Atlas Life Ins. Co. v. National Labor Relations Board

• Decision Date: 28 February 1952
• Docket Number: No. 4307.,4307.
• Citation: 195 F.2d 136
• Parties: ATLAS LIFE INS. CO. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

195 F.2d 136 (1952)

ATLAS LIFE INS. CO. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD et al.

No. 4307.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

February 28, 1952.

Harry D. Moreland, Tulsa, Okl., (Theodore Rinehart and Jack E. Campbell, Tulsa, Okl., on the brief), for petitioner.

Fannie M. Boyls, Washington, D. C. (George J. Bott, David P. Findling, A. Norman Somers, all of Washington, D. C., and Walter F. Hoffman, Washington, D. C., on the brief), for respondents.

Before PHILLIPS, Chief Judge, and BRATTON and PICKETT, Circuit Judges.

PICKETT, Circuit Judge.

This proceeding is before the court upon the petition of Atlas Life Insurance Company, hereinafter called the company, to review and set aside an order of the National Labor Relations Board which found the company guilty of unfair labor practices as defined and prohibited by Sec. 8 (a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(a)(1, 5). The company was charged with refusing to bargain with the union and of unlawfully interrogating company employees concerning their union membership. The order directed the company to cease and desist from such practices.

The evidence before the Board was undisputed. The union, Local 948, International Union of Operating Engineers, hereinafter called the union, had four members who were working as building engineers in a building owned by the company in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1949, in a representative proceeding, the union lost the election.¹ By June 1, 1950, all four of the company's engineers had designated the union to act for them for the purpose of collective bargaining in written applications for membership in the union, but this was not known to the company. On June 15, 1950, C. C. Callicoat, appearing in the proceedings as business representative of the union, approached the president of the company, Johnson D. Hill, and asked him to agree that Callicoat be the bargaining agent for the company's engineering employees. Callicoat had no credentials showing that he had been designated by the union as its representative, and he did not represent that such authority was in existence. There were no existing disputes of any kind between the company and any of its employees. Callicoat requested Hill to execute an instrument designating Callicoat as the bargaining representative of the union. It had not been signed by the union. Hill did not sign the instrument. Callicoat made no request that the company enter into any kind of bargaining negotiations.

Immediately after Callicoat's call, Hill made inquiry and found that the four engineers were union members. He then wrote the union advising it of Callicoat's visit, stating that there were no disputes and that because of the small number of memers, he saw no need for the current appointment of a representative.² Hill heard nothing further concerning Callicoat's request until he was notified by the National Labor Relations Board that his company had been charged with unfair labor practices. Upon receiving notice of the charge, Hill wrote to the Board stating his lack of knowledge of the charge; that there were no existing disputes between the company and the union; and that after Callicoat's visit he had made inquiry and learned that all the engineers were then members of the union and were being paid the union scale. He again expressed his belief that the union was too small to do more than was being done.³

Thereafter, on December 14, 1950, the General Counsel filed a complaint based on the charge alleging that the company was guilty of unfair labor practices in that it refused to bargain collectively with the union, and that it had interrogated union members concerning their union affiliations and had threatened and warned its employees against becoming members or remaining members of the union. The company denied these allegations.

Assuming that the record is sufficient to show that the union was the appropriate organization and designated to represent the employees, we find after a consideration of the record as a whole that there is no substantial evidence to sustain the order. To sustain the charge in the complaint, the Board relied upon the two letters written by Hill. Although appearing in the proceeding, Callicoat did not give his version of what was said at his meetings with Hill. He did not deny Hill's testimony. Hill testified that the question of bargaining was never mentioned in the Callicoat meetings; and that the only request made of him by Callicoat was that he be recognized as the representative of the union for bargaining purposes. He testified that he had never refused to bargain, but if there was to be bargaining that he saw no need for a go-between or a representative of the union when there were so few members and he saw them every day. Hill also testified that since he was responsible for the operation of the business, after Callicoat's request he endeavored to determine the reason therefor, and called one of the building engineers to his office and asked him "to bring me up to date about what was going on around the building." Hill was informed that all the building engineers had joined the union. Subsequently, a second building engineer, while in Hill's office, volunteered the information that he did not belong to the union. There was nothing in the conversations with these two employees from which threats or coercion adverse to the union, or even an antiunion attitude, could be inferred, and, in fact, the opposite appears. Hill never urged any of his employees to quit the union and never coerced or intimidated them with respect to their union membership. The record shows that one employee was discharged because he was not a member of the union. This was the only evidence before the Board.

Under Section 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act, it is an unfair...