National Labor Relations Bd. v. Concrete Haulers, 14824.

• Decision Date: 06 May 1954
• Docket Number: No. 14824.,14824.
• Parties: NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD v. CONCRETE HAULERS, Inc. et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

212 F.2d 477 (1954)

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD v. CONCRETE HAULERS, Inc. et al.

No. 14824.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

May 6, 1954.

A. Norman Somers, Asst. Gen. Counsel, N.L.R.B., David P. Findling, Assoc. Gen. Counsel, N.L.R.B., Elizabeth W. Weston, Atty., N.L.R.B., Washington, D. C., George J. Bott, General Counsel, Frederick U. Reel, John Francis Lawless, Attorneys, N.L.R.B., Washington, D. C., for petitioner.

Stanley E. Neely, Eugene M. Locke and Locke, Locke & Purnell, Dallas, Tex., for respondents.

Before HUTCHESON, Chief Judge, and HOLMES and BORAH, Circuit Judges.

HOLMES, Circuit Judge.

This is a petition to enforce an order of the National Labor Relations Board, requiring the respondents to cease and desist from refusing to bargain with the union,¹ and from interfering with, restraining, and coercing its employees in the exercise of their organizational rights. The respondents, Concrete Haulers, Inc., and Wamix, Inc., are engaged in the manufacture and delivery of concrete within the state of Texas, their principal office being in Dallas. The Board obtained jurisdiction over respondents in 1951, when the latter made sales to companies engaged in interstate commerce. The two respondents have the same president, vice-president, and secretary-treasurer; Mr. Thomas Amis, the president, is the majority stockholder and the labor relations director of both corporations. Respondent Wamix is engaged in the manufacture and sale of prepared concrete, and prior to the formation of Concrete Haulers, made delivery in its own trucks. In March, 1951, Concrete Haulers was incorporated for the sole purpose of transporting the concrete sold by Wamix and another company, Red-D-Mix, Inc., which is also controlled and managed by the Amis family. The trucks owned by Wamix and Red-D-Mix were then transferred to Concrete Haulers, and all of the drivers were placed on the latter's payroll. While the respondents were so operating, the alleged unfair labor practices occurred. After one year, on March 31, 1952, the drivers and their trucks were re-transferred to the production corporations, and Concrete Haulers became a non-operative but undissolved corporate entity.

On May 25, 1951, eight of Concrete Haulers' 14 truck drivers and one dispatcher signed union cards, after which the union representative called on respondents' president, offered to prove the union's representation of said truck drivers, and requested that respondents enter into negotiations with the union for a contract. At the above meeting and also at one held on June 6, 1951, Amis impliedly recognized the union as being the representative of the truck drivers, but stated that he would not sign a contract because his attorney had advised that to do so would be illegal. On the morning of June 7, 1951, Amis made a speech to his truck drivers, in which he told them that he did not recognize the union, and would not sign a contract because the state law did not require it; that he was not convinced of the fact that the union represented a majority of the employees in an appropriate unit; and that he would like for the drivers to continue to work under the same conditions that existed before the union entered the picture. Immediately following the president's speech, the union was advised of respondent's refusal to bargain, and on the same day the union representative again demanded a contract,...