional both before and after July 31st. The picketing prior to. July 31st, however, is protected by the second proviso of § 8(b) (7) (C) as lawful “informational” picketing because the signs then used were, in the language of § 8(b) (7) (C), “for the purpose of truthfully advising the public (including consumers) that an employer does not * * * have a contract with, a labor organization * * Moreover, the picketing during this period, aside from a few isolated instances, did not have the effect of inducing delivery stoppages. The proviso, therefore, fully applies to the picketing prior to July 31st. It is true that even informational picketing ordinarily carries with it some coercive effect. But it is clear that the Congressional purpose was to permit such activity unless it reaches the more direct consequence of stoppage of deliveries or services.3

A decisive change in the Union’s activities occurred on July 31st when new signs which proclaimed a strike were adopted. The language of the new signs did not purport to advise the public that the restaurant was non-union. Instead, the signs were admittedly a signal to other unionized drivers and employees not to cross the picket line. Substantial delivery stoppages did, in fact, result. The Union seeks to justify the change to “strike”-sign picketing on the ground [765]*765that several employees had been dismissed because of Union activity. It claims that the picketing from then on was outside the scope of § 8(b) (7) because it was purely protest picketing and not recognitional or organizational. I find reasonable cause to believe that the predominant motive for the strike picketing was to coerce the management of “Singing Waters” to recognize the Union as the collective bargaining agent for its employees even though the Union did not represent a majority of them. The Union never communicated with management regarding the dismissed employees. As soon as it received word of the discharges it sent the new recruits to the picket lines and had the signs changed from informational to strike notices. It can fairly be found as a fact, and there is therefore reasonable cause to believe, that the dismissal of the few employees was eagerly seized upon by the Union as a pretext for more effective picketing to coerce recognition of the Union.

The Board has submitted a series of suggested Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. I shall consider them Requests for Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. I affirm Requests for Findings of Fact Nos. 1 (as amended to describe the petitioner as Regional Director), 2, 3, 4(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h) (except that during the pendency of these proceedings all picketing has by agreement between the parties been suspended), (i), (j) (except that I limit this to the period after July 31st), (k), (Z), and 5.

I affirm petitioner’s Requests for Conclusions of Law Nos. 1, 2(a), (b), and (e). I decline petitioner’s Request for Conclusion of Law No. 3.

In the circumstances of this case the Union should be enjoined from picketing other than informational picketing of the kind which was carried out prior to July 31st. I will permit such informational picketing on Market Street, where it will not induce stoppage of deliveries, and on Commerce Street on condition that it shall cease there if it induces stoppage of deliveries or services.

ORDER

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Related

Unfair labor practices
29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(7)(C)

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Bluebook (online)
223 F. Supp. 762, 54 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2533, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/samoff-ex-rel-national-labor-relations-board-v-hotel-motel-club-paed-1963.