New Orleans Furniture Manufacturing Co., 244 (1960)

DECISION AND ORDER

On May 27, 1960, Trial Examiner George A. Downing issued his Intermediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that the Respondent had engaged in and was engaging in certain unfair labor practices, and recommending that it cease and desist therefrom and take certain affirmative action, as set forth in the copy of the Intermediate Report attached hereto. Thereafter, the Respondent filed exceptions to the Intermediate Report and the Respondent and the General Counsel filed briefs.

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 Leedom and Members Rodgers and Jenkins].

The Board has reviewed the rulings made by the Trial Examiner at the hearing and finds that no prejudicial error was committed. The 129 NLRB No. 30.

NEW ORLEANS FURNITURE MANUFACTURING CO. 245 rulings are hereby affirmed. The Board has considered the Intermediate Report, the exceptions and briefs, and the entire record in the case, and hereby adopts the Trial Examiner's findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

ORDER

Upon the entire record in these cases, and pursuant to Section 10(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that Respondent New Orleans Furniture Manufacturing Company, of Columbia, Mississippi, its officers, agents, successors, and assigns, shall :

1. Cease and desist from :

   (

   1. Interrogating employees coercively concerning their union membership, sentiment and activities, engaging in surveillance of union activities and attempting to induce employees to engage in such surveillance, promising benefits to procure employees assistance in defeating the Union, and threatening to discharge employees who are for the Union, threatening to close or move the plant because of the Union, and threatening to decrease the workweek if the Union should come in.

   (b) Discouraging membership in the Charging Union, by discharging employees, or discriminating in like or related manner in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment, and to discourage membership in a labor organization.

   (c) In any like or related manner interfering with, restraining, or coercing its employees in the exercise of their right to selforganization, to form, join, or assist the Charging Union, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing or to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, or to refrain from any or all such activities.

2. Take the following affirmative action which the Board finds will effectuate the policies of the Act :

   (

   1. Offer to Albert V. Kaufman, Prentis C. Kaufman, and L. E.

   Davis immediate and full reinstatement to their former or substantially equivalent positions, without prejudice to their seniority or other rights and privileges, and make each of them whole for any loss of pay each may have suffered by payment to him of a sum of money equal to that which he normally would have earned from the date of discrimination against him to the date of the offer of reinstatement, less his net earnings during said period (Crossett Lumber Company,

   Inc., 8 NLRB 440), said backpay to be computed on a quarterly basis in the manner established by the Board in F. W. Woohcorth Company, 90 NLRB 289.

   (b) Preserve and, upon request, make available to the Board or its agents, for examination and copying, all payroll records, social security payment records, timecards, personnel records and reports, and all records necessary to analyze the amounts of backpay due and the rights of Albert V. Kaufman, Prentis C. Kaufman, and L. E.

   Davis under the terms of this order.

   (c) Post in its plant at Columbia, Mississippi, copies of the notice attached hereto marked 'Appendix A.' 1 Copies of said notice, to be furnished by the Regional Director for the Fifteenth Region, shall, after being signed by Respondent's representative, be posted by the Respondent immediately upon receipt thereof and maintained by it for 60 consecutive days thereafter in conspicuous places, including all places where notices to employees are customarily posted. Reasonable steps shall be taken to insure that said notices are not altered, defaced, or covered by other material.

   (d) Notify the Regional Director for the Fifteenth Region, in writing, within 10 days from the date of this Order, what steps Respondent has taken to comply herewith.

   I In the event that this Order is enforced by a decree of a United States Court of Appeals, there shall be substituted for the words 'Pursuant to a Decision and Order' the words 'Pursuant to a Decree of the United States Court of Appeals , Enforcing an Order.' APPENDIX A

   NOTICE TO ALL EMPLOYEES

   Pursuant to a Decision and Order of the National Labor Relations Board, and in order to effectuate the policies of the National Labor Relations Act, we hereby notify our employees that :

   WE WILL NoT discourage membership in Local Union 3031,

   United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America,

   AFL-CIO or in any other labor organization of our employees by discharging or refusing to reinstate employees because of their union membership and activities, nor will we discriminate in any other manner in regard to hire or tenure of employment, or any term or condition of employment, to discourage membershp in a labor organization.

