1 - National Labor Relations Board

Representation Cases 51
contentions that since long-term procurement commitments made
to meet Department of Defense regulations characterize the defense
projects industry, such employers should be enabled to
stabilize labor costs also through long-term contracts, and that
in fact such long-term labor contracts were common in the
industry, were rejected. The Board reaffirmed its position as stated
in General Cable that if the contract-bar period were extended
beyond 3 years "stability of industrial relations would in our
judgment be so heavily weighted against employee freedom of
choice as to create an inequitable balance. . . • P, 22
The employer's further contention that the petitioning union
was not in fact a rival union but rather a fronting legal successor
to the incumbent was found by the Board to be without foundation
in the record. The Board found that, while the officers of
the incumbent had indeed approached the petitioner with a
proposal for affiliation, the offer was rejected and there was no
agreement between the two unions as to what would occur should
the petitioner win the election. Although officials of the incumbent
comprised a substantial majority of the organizing committee
for the rival, the incumbent union continued to function at all
times as a viable labor organization actively administering the
current contract. The Board observed that although some members
of the incumbent were dissatisfied with the current contract
as administered and may have sought to avoid the agreement,
such circumstances do "not operate to preclude all of the employees
in the unit from their right to select a new union representative,
where the petition is otherwise timely."
2. Waiver of Pending Board Proceedings
The Board's longstanding rule against conducting an election
while an 8(a) (2) proceeding, involving illegal assistance to a
labor organization which affects employees in the same unit, is
pending, received further examination by the Board in two cases
decided during the report year. In the Intalco Aluminum case,23
an election was blocked by an outstanding Board order, pending
on court review, which as a remedy for 8(a) (2) violations required
the employer, inter alia, to withdraw and withhold recognition
from the assisted union until certified, and to repay to the
employees dues and initiation fees exacted under the illegal contract.
Rival unions, in an effort to proceed to an election upon
their petitions, offered to agree (1) to waive objections to the
22 139 NLRB 1123, 1125 (1962).
28 174 NLRB No. 122. See also Suisun Co., 174 NLRB No. 123.