Tanners Association of Fulton County, Inc.

In the Matter of TANNERS ASSOCIATION or FULTON COUNTY, INC.,', EMPLOYER and UNITED LE ATIIER WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, A. F. L., PETITIONER Case No. 3-RC-352.-Decided November 22, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a, petition duly filed by United Leather Workers International Union, A. F. L., a hearing was held before John C. McRee, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing, except as noted hereinafter, are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray]. The hearing officer permitted Independent Leather Workers Union, herein called the Independent, to intervene, over'the objection of the Employer that the Independent is acting on behalf of International Fur and Leather Workers Union of the United States and Canada, C. I. 0., herein called the Fur Workers, which is not in compliance with the filing requirements of the Act.2 The record reveals that Local 202 of the Fur Workers and its prede- cessor, an independent union, have represented these employees since 1933, and have had written contracts with the Employer 3 and its member companies since 1939. After their last contract expired, on ' The names of the parties appear as amended at the hearing. 2 The hearing officer referred to the Board the question of whether or not the Independent is acting as a "front" for the Fur Workers. The Employer objected to the Independent's intervention on the additional ground that the affidavits filed by the Independent in order to comply with the Act were insufficient. The hearing officer properly refused to permit evidence to prove this fact. Such showing is purely an administrative matter for the Board to determine. R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, 83 NLRB 348, and cases cited therein. Moreover, we have administratively determined that the Independent is itself in compliance with the filing requirements of the Act. 3 The Association was not formally organized until 1945. Before that, however, essen- tially the same companies which are now members of the Association bargained jointly with Local 202 and its predecessor. 87 NLRB No. 47. 211 877359-50-vol. 87-15 212 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL. LABOR RELATIONS BOARD June 30, 1949, representatives of Local 202 and the Association were unable to agree on the terms of a new contract, and a strike and lock-out ensued in July 1949. In August, the Petitioner began to organize the employees of the member companies. On September 23, 1949, it requested recognition as the representative of these employees and, on October 7, 1949, filed the present petition. It appears that during the strike lock-out, the Employer announced that it would no longer bargain with Local 202 because it had not complied with' the filing requirements of the Act, but that it would recognize and negotiate with any union certified by the Board. At a meeting held on September 15, Local 202 adopted a resolution that if the Association would negotiate and conclude an agreement on wages and the other issues in dispute, it would comply with the Act and secure certification by the Board.' This offer was rejected by the Employer. On October 11, after the filing of the petition herein, Ben Gold, president of the Fur Workers International, Wrote to the local, advising it to disaffiliate from the Fur Workers and to comply with the Act.5 Such action was taken on October 13, when Local 202 formally disaffiliated from the Fur Workers and reconstituted itself as the Independent Leather Workers Union. Although Clarence Carr, president of the Independent as well as of former Local 202, testified at the hearing that the members of Local 202 had been discussing its possible disaffiliation and compliance since late July or early August, it is clear that such action by the local was initiated by the Fur Workers and was taken only after the Fur Workers' president had recommended it." It was also stated at the meeting that the Fur workers had advised Local 202 "that in order to secure a victory over our greedy employers, if we should find it necessary to sever our affiliation with the International Union, our parent body would gladly accept such severance and would continue to support our strike as they have until now, and would continue that support should we become independent." The letter stated, in part I recommend to you that you withdraw from the International Union, comply with the fascist Taft-Hartley Law and defeat the tricksters in the election. . . . I recommend that you accept this offer and reconstituted yourselves as an inde- pendent, unaffiliated union until such time as it is impossible again for employers to raise the false and phoney issue they have raised in this just struggle for wages. . . . . . . this International Union pledges to you its full moral and financial support regardless of your affiliation or disaffiliation, and I ask you to call upon us for any assistance you require in your struggles. [Emphasis supplied.] 'The following statements were made at the meeting of October 13 ("Statement of Officers and Executive Board Members in Connection with President Gold's letter of October 11, 1943") : President Gold advises us to withdraw from our affiliation with the International Fur & Leather Workers Union in order to smash this Taft-Hartley conspiracy and to remove all other false issues. . . . # • i C # # A . . . after reflection and discussion, and despite our own deep personal feelings, we feel that President Gold's recommendation is sound and should be accepted by the TANNERS ASSOCIATION OF FULTON COUNTY, INC. 213 The Independent appears to be Local 202 under a new name. Al- though it adopted a new constitution at the meeting of October 13 and returned the Local 202 charter to the Fur Workers, its officers and the members of its executive, policy, and finance committees' are precisely the same persons who served as officers and committee mem- bers of Local 202. It occupies the same office space, and assumed. all the assets, debts, and obligations of Local 202.11 Moreover, it has continued to receive financial9 and other assistance from the Fur Workers. Carr admitted that Bernard Woolis and George Pershing,, representatives of the Fur Workers, helped to draft the resolution of disaffiliation, spoke at the meeting of October 13, urging the dis- affiliation, and have continued to. give advice and assistance to the Independent since October 13, exactly as they formerly rendered such assistance to Local 202. On the basis of all the facts, it seems 'apparent that Local 202's al- leged disaffiliation from the Fur Workers and its reconstitution as the Independent Leather Workers Union is a matter of form rather than of substance. It seems plain, and we find, that the Independent is merely the alter ego of Local 202 and a "front" for the noncomplying Fur Workers. Under these circumstances, we find that the interven- tion of the Independent was improper ab initio. We shall therefore deny the Independent a place on the ballot iii the election hereinafter directed.10 Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer, an associate comprising 18 member-companies, is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The Petitioner is a labor organization which claims to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting comm erce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section .9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. membership. It is easier for us to make this recommendation because of his character- istically generous offer to continue to extend to us all necessary assistance for the successful prosecution of our struggle for a decent livelihood. We express to him now our great gratitude for this offer, and affirm our intention of availing ourselves of it. and to maintain the warmest fraternal and friendly relations with President Gold and the International Union. Clarence Carr stated. in a speech made on October 14, in which he read Golds letter, that "this moving letter from our former president is what prompted our membership to take the action they did last night." s The Independent's welfare committee is the only committee whose membership is different from that of Local 202. tl Including approximately $4,900 owed by Local 202 to the FarWorkers and its District 3. The Fur Workers has advanced approximately $4,000 to the Independent since October 13. the date of Local 202's alleged disaffiliation. 10 R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, 83 NLRB 348; Campbell Soup Company, 76 NLRB 950. 214 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 4. As stipulated, the following employees constitute a unit appro- priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act : All production and maintenance employees of the member companies of Tanners Association of Fulton County, Inc., Gloversville, New York, excluding all office and clerical employees, salesmen, sorter- salesmen, chemists, guards, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Third Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the week of June 27, 1949,11 including employees who did not work during said week because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not en- titled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be repre- sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by United Leather Workers International Union, A. F. L., or by Textile Workers Union of America, CIO,12 or by neither. "The plants of the member companies have been closed since early July as a result of the strike lock-out. The parties therefore stipulated that the pay roll for the week begin- ning June 27, 1949, the last week of operation, should be used to determine employees eligible to vote, with the understanding that those employees who had already been laid off in anticipation of the strike would be considered as temporarily laid off and eligible to vote. u By Order dated December 1, 1949, the above Decision and Direction of Election was amended by according Textile Workers Union of America, CIO, a place on the ballot.