NLRB v. REEVES BROADCASTING & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

• Citation: 336 F.2d 590
• Decision Date: 31 July 1964
• Docket Number: No. 9164.,9164.
• Parties: NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. REEVES BROADCASTING & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (WHTN-TV), Respondent.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

336 F.2d 590 (1964)

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. REEVES BROADCASTING & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (WHTN-TV), Respondent.

No. 9164.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued January 15, 1964.

Decided July 31, 1964.

Melvin Pollack, Atty., N. L. R. B. (Arnold Ordman, Gen. Counsel, Dominick L. Manoli, Associate Gen. Counsel, Marcel Mallet-Prevost, Asst. Gen. Counsel, and Morton Namrow, Atty., N. L. R. B., on brief), for petitioner.

C. Robert Schaub, Huntington, W. Va., for respondent.

Before HAYNSWORTH, BOREMAN and BRYAN, Circuit Judges.

ALBERT V. BRYAN, Circuit Judge.

Unfair labor practices by Reeves Broadcasting & Development Corporation (WHTN-TV) were found by the National Labor Relations Board and it now seeks enforcement of its order imposing sanctions for the offending conduct. Specifically, the misconduct consisted of interference, restraint and coercion of employees in the exercise of their right to bargain collectively and join a union, discouragement of union membership and refusal to bargain in good faith with representatives of the employees. National Labor Relations Act, § 8(a) (1), (5) and (3), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a) (1), (5) and (3). We confirm the findings of § 8(a) (1) violations; we see no ground for condemning the bargaining as wanting in good faith.

Reeves operates several television stations, including the one presently involved at Huntington, West Virginia. The charging union is the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, AFL-CIO. An election was held on June 13, 1961 to choose a bargaining agent. Before the election the vice president and general manager of the station, Myers, told employees Hamer, Jones and Barton, vice president of the Union's local, that "no intelligent person would need an outsider the Union from Buffalo to come down and bargain". He suggested, too, that the employees could do very well by themselves.

After the election, won by the Union, Myers on June 14, 1961 issued a memorandum to the effect that there was to be no discussion of union activities "on Company time, or on the premises of WHTN-TV". Following the certification of the Union on June 21, 1961, Production Manager Robert Hamlin assertedly told employee Mays that Reeves had no intention of signing a contract but would await the expiration of a year for another election when the Union would be voted out.

Operations Manager Davis said in effect, when the bargaining sessions began on August 23, 1961 and in talking of the Union's first proposal, that management had found an efficient way to operate and it would continue in that way irrespective of negotiation and regardless of contract.

From the first meeting on August 23 to the one on November 16, 1961, the last before the strike was voted, the major issues were union security, work jurisdiction, seniority, overtime, wages and grievance procedure. No agreement was reached. Both parties offered proposals and counter proposals throughout the period, but a strike was voted on November 18. On that day Manager Davis asked employee McClure if he intended to go to the Union meeting that night which had been called to consider the strike. When McClure replied he was not going to the meeting, Davis directed him to attend and report the results. The meeting was over when McClure arrived and the strike had been agreed upon. McClure, so informed Hamlin, who observed that it would mean immediate discharges, that Reeves would starve the strikers out until a new vote could be taken.

Davis asked McClure on November 26 whether he would cross the picket line in the event of a strike. In response McClure inquired if Reeves would sign a contract. Davis' reply was that Reeves had no intention of ever signing a contract, at the same time warning McClure that if he went on strike he would be replaced. He observed to McClure that as 1 of 11 employees he was due for an increase of salary but would not get it because the Union would act for all of the employees. He assured McClure that "if it is the money situation, we will give you a hundred or a hundred-fifteen, or you name it", at the same time assuring McClure that he need not worry about the safety of his family during the strike, for Reeves would take care of sending them away. On the same day Davis told Workman, a part-time employee, that he could have a full-time job if he came across the picket line.

On November 29 Manager Myers called Maddox, president of the Union's local and a negotiator, for a conference of about three hours. At this time Myers said the Union was getting out of hand, that he would like to get rid of it, that he needed a Company union which would give the employees all the Union could offer and no dues would be required. He requested Maddox as "the leader of the Union people" to discuss the suggestion with the employees and use his efforts to pursuade them to supplant the Union with a Company organization.

On December 4 the Union filed a charge against Reeves for refusal to bargain and on December 6 the employees struck. Contract negotiations were resumed on December 21, with the strike in progress. At this meeting Reeves indicated it would make some concessions on grievance,...