National Electric Products Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 27, 1939

16 N.L.R.B. 585 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter of NATIONAL ELECTRIC PRODUCTS CORPORATION and
JOHN KOCJAN
Case No. C-1086.-Decided October 27, 1939
Electrical Equipment Manufacturing Industry-Interference, Restraint, and
Coercion: charges of, not sustained-Discrimination: charges of , not sustained-
Complai,nt: dismissed.
Mr. Robert H. Kleeb, for the Board.
Mr. James H. Houston and Mr. Eugene R. Speer, of Pittsburgh,
Pa., for the respondent.
Mr. Isaac Lobe Straus, of Baltimore, Md., for the I. B. E. W.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon charges duly filed by John Kocjan, the National Labor
Relations Board, herein called the Board, by the Regional Director
for the Sixth Region (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), issued its com-
plaint dated October 13, 1938, against National Electric Products
Corporation, Ambridge, Pennsylvania, herein called the respondent,
alleging that the respondent had engaged in and was engaging in
unfair labor practices affecting commerce, within the meaning of
Section 8 (1) and (3) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National
Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. Copies
of the complaint were duly served upon the respondent, upon John
Kocjan, and upon International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
Local B-1073, herein called the I. B. E. W.
Concerning the unfair labor practices, the complaint alleged, in
substance, that the respondent terminated the employment of John
Kocjan and refused to reinstate him thereafter for the reason that
he engaged in organizational activities and made statements in be-
half of the United Electrical Radio & Machine Workers of America,
herein called the United, and 'in opposition to the I. B. E. W. On
October 19, 1938, the respondent filed an answer to the complaint,
lG N. L. R. B., No. 62.
585
586 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATION S BOARD
admitting that its manufacturing activities are interstate in nature
but denying that it had engaged in the alleged unfair labor practices.
Pursuant to notice duly served upon the respondent, upon John
Kocjan, and upon the I. B. E. W., a hearing was held on October
24, 1938, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before Thomas H. Kennedy,
the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board
and the respondent were represented by counsel and participated
in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues
was afforded all parties. At the close of the hearing counsel for
the Board moved to conform the pleadings to the proof. The mo-
tion was granted. During the course of the hearing, the Trial Ex-
aminer made several rulings on other motions and on objections to
the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed all the rulings
of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were com-
mitted. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
On December 3, 1939, the Trial Examiner filed his Intermediate
Report, copies of which were duly served upon all the parties, in
which he found that the respondent had engaged in and was engag-
ing in the unfair labor practices alleged in the complaint. He ac-
cordingly recommended that the respondent cease and desist there-
from and, affirmatively, offer full reinstatement with back pay to
Kocjan.
On December 17, 1938, the respondent and the I. B. E. W. filed
exceptions to the Intermediate Report and requested oral argument
before the Board. On January 19, 1939, the respondent and the
I. B. E. W. filed briefs.
Pursuant to notice duly served upon all the parties, a hearing for
the purpose of oral argument was held before the Board on Septem-
ber 19, 1939, at Washington, D. C. The respondent and the I. B.E.
W. were represented by counsel and participated in the argument.
The Board has considered the respondent's and the I. B. E. W.'s ex-
ceptions to the Intermediate Report and to the extent indicated
below finds merit in them.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE RESPONDENT
The respondent is a Delaware corporation with its principal office
at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It maintains a plant at Ambridge,.
Pennsylvania, where it is engaged in the business of producing, sell-
ing, and distributing electrical products, wire, and electrical appli-
ances. Approximately 50 per cent of the raw materials used in.
NATIONAL ELECTRIC PRODUCTS CORPORATION 587
the Ambridge plant are shipped to it from points outside the Com-
monwealth of Pennsylvania and over 50 per cent of the finished
products are shipped to points outside the Commonwealth.
The respondent, at its Ambridge plant, does an annual business
amounting to approximately $10,000,000 and employs an average of
700 employees. The respondent admits the jurisdiction of the
Board.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local B-1073,
is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor. It admits to membership employees of the respondent.
III. THE ALLEGED UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
John Kocjan was first employed by the respondent in 1919, and
at the time of his discharge on January 17, 1938, he was working
as an iceman in the plant.
