NLRB v. Electro Plastic Fabrics, Inc.
| Decision Date | 11 July 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 11145.,11145. |
| Citation | 381 F.2d 374 |
| Parties | NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. ELECTRO PLASTIC FABRICS, INC., Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Abigail Cooley Baskir, Atty., National Labor Relations Board (Arnold Ordman, Gen. Counsel, Dominick L. Manoli, Assoc. Gen. Counsel, Marcel Mallet-Prevost, Asst. Gen. Counsel, and George B. Driesen, Atty., National Labor Relations Board, on brief), for petitioner.
Richard A. Bigger, Jr., and William Sturges, Charlotte, N. C., (Weinstein, Waggoner, Sturges & Odom, Charlotte, N. C., on brief), for respondent.
Before SOBELOFF, BOREMAN and CRAVEN, Circuit Judges.
The National Labor Relations Board found that Electro Plastic Fabrics violated Section 8(a) (1) and (3) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S. C.A. § 158(a) (1), (3). The Board petitions for enforcement of its order1 requiring the Company to cease and desist from its unfair labor practices; offer James Brinkley his former job or a substantially equivalent position, and make him whole for any loss of earnings suffered by reason of the discrimination against him; and post appropriate notices.
James Brinkley was employed in the Company's maintenance department. Although Brinkley's station was at the maintenance work bench, his duties required that he move from department to department to do general repair and maintenance work.
Upon learning of Union2 activity in mid-January 1965, Brinkley became an active union organizer and personally obtained union authorization cards from some twenty or twenty-five of the approximately 225 employees. He was discharged on January 29, a week before the Union requested recognition.
The reason noted on Brinkley's termination slip was "Work unsatisfactory — not staying on the job." The Company urges that the immediate cause for discharge January 29 was Brinkley's failure to heed earlier warnings to remain within his work area unless authorized to go elsewhere. The Trial Examiner found, however, that the cause for the discharge was Brinkley's union activities.
The Trial Examiner credited Brinkley's testimony that Company supervisor Owen "said he knew Brinkley was going to be discharged, that he hadn't been able to tell him, but, that the Company was watching him," and that "on the night before the discharge * * * Owen told him that Superintendent Dalton said he had ascertained that it was Brinkley who had been handing out Union cards." Brinkley also said that his supervisor Kanode told him that the reason for his having been discharged was, "Jim, it's over the Union."
Credibility resolutions are for the Trial Examiner and the Board, and when reasonable, are entitled to stand on review. E. g., NLRB v. Lexington Chair Co., 361 F.2d 283, 288 n. 4 (4th Cir. 1966). The question is not whether we agree with the Board's findings but whether they are reasonable and supported by substantial evidence viewing the record as a whole. Clearly, the conclusion that Brinkley was discriminatorily discharged in violation of Sections 8(a) (1) and (5) is supported by substantial evidence. Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 71 S.Ct. 456, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951).
It is undisputed that other kinds of solicitation continued after posting of this notice, in some cases taking employees away from their jobs. The Board found, in the words of the Trial Examiner, "widespread and variegated" solicitations including collections for gifts for employees and sales of cosmetics and other...
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Restaurant Corp. of America v. N.L.R.B.
...designed to persuade employees not to unionize), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 832, 90 S.Ct. 87, 24 L.Ed.2d 83 (1969); NLRB v. Electro Plastic Fabrics, 381 F.2d 374, 376 (4th Cir.1967) (no-solicitation rule found discriminatory where employer permitted collections for gifts for employees, sales of......
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