West Virginia Glass Spec. Co. v. National Labor Rel. Board

• Decision Date: 25 March 1943
• Docket Number: No. 5032.,5032.
• Citation: 134 F.2d 551
• Parties: WEST VIRGINIA GLASS SPECIALTY CO. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

134 F.2d 551 (1943)

WEST VIRGINIA GLASS SPECIALTY CO. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.

No. 5032.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

March 25, 1943.

Before PARKER, SOPER, and DOBIE, Circuit Judges.

W. G. Stathers, of Clarksburg, W. Va., and Herbert M. Blair, of Weston, W. Va., for petitioner.

Fannie M. Boyls, Senior Atty., National Labor Relations Board, of Washington, D.C. (Robert B. Watts, Gen. Counsel, Ernest A. Gross, Associate Gen. Counsel, and Howard Lichtenstein, Asst. Gen. Counsel, and Jacob I. Karro and Eleanor Schwartzbach, Attys., National Labor Relations Board, both of Washington, D. C., on the brief), for respondent.

SOPER, Circuit Judge.

The National Labor Relations Board ordered the West Virginia Glass Specialty Company of Weston, West Virginia, an employer of labor, to cease and desist from dominating or interfering with the administration of the Independent Glass Decorators Union of West Virginia and from recognizing the Independent as the representative of its employees for the purpose of collective bargaining, and also to take affirmative action by withdrawing all recognition from the Independent and by posting appropriate notices in conspicuous places in its plant that it would abide by the terms of the order. The order was based upon findings by the Board that the employer had violated § 8(1) and (2) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158 (1, 2), by dominating, interfering with and supporting the Independent, and by anti-union conduct and statements of the company's officials. The company thereupon filed a petition in this court to review and set aside the order on the ground that the findings of the Board were not supported by substantial evidence.

An examination of the record reveals substantial evidence tending to support the findings of the Board. Prior to 1940 the company, as a member of the National Association of Manufacturers of Pressed and Blown Glassware, had recognized the American Flint Glass Workers' Union of North America, commonly called the Flints, as the sole bargaining agency of its employees. In 1938 and 1939 the company suffered substantial losses and felt obliged in 1939 to reduce the scale of wages for its employees. It therefore withdrew from the Association and proposed a wage reduction to the Flints, and when this was refused, shut down its plant on February 26, 1940 for a period of two weeks. After the plant was reopened with a reduced wage scale the Flints called a strike in which most of the employees participated. Shortly after the reopening of the plant, the Board of Directors set up a plan which contemplated the formation of a workers' committee to whose approval all applications for employment were to be submitted. Provisions for hearing discharge grievances and for representation of the employees on the Board of Directors of the company were made. One share of stock was sold on credit to each of the returning employees and the indebtedness arising from these subscriptions was for the most part subsequently cancelled.

It was under these circumstances that the Independent came into being in the decorating department of the plant. There is evidence that it was formed after leading company officials, who were aggrieved that the Flints had refused to cooperate in meeting the current business difficulties, had offered advice and suggestions looking toward the establishment of an inside union. After the Independent was formed, the company promptly recognized it as the bargaining representative of the employees and entered into a working agreement with it which did not regulate the wages but provided for the procedure by...