NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

70 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Board applied this principle recently in Matter of Star Publi8Iting
Company." The employees of the newspaper publishing
company in the circulation department were members of the Newspaper
Guild; the actual hauling of the papers was contracted out
to an outside company whose drivers were members of the rival
teamsters' union. On July 1, 1937, the teamsters' union notified the
Star Publishing Co. that the teamsters would not haul the Star
papers unless all the circulation-department employees enrolled in
the teamsters' union. The circulation employees, however, were determined
not to abandon the guild. The management then requested
the guild to guarantee delivery of the papers, but it refused on
jurisdictional grounds. The guild members thereupon were removed
from their regular jobs. They called a strike. The Board found
that the employer confronted the guild members with the alternative of
either transferring their affiliation to the teamsters' union or of losing
their jobs, that "the resultant removal from their jobs constituted an
unmistakable blow at the Guild and a clear violation of the Act."
Here economic pressure by a rival union induced the employer to
act against the guild members because of union membership. The
Circuit Court of Appeals, in enforcing the Board's order, stated :
The respondent further contends that it was necessary to make the transfer,
and thus engage in the unfair labor practice, because its business would otherwise
be disrupted, and therefore, under all the facts, the transfer was excusable.
We think, however, the act is controlling. The act prohibits unfair
labor practices in all cases. It permits no immunity because the employer may
think that the exigencies of the moment require infraction of the statute. In
fact, nothing in the statute permits or justifies its violation by the employer'
Where the employer has discharged an employee for two or more
reasons, and one of them is union affiliation or activity, the Board
has found a violation. Such a case is Matter of The Louisville Reriming
Company," where a change from the 6- to the 8-hour day
necessitated many lay-offs. The employer contended that many factors,
such as capability and willingness, determined the selection of
those to be laid-off. The Board said: "It must be concluded that
the activity in and membership of these employees in the Local was
a definite factor in determining that they should be dismissed from •
the respondent's employ."1
Whether the employee activity which induced the discharge is or
is not union or organizational activity has come before the Board in
several cases. Typical forms of such activity are organizing the
union, 2 participation in a strike,8 membership in the union or sohcita-
Matter of Star Publishing Company and Seattle Newspaper Guild, eta., 4 N. L. R. B.
498, enforced in National Labor Relations Board v. Star Publishing Company, 97 F. (2d)
465 (1938) (C. C. A. 9th, 1938).
gs Ibid.
99 Matter of The Louisville Refining Company and International Association, Oil Field,
Gas Well, and Refinery Workers of America, 4 N. L. R. B. 844.
/ Also, Matter of Hercules-Campbell Body Co., Inc., and United Automobile Workers of
America, eta, 7 N. L. It. B. 431.
See, for example. Matter of Botany Worsted Mills and Textile Workers Organizing
Committee, 4 N L. R. B. 292, where the Board stated: "Finally, the respondent argues
that since several other men in the plant, whom it knows to be members of the union,
are still employed, the discharge of Peidl cannot be attributed to his union affiliation.
We are convinced that the respondent's basis for distinction in its discharge was between
Peidl, whom it feared as an active organizer, and the others, who appear to have been
passive members."
3 In Matter of The Louisville Refining Company and International Association, Oil
Field, Gas Well and Refinery Workers of America, 4 N. L. R. B. 844, the Board stated :
"The discrimination by an employer against those who express their intention of
striking, if called upon, is a rebuke to concerted activity by members of a labor organization."
As to what constitutes a strike, see Matter of American Manufacturing Company,
etc., and Textile Workers Organizing Committee. C. I. 0., 5 N. L. R. B. 443.