National Labor Rel. Bd. v. Vermont American Furn. Corp., 209
| Decision Date | 05 June 1950 |
| Docket Number | Docket 21596.,No. 209,209 |
| Citation | 182 F.2d 842 |
| Parties | NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD v. VERMONT AMERICAN FURNITURE CORPORATION. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
David P. Findling, Associate General Counsel, A. Norman Somers, Assistant General Counsel, Frederick U. Reel and George H. Plaut, all of Washington, D. C., for petitioner, National Labor Relations Board.
Warner, Stackpole, Stetson & Bradlee, Richard J. Walsh, and Franklin N. Cunningham, all of Boston, Mass., for respondent, Vermont American Furniture Corporation.
Before SWAN, AUGUSTUS N. HAND and CHASE, Circuit Judges.
The respondent is a New York corporation engaged in the manufacture and sale in interstate commerce of furniture, having its factory at Orleans, Vermont. It purchased its factory in 1946 and operated it at full capacity with a large backlog of orders up to the beginning of the year 1948. Shortly thereafter the backlog of orders decreased and in February 1948 it was decided by the management according to the testimony of its treasurer Kahn to discharge unessential employees. But there was testimony on behalf of the Board that on January 29, 1948, an organizer for the Upholsterers' International Union of North America AFL named Ingles began a campaign to organize the production employees of the respondent at its Orleans plant; that this man called at the homes of employees and obtained signatures to union cards; that on February 11 another organizer held a meeting for prospective union members at a private home in Orleans which was attended by ten of the production employees; that at this meeting after the organizer had received certain signed membership cards and handed out blank cards for signature by other employees, those present elected employee Desilets as captain of the organizing team within the plant. Desilets testified that during the next few weeks interested employees circulated membership cards within the plant and he alone obtained about twenty signatures. In view of the situation Kahn called the company's head office in New York and advised his superiors of the union activities who, according to his testimony, "didn't think there was anything much to it." But Desilets testified that on February 27, 1948, Knuckles, the superintendent of the plant, called him to the office and told him that he would have to drop his union activities or the company would have to let him go, whereupon Desilets said that he told Knuckles he would withdraw from the union and its activities in order to hold his job. The employee Belnap testified that on February 28 he was asked by Knuckles whether he was going to be a union man or company man, and when Belnap said he would like a little time to think it over was paid off and discharged. Shortly after Belnap was discharged Roehner, the manager of the plant, called together the employees of the finishing department and two different groups of employees making up the rest of the production workers and told them that he did not feel that a union would benefit them. Marie Nadeau, an employee, testified that at the first meeting on February 28 the plant manager Roehner advised the employees to throw away their cards and forget about the union and said that the company would close its doors if the union came in and that it proposed to give a bonus and more wages to its workers. At that meeting Mrs. Nadeau openly disagreed with the promises made by Roehner and, according to her testimony, said that it would be to her advantage for the union to come in.
Dukett testified that on March 2 Knuckles, the superintendent, called him into the office and asked whether he had signed a union card. When Dukett admitted that he had, Knuckles was said to have warned him that he should cease union...
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