NLRB v. Speed Queen

• Decision Date: 16 November 1972
• Docket Number: No. 72-1092.,72-1092.
• Citation: 469 F.2d 189
• Parties: NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. SPEED QUEEN, a division of McGraw-Edison Co., Respondent.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

469 F.2d 189 (1972)

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. SPEED QUEEN, a division of McGraw-Edison Co., Respondent.

No. 72-1092.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted October 19, 1972.

Decided November 16, 1972.

As Amended on Denial of Rehearing and Rehearing December 21, 1972.

Corinna Lothar Metcalf, Atty., N. L. R. B., Washington, D. C., for petitioner.

James W. Moore, Little Rock, Ark., for respondent.

Before LARAMORE, United States Court of Claims Senior Judge and BRIGHT and ROSS, Circuit Judges.

As Amended on Denial of Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc December 21, 1972.

ROSS, Circuit Judge.

The National Labor Relations Board (Board), adopting the trial examiner's findings, determined that Speed Queen (Company) had committed unfair labor practices in violation of §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a) (3) of the National Labor Relations Act. (29 U.S.C. §§ 158(a) (1) and 158(a)(3).)¹ The Board issued an order requiring the Company to cease and desist from action hereinafter described which it deemed threatening and coercive and to reinstate and make whole an employee found to have been unlawfully discharged. We grant enforcement in part and deny enforcement in part.

The Company is engaged in the manufacture of washers and dryers at its plant in Searcy, Arkansas. Prior to locating in Searcy, the Company operated a temporary facility at Judsonia, Arkansas. In October or November of 1969, Reeves, a representative of the United Steelworkers of America (Union), recruited employee Nixon for participation in a union campaign to begin when the plant would be moved to the Searcy location. Nixon in turn recruited employees Heathscott and Cook to help in the organizing campaign. The Company moved from Judsonia to Searcy in January, 1970, and production began in March. The first union meeting was not conducted until June 25, and the first handbilling of the plant did not occur until August 12.

Surveillance

In January, 1970, after moving to the Searcy plant, Hines, a plant supervisor, asked Nixon and Heathscott how they were coming along with their union campaign. When they said all right, he laughed and said that they were aware of all the contacts Nixon and Heathscott had had in Judsonia. Furthermore, Hines told several employees the time and place of the union meeting on June 25. Hines was not called to testify by the General Counsel, and there is some evidence that he was sympathetic to unionization. Regardless, the trial examiner expressly refused to draw an inference from the General Counsel's failure to call Hines, and he found that these conversations created an unmistakable impression of surveillance in violation of 8(a)(1). There is substantial evidence in the record to support this finding.

At the time of the union meeting on June 25, Springstroh, the plant manager, was observed parked in a rented automobile in a supermarket lot adjacent to the Holiday Inn in Searcy and watching the room where the meeting was taking place. Twice, when Nixon approached the automobile, Springstroh moved to another spot in the parking lot. Springstroh testified that he did not know about the union activity; that he simply happened to be shopping at the store next to the Holiday Inn when the curiosity of seeing approximately eighteen employees' automobiles prompted him to find out what was going on. The trial examiner chose not to credit this testimony and found that Springstroh's conduct constituted overt surveillance, again in violation of 8(a)(1). It is settled law that questions of credibility are primarily matters for the Board's determination. N.L.R.B. v. Penzel Construction Co., 449 F.2d 148, 149 (8th Cir. 1971); N.L.R.B. v. Ralph Printing and Lithographing Co., 379 F.2d 687, 690 (8th Cir. 1967). And upon a complete review of the record, which reveals Company hostility toward unionization, we conclude that the Board's finding is supported by substantial evidence. See N.L.R.B. v. Comfort, Inc., 365 F.2d 867, 870-871 (8th Cir. 1966).

Interrogation and Threats

Several employees testified that when they were hired Springstroh conducted an orientation program, at which time he told them that the Company did not want a union and that there was no good reason to have one. He also displayed to the employees an architect's rendering of the plant under construction in Searcy, and indicated that things would have to go well before there could be an expansion of the plant. The trial examiner credited Springstroh with stating that expansion would depend partially upon whether the plant was organized or not, although Springstroh denied this statement. One employee testified that Springstroh stated he would do anything within the law to keep the plant from going union.