Kocjan was an active member in the United and served on the
picket line when it called a strike at the respondent's plant on June
1, 1937. On May 27, 1937, the I. B. E.W. entered into a 1-year
closed-shop contract with the respondent. On July 29, 1937, the
United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsyl-
vania ordered the respondent specifically to perform this contract.
The respondent posted bulletins to this effect in its plant, and pur-
suant thereto Kocjan joined the I. B. E. W. on August 31, 1937. On
September 10, 1937, the Board conducted an election at the respond-
ent's plant, and as a. result subsequently certified the I. B. E. W.
as the sole bargaining agent for the respondent's employees.'
Kocjan was active in soliciting votes for the United prior to the
election.
The complaint alleges that Kocjan was discharged because of his
"activities and/or statements in opposition to the I. B. E. W. and
in behalf of the United." The respondent contends that it dis-
charged Kocjan because he was inefficient and because he continually
talked to, interrupted, and annoyed other employees in the perform-
ance of their duties; and that the proximate cause of the discharge
was his use of profanity in addressing a female employee.
Several foremen testified that they had frequently complained to
the works manager about Kocjan's talking in the plant and that
they had repeatedly warned Kocj an about his actions in interfering
with the other employees. Kocjan's duties took him into every de-
partment of the plant to fill the ice coolers, and he admitted that
'utter of National Electric Products Corporation and United. Electrical and Radio
Workers of America, Local No. 609, 3 N. L. R. B. 475.
588 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
while doing so he frequently talked to other employees, some of
whom were working at dangerous machines at the time. Kocjan
denied ever having been warned about his talking in the plant.
Mary Mutschler, an employee in the plant, testified that in the
early part of January 1937 Kocjan talked to her in an abusive man-
ner using profane language. Mutschler became very excited and
reported the incident to her superior who in. turn notified the works
manager. The works manager sent for Mutschler and she repeated
the incident to him. On January 17, 1938, the works manager
ordered Kocjan's dismissal, and he was immediately discharged.
Kocjan denied the alleged abusiveness and the use of profane
language.
Kocjan testified that at the time of his discharge and at the time
of his request for reinstatement on January 25, 1937, he was told
that he was discharged for "talking too much against the I. B. E.
W." This testimony was contradicted by the respondent's witnesses.
The executive board of the I. B. E. W. held an investigation of
Kocjan's discharge and on January 18, 1938, issued a report sustain-
ing the respondent's action. On March 5, 1938, Kocjan wrote a
letter to the executive board of the I. B. E. W. accusing it of bad
faith in his case. The I. B. E. W. asked him to explain his charges
and when he failed to do so, suspended him from the I. B. E. W. on
March 14, 1938.
Although Kocjan claims he was warned several times about talk-
ing against the I. B. E. W., he testified in reply to several questions
at the hearing that he at no time after the September 10 election
talked about the United or the I. B. E. W. in the plant, nor does it
appear from the record that he was active outside the plant. In
view of Kocjan's testimony that he did not discuss union activities
at any time after the election, we credit the testimony of the respond-
ent's witnesses set out above that they at no time censured him for
talking about unions.
It is apparent from the foregoing that Kocjan was discharged not
for his activities on behalf of the United and in opposition to the
I. B. E. W. but because of his incessant talking in the plant after
repeated warnings and his abusive language to Mutschler. We shall
therefore dismiss the complaint.
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the
entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. The operations of the respondent, National Electric Products
Corporation, occur in commerce, within the meaning of Section 2 (6)
of the Act.
NATIONAL ELECTRIC PRODUCTS CORPORATION 589
2. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local B-1073,
is a labor organization, within the meaning of Section 2 (5) of the
Act.
3. The respondent has not engaged in and is not engaging in un-
fair labor practices, within the meaning of Section 8 (3) of the Act,
with respect to the discharge of John Kocjan.
4. The respondent has not interfered with, restrained, or coerced
its employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7
of the Act, within the meaning of Section 8 (1) of the Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and conclusions
of, law and pursuant to Section 10 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that
the complaint against National Electric Products Corporation be,
and it hereby is, dismissed.