NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

VII. PRINCIPLES ESTABLISHED 55
and order." In Matter of Remington . Rand, Ine.,19 large numbers of
professional strikebreakers and operatives, known as "missionaries,"
"nobles," and "undercover" men, were hired by the company for such
purpose. They jostled pickets and terrorized striking employees. In
Matter of Sunshine Mining Company," supervisors fostered the formation
'of two strikebreaking organizations, the "Vigilantes" and the
"Committee of 356." Through them the company sought to enlist
the intervention in the strike of local law enforcement agencies and
the governor of the State. A mass demonstration was arranged by
these organizations against the strikers, and handbills were distributed
stating : "Vigilantes are ready to take care of any radical organizers
* * * ropes are ready." Confronted by this situation
the pickets disbanded before the demonstration was held. There then
followed a victory celebration, with the company furnishing beer
tickets, good in any saloon. Violence occurred ; in one instance, a
supervisor led a crowd of about 400 men who attempted to lynch one
of the strikers.
4. ELICITING RENUNCIATIONS OF UNION AFFILIATION FROM EMPLOYEES UNDER
COERCIVE CIRCUMSTANCES
Requests made by employers that employees express a preference
for or against a particular union, or unionization, constitute a common
type of employer conduct which the Board has held a violation of
section 8 (1). Such action by the employer generally assumes one of
the following forms : Interrogating employees individually or in a
group concerning union membership or activities ; conducting employer-supervised
elections; or circulating pledges of loyalty or antiunion
petitions for the employees' signatures.
In an early case, Matter of Greensboro Lumber Company, 21 a company
official, during the course of a conversation with the union representative,
ordered the work at the plant stopped and the employees
lined up outside his office ; he then ordered the employees to be brought
in one at a time, and bluntly asked each whether he did or did not
belong to the union. In finding a violation, the Board stated :
That this procedure constituted flagrant intimidation and coercion of the respondent's
employees is obvious * * •
In Matter of Maryland Distillery, Inv.," the president of the company,
after assembling all employees and telling them the company
wanted "no outside union to come in and run our business for us,"
asked for a show of hands as to whether the employees favored an
"outside" labor organization or a company union.
In Matter of Remington-Rand, Ine., 24 after the union had taken
a strike vote, the employer conducted, under the supervision of its
19 Matter of Remington Rand, Inc., and Remington Rand Joint Protective Board of the
District Council Office Equipment Workers, 2 N. L. R. B. 626. order enforced in National
Labor Relations Board v. Remington Rand, Inc., 94 F. (2d) 862 (C. C. A. 2d, 1938),
certiorari denied, 304 U. S. 576, rehearing denied, 304 U. S. 590.
2'Matter of Sunshine Mining Company and International Union of Mine, Mill and
Smelter Workers, 7 N. L. R. B. 1252.
=Matter of Greensboro Lumber Company and Lumber and Sawmill Workers Local Union
No. 2688, 1 N. L. R. B. 629.
29 The technique of questioning individual employees has appeared in numerous other
cases. See, for example, Matter of the Boss Manufacturing Company and International
Glove Workers' Union of America, 3 N. L. R. B. 400; Matter of Trenton Garment Company
and International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, 4 N. L. R. B. 1186; Matter of Williams
Manufacturing Company and United Shoe Workers of America, 6 N. L. R. B. 135; Matter of
Semet-Solvay Company and Detroit Coke Oven Employees Association and International
Union United Automobile Workers of America, 7 N. L. R. B. 511.
28 Matter of Maryland Distillery, Inc., and Distillery Workers Union, 3 N. L. B. B. 176.
24 A:fatter of Remington Rand, Inc., and Remington Rand Joint Protective Board of the
District Council Office Equipment Workers, 2 N. L. R. B. 626.