TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT - National Labor Relations Board

162 Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the National Labor Relations Board
2. Employer Unfair Labor Practices
Apart from evidentiary issues, the cases arising under section 8(a)
which are discussed below had to do with the scope of employees'
section 7 right to engage in "concerted activity" for "mutual aid or
protection", an employer's obligation to refrain from recognizing
one of two unions seeking to represent the same employees, and to
prevent his supervisors from participating in union affairs, and the
kind of conduct prohibited by section 8(a) (3) of the act, which
forbids employer "discrimination to encourage or discourage"
union membership Cases dealing with employer bargaining obligations
under section 8(a) (5) and 8(d) of the act are discussed
separately
a Concerted Employee Activity Protected by the Statute
In the Washington Alumznum, case,5 which came before the Fourth
Circuit, the employer discharged a group of employees because they
walked out in a body, instead of going to work at the starting time,
when they found the shop unheated and extremely uncomfortable on
a cold midwinter morning Finding that the nalkout constituted a
concerted protest against unsatisfactory working conditions, and that
it was protected, as such, under section 7 of the act, the Board held
that the employer's disciplinary action violated section 8(a) (1)
However, the court, the chief judge dissenting, set aside the Board's
order on the ground that the employees here forfeited the protection
of section 7 by failing to make any "demand or request" for alleviation
of the cold before they left the shop Had they taken the matter
up with the employer, the court emphasized, some mutually satisfactory
adjustment would doubtless have been achieved without "such
disruptive protest," for the plant electrician had already iepaired
and started the furnace a few minutes before the men walked out In
the court's view, while employees are not required "to effect some sort
of formal organization of a grievance committee . to submit their
claims to management prior to a concerted protest" movement, they
are required to give the employer some sort of notice and an opportunity
to correct the objectionable condition
5 NLRB v Worthington Aluminum Co, Ino , 291 P 2d 869
The Board has requested the Supreme Court to review this holding Certiorail a /9
grinted on Dec 4 1961