National Labor Relations Board v. Russell Mfg. Co.

Decision Date13 September 1951
Docket NumberNo. 13104.,13104.
Citation191 F.2d 358
PartiesNATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD v. RUSSELL MFG. CO., Inc. et al.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Arnold Ordman, Attorney, A. Norman Somers, Asst. General Counsel, David P. Findling, Associate General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board, all of Washington, D. C., for petitioner.

John Wesley Weekes, Decatur, Ga., Richard H. Cocke, J. Sanford Mullins, Alexander City, Ala., for respondent.

Before HOLMES, BORAH, and RUSSELL, Circuit Judges.

HOLMES, Circuit Judge.

This case was originally before this court on petition of the National Labor Relations Board seeking enforcement of its order against the respondents, directing both the corporate and individual respondents to cease and desist from certain unfair labor practices. The order further directed the corporate respondents to reinstate and make whole certain former employees; and to reinstate two employees to their former positions, from which they were alleged to have been demoted, and to make them whole for any loss of pay that they might have suffered. On February 9, 1951, we rendered an opinion, 187 F.2d 296, denying enforcement of the Board's order with respect to the individual respondents, but granting enforcement of the order with respect to the corporate respondents. On petition of the corporate respondents, this court, on May 10, 1951, 187 F.2d 336, granted a rehearing with reference to that part of the Board's order which was held to be enforceable. The portion on which enforcement was decreed deals primarily with certain alleged unfair labor practices that occurred during the campaign waged by the union, four alleged discharges, one refusal to employ, and two alleged demotions.

After carefully reconsidering the portion of the Board's order that we held to be enforceable, we are now of the opinion that there is substantial support in the record for only so much of the order as directs the corporate respondents to cease and desist from the unfair labor practices which occurred during the campaign waged by the union. Much of the evidence upon which the Board relied, in holding that the corporate respondents interfered with and restrained their employees in their self-organizational and collective bargaining rights by announcing a wage increase at the height of the union's campaign, and by dominating, interfering with, and contributing support to, a labor organization known as the Recreation Committee, was disputed. Where there is such evidence from which conflicting inferences may be drawn, we recognize the function of the Board and its expertness in such a specialized field. When there is substantial support in the record taken as a whole, the facts, as they have been found by the Board, may not be disturbed by this court; therefore, with regard to the unfair labor practices involved in this case, the substantiality of the Board's findings is amply and conclusively demonstrated.

On the other points, we cannot conscientiously find that the evidence supporting that part of the Board's order dealing with those employees who were alleged to have been discriminatorily discharged is substantial, when viewed in the light that the record in its entirety furnishes, including the bulk of evidence opposed to the Board's view. See Universal Camera Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 340 U.S. 474, 488, 71 S.Ct. 456; N. L. R. B. v. Pittsburg Steamship Co., 340 U.S. 498, 71 S.Ct. 453. An employee may resign, be discharged, be demoted, or refused reinstatement, for any cause or no cause at all, so long as it is not for union activities. The Board has not shown that the discharges in this case were for such union activities. Its findings and conclusions thereon are based on suspicion, not on substantial facts and legal evidence.

H. C. Dean testified that he quit his job. The Board based its conclusion concerning Dean on the fact that Alphonso Alford, one of the individual respondents, approached Dean's brother and asked...

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12 cases
  • NLRB v. Mira-Pak, Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • February 7, 1966
    ...v. NLRB, 203 F.2d 486, 488 (5th Cir. 1953); NLRB v. Ray Smith Transp. Co., 193 F.2d 142, 146 (5th Cir. 1951); NLRB v. Russell Mfg. Co., 191 F.2d 358, 359 (5th Cir. 1951); NLRB v. Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills, 175 F.2d 675, 677 (5th Cir. 1949), and cases cited 175 F.2d at 677 n. 6. See also Ame......
  • NLRB v. Atlanta Coca-Cola Bottling Company
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • July 24, 1961
    ...that he was lying. Universal Camera Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 1951, 340 U.S. 474, 71 S. Ct. 456, 95 L.Ed. 456; N. L. R. B. v. Russell Mfg. Co., 5 Cir., 1951, 191 F.2d 358; N. L. R. B. v. Tex-O-Kan Flour Co., 5 Cir., 1941, 122 F.2d 433.10 Mr. Montgomery testified that he spoke with department he......
  • Trailmobile Division, Pullman Incorporated v. NLRB
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • February 20, 1969
    ...274 F.2d 381, 384 (5 Cir. 1960); National Labor Relations Board v. McGahey, 233 F.2d 406 (5 Cir. 1956); National Labor Relations Board v. Russell Mfg. Co., 191 F.2d 358(4) (5 Cir. 1951); National Labor Relations Board v. C. & J. Camp, Inc., 216 F.2d 113, 115 (5 Cir. 1954). As this court sai......
  • National Labor Relations Board v. McGahey
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • May 18, 1956
    ...462; N. L. R. B. v. Coats & Clark (Acworth Plant), 5 Cir., 231 F.2d 567; N. L. R. B. v. Nabors, 5 Cir., 196 F.2d 272; N. L. R. B. v. Russell Mfg. Co., 5 Cir., 191 F.2d 358. In this light, with testimony from many employees of persistent interrogation by McGahey, Sr. concerning their views o......
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