National Labor Relations Bd. v. Sanson Hosiery Mills
| Decision Date | 10 May 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. 13726.,13726. |
| Citation | 195 F.2d 350 |
| Parties | NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD v. SANSON HOSIERY MILLS, Inc. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Bernard Dunau, A. Norman Somers, Asst. Gen. Counsel, and David P. Findling, Assoc. Gen. Counsel, National Labor Relations Bd., all of Washington, D. C., for petitioner.
Geoffrey J. Cunniff, Philadelphia, Pa., George M. Ethridge, Jr., Meridian, Miss., for respondent.
Before HOLMES, BORAH and STRUM, Circuit Judges.
This is a petition by National Labor Relations Board, filed pursuant to sec. 10(e) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 160(e), seeking enforcement of the Board's order of December 29, 1950, directing respondent Sanson Hosiery Mills to bargain with a designated Union as the representative of respondent's production and maintenance employees. The Company resists enforcement of the order upon the ground that said Union is no longer the lawful bargaining agent for said employees, so that the Company is under no obligation to deal with the Union.
Pursuant to an election held February 7, 1947, the Board on May 2, 1947, certified the Union as the bargaining agent for said employees. After negotiations, the Company and the Union on November 19, 1947, entered into a collective bargaining agreement covering said employees. The agreement contained no provision as to its duration. About a year after the agreement was signed, the Company learned that a decertification petition, seeking to displace the Union as bargaining representative, was about to be filed with the Board. On November 17, 1948, the Company notified the Union that in view of the pendency of the decertification proceedings, in which it was asserted that the Union no longer represented a majority of the employees, the Company regarded the bargaining agreement of November 19, 1947, as terminated. The Union refused to concur in the Company's attitude.
On November 19, 1948, a decertification proceeding was in fact filed by a group of the Company's employees, seeking a rescission of the Union's authority to act as their representative. On June 28, 1949, after hearing, the Board dismissed the petition under its so-called "contract bar" rule which holds that where, as here, a bargaining agreement of indefinite duration is entered into, such contract bars a re-determination of the bargaining status of the representative Union for two years after execution of the contract.
After dismissal of the decertification petition, the Union sought to resume negotiations with the Company, but the Company expressed its doubts that the Union represented a majority of the employees, reiterated its termination of the contract as of November 17, 1948, and refused to further negotiate with the Union until its status had been re-determined by the Board and the Courts. This refusal led to an unfair labor practice charge, filed by the Union July 28, 1949, which charge sustained by the Board, culminated in the order of December 29, 1950, enforcement of which is here sought. The employees have made no complaint against the employer.
A group of employees claiming to represent 70 to 80% of respondent's employees filed a second decertification petition with the Board on March 15, 1950, more than two years after the contract of November 19, 1947. This petition was also dismissed by the Board, solely because of the pendency of the unfair labor charge filed by the Union against respondent July 28, 1949, which charge resulted in the order of December 29, 1950, here under consideration.
The Company contends that since the bargaining contract contains no provision as to duration, it is terminable at the will of either party after a reasonable time and that it effectively terminated this contract by its notice to the Union dated November 17, 1948. The Board, on the other hand, contends that one of the purposes of the Act is to stabilize industrial relationships and to give them a fair degree of permanency, and that in the absence of exceptional circumstances two years is a reasonable period of repose when a bargaining agreement, such as this, has been concluded between employer and employees. This proceeding was instituted, and the Board's order entered, prior to the amendments approved October 22, 1951, to Sec. 9 of the Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 159(e) ...
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