TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT - National Labor Relations Board

46 Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the National Labor Relations Board
or aftei" the 30th day following their employment, and nonunion
mcumbent employees to join "on or after" the 30th day following the
contract's execution, did not iemove the contract as a bar, although
the model clause in the Keystone case, above, did not contain the "on
or after" language 23 In the latter case, the Board also found provisions
that the shop steward and shop committee shall be elected
by union members m the plant, that only the shop steward may participate
in the discussion of grievances during working hours, and
that "no member of the Union shall be iequired to work uncle' any
condition which may be or tend to be unsafe or injurious to his
health," were not discriminatory against nonmembers, and did not
exceed permissible limits
On the other hand, although a union-security clause in one case was,
on its face, consistent with the requirements established in the Keystone
case, above, the Board held the contract no bar upon the basis
of the contracting parties' admission that it was actually executed on
October 11, 1960, rather than on September 27, 1960, the effective and
execution date indicated in the contract 24 In view of this admission,
the Board found that the clause, though valid on its face, did not in
fact grant old nonunion employees and employees hired between September
27 and October 11, 1960, the requisite 30-day gi ace period in
which to decide whether to join the union and, therefore, exceeded
the permissive limits of the statute
(2) Checkoff Clauses
Section 302(c) (4) of the act permits the deduction of union dues
from the wages of employees provided "the employer has received from
each employee, bn whose account such deductions are made, a written
assignment which shall not be irrevocable for a period of more than
one year, or beyond the termination date of the applicable collective
agreement, whichever occurs sooner" Under the Board's rules a contract
is not a bar if it contains a checkoff clause which does not on its
face conform to section 302 of the act 25 Last year, a Board majority
held that a checkoff clause which requires an employee to give written
notice to both the employer and the union to effectuate the revocation
of a checkoff assignment does not constitute such an impediment to an
employee's freedom of 'evocation as to defeat a contract as a bar jh
sta Charles Leonard, Inc , 131 NLRB No 137, footnote 3 The Board noted, however, that
It did not pass upon the clause's "efficacy as a union-security provision"
24 Hoechst Chemical Corp, 131 NLRB No 21
25 Keystone Coat, Apron d Towel Supply On., 121 NLRB 880, 885 (1958) , Twenty-fourth
Annual Report (1959), p 26
26 Boston Gas Co, 130 NLRB 1230, modifying upon reconsideration a panel decision in
129 NLRB 369 Member Fanning, concurring in the result, concluded that the application
of the Keystone rule to checkoff provisions does not effectuate the policies of the act
Member Jenkins, also concurring in the result, found Pater v Southern Pacific Co, 359 U
326 (1959), upon which the panel had relied, inapplicable Member Kimball dissented