Nixon testified that when he was interviewed prior to being hired, Springstroh asked him if he had ever had a union job, and asked him whether he would cross a picket line. He testified further that after being hired, at orientation, Springstroh told him that he had been informed there would be attempts to organize, and he asked that employees inform him of any contacts with any union representatives.

The Board found that Springtroh's statements were more than expression of views; that, coupled with other unfair labor practices, they constituted threats and interrogation in violation of 8(a)(1). We find adequate support in the record for that finding. See N.L.R.B. v. Sayers Printing Co., 453 F.2d 810, 817 (8th Cir. 1971).

Supervisor Hines questioned various employees about their conversations with the union representative, and asked one employee to let him know whenever they were going to have a meeting. The Company attempts to characterize Hines' inquiries as noncoercive because of his "obvious union sympathies." It was Hines who notified the employees about the initial organizational meeting and encouraged them to attend. He also indicated a personal preference for the Steelworkers Union. Moreover, the Company contends that the inquiries were noncoercive because there was no reluctance on the part of any of the employees to disclose facts to him. The conversations were always friendly, and sometimes jovial. Therefore, the Company argues, this "friendly relationship" dispelled the hostile atmosphere essential to coercive 8(a)(1) violations.

At the same time, however, the record discloses that employee Cook testified that, in early June, Hines asked him if he had been approached by the union representative. Cook admitted that he had, and Hines left. Approximately one-half hour later, Hines returned and asked Cook what the representative wanted. Hines then said that he would like to know whenever the employees were going to have a meeting, and he indicated that he was "against the union."

Around the middle of June, Hines informed Cook that he knew he was getting paid for each card he got. He stated that Springstroh had told him that Cook was asking for names and addresses of all of the employees, and warned that if he didn't stop this, he wouldn't be around long. He then began discussing job opportunities as a foreman or inspector.

In light of this testimony, and the frequency with which Hines' inquiries of various employees occurred, there appears to be substantial evidence to support the Board's findings that Hines interrogated employees, made a promise of benefit and threat of discharge, and created an unmistakable impression of surveillance (discussed above), all in violation of 8(a)(1). See Orchard Corp. of America v. N.L.R.B., 408 F.2d 341, 342 (8th Cir. 1969); N.L.R.B. v. Louisiana Manufacturing Co., 374 F.2d 696, 700 (8th Cir. 1967); N.L.R.B. v. Ritchie Manufacturing Co., 354 F.2d 90, 99 (8th Cir. 1965); Jas. H. Matthews & Co. v. N.L.R.B., 354 F.2d 432, 439-440 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 384 U.S. 1002, 86 S.Ct. 1924, 16 L.Ed.2d 1015 (1965).

No-Solicitation Rule

The Company's handbook, which is distributed to all new employees, contained a no-solicitation rule, which was illegal on its face. The Company does not dispute this; rather, it contends that because there was no evidence the rule was ever enforced, relying upon N.L.R.B. v. Shawnee Industries, Inc., 333 F.2d 221, 225 (10th Cir. 1964), and because the rule was subsequently changed and notice was posted on the employee bulletin board, there could have been no violation of the Act.

Suffice it to say that it was reasonably foreseeable the invalid rule as interpreted by Springstroh would deter solicitation by the employees, and this is enough to constitute an unfair labor practice. See Jas. H. Matthews v. N.L.R.B., supra, 354 F.2d at 440-441. This evidence shows that Springstroh made it clear to new employees that he would tolerate "nobody in the plant to disturb anybody about getting something signed, like the union, or even if it was for a baseball team, or donations, or assembly."

The revised no-solicitation rule was posted after the filing of the complaint in this case, and it has since been revised in the handbook. But because the Board found the old rule to have interfered with, restrained and coerced the employees in the exercise of their § 7 rights, it found there to be a violation of 8(a)(1). This finding is also supported by substantial evidence.

Discharge

On June...