1943 - National Labor Relations Board

20 Eighth Annual Report of the National Labor Relations BoardOne exception was the shipbuilding industry, where the proportionof unfair labor practice cases increased from 36 percent m 1942 to40.6 percent in 1943. Industries showing a higher than averageincrease in the proportion of representation cases include aircraft,food, wholesale and retail trade, finance, metal mining, warehousing,and chemicals.Size of Establishments InvolvedA study of the size of establishments involved in unfair labor practicecases indicates that 53 percent of the cases filed in 1943 involved plantsemploying less than 200 workers, 29 percent involved plants employingbetween 200 and 1,000 workers, and 18 percent involved plantswith over 1,000 workers. The greatest concentration of workers inlarge plants was found in shipbuilding, with 51 percent of the companiesinvolved employing over 1,000 workers. Aircraft followed with 45percent, and ordnance was next with 42 percent.Representation cases were studied in terms of number of workers inthe unit petitioned for or the unit found appropriate by the Board.Over 50 percent of these cases involved units of less than 100 workers,39 percent involved units of from 100 to 1,000 workers, and only 6percent involved units of over 1,000 workers.Allegations in Charges Received'As in previous years, the predominant allegation in charges of unfairlabor practice received was alleged discrimination with regard tohire or tenure of employment under Section 8 (3) of the Act. Theallegation was made in 2,256 cases, or 66.3 percent of all cases filed.The number of charges alleging refusal to bargain (Section 8 (5))decreased from 1,550 in 1942 to 756 in 1943; the allegation occurredin 22.2 percent of all cases filed in the current year, as compared-with31.2 percent for the previous year. Charges alleging company dominationof a union (Section 8 (2)) declined 45 percent, from 613 in1942 to 337 in 1943. The general allegation of interference, restraint,and coercion, Section 8 (1) of the Act, occurred independently ofother allegations in 424 cases, a decrease of 16.4 percent comparedwith the previous yeaLCASES DISPOSED OF DURING 1943Increased Volume of Formal ActivityThe Board closed 9,777 or 78.8 percent of the 12,403 cases on docketduring the fiscal year 1943. Of this number, 3,849 were unfair laborpractice cases and 5,928 were representation cases. Although, as inprevious years, the majority of cases closed during 1943 did not requireformal action, the number of cases that did involve formal proceduresSee tables 6 and 7 in Appendix, pp. 89 and 90.See table 3 in Appendix, p. 85.