   WE WILL NOT interrogate employees coercively concerning their union membership, sentiments, and activities, engage in surveillance of union activities or attempt to induce employees to engage in such surveillance, promise benefits to procure employee assistance in defeating the Union, or threaten to discharge employees who are for the Union, threaten to close or move the plant because of the Union, or threaten to decrease the workweek if the Union should come in.

   WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner interfere with, restrain, or coerce our employees in the exercise of their right to form, join, or assist said Local Union 3031, United Brotherhood NEW ORLEANS FURNITURE MANUFACTURING CO. 247 of Carpenters and Joiners of America, AFL-CIO, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing or to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection or to refrain from any or all such activities.

   WE WILL offer to Albert V. Kaufman, Prentis C. Kaufman, and L. E. Davis immediate and full reinstatement to their former or substantially equivalent positions, without prejudice to their seniority or other rights and privileges, and make them whole for any loss of pay they may have suffered as a result of our discrimination against them.

   All our employees are free to become, or refrain from becoming, members of the above Union, or any other labor organization.

   NEW ORLEANS FURNITURE MANUFACTURING COMPANY,

   Employer.

   Dated---------------- By------------------------------------(Representative ) ( Title) This notice must remain posted for 60 days from the date hereof, and must not be altered, defaced, or covered by any other material.

   INTERMEDIATE REPORT

   STATEMENT OF THE CASE

   This proceeding, brought under Section 10(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended ( 61 Stat. 136), was heard in Columbia, Mississippi, on February 15, 1960, pursuant to due notice and with all parties represented . The consolidated complaints, issued on October 29, 1959, and January 27, 1960 , respectively, and based on charges duly filed and served , alleged in summary that Respondent engaged in unfair labor practices proscribed by Section 8(a) (1) and (3 ) of the Act (1) by a series of specified acts of interference, restraint, and coercion from June 1959 through January 1960, and (2 ) by discriminatorily discharging and refusing to reinstate Prentis C. Kaufman, on September 11, 1959, Albert V. Kaufman on September 14, 1959, and L. E. Davis on December 31, 1959, because of their union membership and activities.

   Respondent answered, denying all allegations of unfair labor practices . It admitted making the discharges but averred , as to Prentis C. Kaufman and L. E. Davis, that it had good and sufficient reasons for terminating them and that it reemployed Albert V. Kaufman, on or about October 12, 1959.

   Upon the entire record in the case and from my observation of the witnesses, I make the following:

   FINDINGS OF FACT

1. RESPONDENT'S BUSINESS; THE LABOR ORGANIZATION INVOLVED I find on facts alleged in the complaint and admitted in the answers (i.e., annual extrastate shipments of finished furniture valued in excess of $50,000 ), that Respondent is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act , and that the Charging Union is a labor organization within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.

   2. THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES A. Introduction and issues In June 1959 the Union began an organizational campaign at Respondent's Columbia plant, which employed approximately 400 employees . The General Counsel offered testimony by some dozen witnesses that from June 1959 through January 1960 Respondent, through its admitted supervisors , Lorenzo Herberger, plant superintendent, and Foremen Vernon (Bill) Bowles, Floyd (Jake) Moore, Edward Rochinski, and John White, engaged in a number of incidents of interference, restraint, and coercion (i.e , interrogations, threats, promises of benefits, surveillance, etc.,) in violation of Section 8(a)(1). In a substantial number of those instances Respondent's witnesses either admitted the conduct or made no denial of it, with Respondent contending mainly that the conduct was not coercive.

   As to the three discharges, the issues were whether they were made because of union membership or activities, as alleged in the complaint, or for cause, as Respondent contends. So far as the evidence goes, however, there was little conflict in the...