NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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68 SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF <strong>NATIONAL</strong> <strong>LABOR</strong> <strong>RELATIONS</strong> <strong>BOARD</strong><br />
employees of each. It also appeared that separate contracts for<br />
employees of each of the companies had been negotiated thereafter.<br />
Under these circumstances, the Board held that the desires of the<br />
employees should be determinative and directed that separate elections<br />
be held among the employees of each company.<br />
Where the proposed unit includes employees of independent and<br />
competing companies, the Board finds such a unit appropriate only<br />
if in addition to the existence of otherwise appropriate circumstances,<br />
there exists an association of employers or other employers' agent,<br />
with authority to bargain collectively and enter into i collective<br />
bargaining agreements."<br />
In Matter of Kausel Foundry 5° a labor organization petitioned for<br />
a unit limited to employees of a single company. A rival organization,<br />
urgin o. the inappropriateness of this unit 2 moved that the petition<br />
be dismissed. The record established that since 1938, this company<br />
had been represented by a Foundrymen's Committee, which had bargained<br />
for this company and others, and in their behalf had entered<br />
into successive collective bargaining agreements establishing a single<br />
unit composed of the employees of the several companies. There was<br />
considerable interchange of employees between the companies represented<br />
by the Foundryinen's Committee and they maintained substantially<br />
similar wages, hours, and working conditions. The Board<br />
found that under these circumstances a unit limited to the employees<br />
of one of these companies was inappropriate.<br />
In Matter of Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast"' the<br />
Board permitted the longshoremen employed in the ports of Anacortes,<br />
Port Angeles, and Tacoma, Washington, to determine whether<br />
they wished to constitute three separate port-wide units or whether<br />
they wished to be merged with a coast-wide , unit of longshoremen.52<br />
In 1938, the Board had certified International Longshoremen's and<br />
Warehousemen's Union as the collective bargaining representative<br />
for a coast-wide unit including longshoremen in the ports of Anacortes,<br />
Port Angeles, and Tacoma." Subsequently, the certified representative<br />
entered into contracts with the employers' associations<br />
establishing uniform wages, hours, and other conditions of employment<br />
for the Pacific Coast. However, exceptions were made in the<br />
contracts as to the applicability of certain provisions, including those<br />
relating to preferential employment and maintenance of hiring halls,<br />
to the three ports in question. International Longshoremen's Association,<br />
claiming that the coast-wide unit was inappropriate and<br />
further claiming to be the representative of longshoremen in the<br />
ports of Anacorles, Port Angeles, and Tacoma, consistently refused<br />
to recognize the right of the certified representative to act for the<br />
longshoremen in these three ports and on numerous occasions took<br />
action independent of and in defiance of the contract and the authority<br />
of the certified representatives. Its right to take independent<br />
action had been sustained in one instance by an arbitrator, appointed<br />
" See Fourth Annual Report, p. 93; Fifth Annual Report, p. 69.<br />
Matter of John Sausel, etc. and International Moulder's Union, etc., 28 N. L. R. B.,<br />
No. 137.<br />
51 Matter of Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast, et al. and International Longshoremen's<br />
Association, etc., 32 N. L. R. B.<br />
'<br />
No. 124.<br />
Board Member Edwin S. Smith dissented.<br />
55 Matter of Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast, et al. and International Longshoremen's<br />
and Warehousemen's Union, etc., 7 N. L. R. B. 1002.