Charles Leonard, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 8, 1961

131 N.L.R.B. 1104 (N.L.R.B. 1961)

1104 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Charles Leonard, Inc. and Local 815, affiliated with International
Production, Service and Sales Employees Union , Petitioner.
Case No. 2-RC-11044. June 8, 1961
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Carl B. Davidson, hearing
,officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman McCulloch and Members Rodgers and Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.'
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Employer and the Intervenor assert their contract as a bar to
this petition. The Petitioner contends that its petition, filed October
20, 1960, is timely and that the contract cannot bar an election because
it contains a union-security provision which has been given retroactive
application, and because certain other provisions of the contract dis-
criminate against nonunion employees.
On February 10, 1959, the Employer and the Intervenor signed an
agreement which was not to become binding until countersigned by a
duly authorized officer of the International Union. This contract,
effective from December 11, 1958, to December 10, 1960, contained a
clause which provided that nonmember incumbent employees, as a
condition of employment, must become and remain members of the
Union on or after the 30th day following the effective date of the
contract, and that employees hired on or after the effective date of
the contract must become union members on or after the 30th day
following the.date of their employment. On April 23, 1959, the con-
tract was countersigned and the language of the clause was amended
to the extent that nonunion incumbent employees must become mem-
bers on or after the 30th day following the execution date of the con-
tract, and employees hired on or after the execution date must become
members of the union on or after the 30th day following their employ-
ment. We find, therefore, that the date of consummation or execution
'Upholsterers International Union , Local 601 , AFL-CIO , intervened on the basis of a
current contract
131 NLRB No. 137.
CHARLES LEONARD, INC. 1105
of the contract was on April 23, 1959,2 and that the clause in question,
which was amended simultaneously with the contract's execution, does
not have retroactive application.'
Article 12(a) of the contract specifies, inter alia, that the shop
steward and shop committee shall be elected by union members in the
plant, and that only the shop steward may participate in the discussion
of grievances during working hours. Petitioner asserts that nonunion
employees are thereby precluded from choosing the shop steward and
hence denied representation.' The shop steward and shop committee
are arms of the contracting union, the exclusive bargaining agent, and
appointments or elections to these functions are internal union mat-
ters.' In our opinion article 12 (a) of the contract does not work any
effective discrimination against or deny collective-bargaining repre-
sentation to any employees in the bargaining unit. Accordingly, we
find no merit in this contention of the Petitioner.
Petitioner contends that article 19(b) of the contract, which speci-
fies that "no member of the Union shall be required to work under any
condition which may be or tend to be unsafe or injurious to his health"
discriminates against nonunion employees and thus removes the con-
tract as a bar. Article 19 (a) of the contract makes it incumbent
upon the Employer to "make all reasonable provisions for the safety
and health of his employees. . . ." We do not read article 19(b), par-
ticularly in conjunction with article 19(a), as requiring that non-
members of the union, if any, are required to work under unsafe
conditions or conditions injurious to their health, or as affecting a dis-
crimination against nonmembers. Article 19 (b) is reasonably sus-
ceptible to the interpretation that a refusal to work under the stated
conditions shall not be deemed a strike by the union or its members in
breach of the no-strike clause of the contracts Accordingly, we find
no merit in this contention.
We find, therefore, that the foregoing contract provisions do not
exceed permissible limits, and, as the petition was untimely filed dur-
ing the 60-day insulation period prior to the end of the 2-year con-
tract, the contract is bar. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
2 Cf Zangerle Peterson Co, 123 NLRB 1027; Appalachian Shale Products Co, 121
NLRB 1160
3 See Keystone Coat, Apron & Towel Supply Company, et al, 121 NLRB 880, at foot-
note 6 And see at p 885 the model clause, which does not contain the language "on or
after" as appears in the present contract while the use of this language would not re-
move the contract as a bar, we do not pass upon its efficacy as a union-security provision
4 Testimony was taken to show that all employees are invited to union meetings, that
no check is made at the meetings to determine who is or who is not a union member,
that no check was made at the meeting at which the current shop steward was elected,
and that grievances of probationary nonunion employees actually were processed by the
shop steward and the International representative of the Union.
5 See the proviso to Section 8(b) (1) (A) of the Act
Cf. Section 502 of the Act.
599198-62-vol 131-71 -