Ideal Roller & Manufacturing Co. v. Douds
Ideal Roller & Manufacturing Co. v. Douds
Opinion of the Court
In this suit an employer alleging violation of constitutional rights seeks to enjoin the Regional Director of .the National Labor Relations Board from holding a representative election by three of the plaintiff’s employees as directed in the Board’s ■ order made pursuant to section 9(c) (1) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947.
Review .of a certification proceeding under section 9 can be had only as an incident to review of an order of the Board under section 10,
. This complaint alleges that the defendant is expressly forbidden by section 9(c) (3) of the Act
The undisputed facts are as follows. Plaintiff manufactures printers’ and mechanical rollers. It employs about eighty-five persons, of whom three are licensed engineers. From 1945 until October 30, 1952, the International Association of Machinists (hereinafter referred to as I.A.M.) had acted as representative for all the employees. On September 5, 1952, a committee of employees, .not including the engineers, filed a petition with the Board alleging that the I.A.M. was no longer the employees’ representative and requesting a decertification election. On September 16, 1952, the International Union of Operating Engineers (hereinafter referred to as I.U. O.E.) filed a petition seeking a representation election as to the three licensed engineers only. This raised the preliminary question whether one or two units were appropriate to the plant, and on October 13, 1952, both petitions were consolidated for hearing on that question as well as decertification.
Because the then existing bargaining agreement between the employer and I.A.M. was to expire on November 8, it was considered desirable by all concerned to determine I.A.M.’s status before that date. Accordingly, with the Board’s consent, the plaintiff, I. A. M. and the petitioners in the decertification petition agreed to hold the decertification election on October 30, without a prior hearing. The “Consent Election Agreement” included the following .stipulation:
“Since Case 2-RC-5168, now pending before the Board, involves the issue of a separate unit of operating engineers, employees employed in that classification shall vote under challenge, and their ballots shall be impounded pending determination by the Board of that case, and shall then be dealt with in accordance with the Board’s decision. This action is without prejudice to the position of any of the parties in Case 2-RC45168.”
None of the engineers participated in the election on October 30 which resulted in I.A.M.’s decertification. In the meantime, hearings in which the plaintiff participated were begun on the I.U.O.E. petition (Case 2-RC-5168). On December 22, 1952, the Board found that the three engineers constituted a separate craft unit appropriate for collective bargaining and made the challenged order for an election to be held on January 19, 1953, to determine the fact of I.U.O.E.’s representation of that separate unit.
The constitutional argument runs as follows. The Taft-Hartley Law, § 303
The secondary boycott argument is also unsound. In the first place, it assumes that if I.U.O.E. is certified as the engineers’ representative there will be no fair attempt to bargain for a collective agreement. The plaintiff is, no doubt, competent to predict what it will do but no facts are alleged to show its competence to forecast the union’s conduct. And there is nothing, whatever in the papers before me to justify the suggestion that .the union will not attempt fairly to negotiate an agreement. The argument next assumes that if negotiations do not occur or, if they fail, the union will not file a charge of unfair labor practice with the Board, thus affording the plaintiff an avenue of review under section. 10 of the Act.
From the foregoing examination of the plaintiff’s claim of violation of constitutional rights, I conclude that it lacks substance and is untenable. Accordingly, the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary injunction is denied, the stay is vacated, and the defendant’s motion to dismiss is granted.
Settle order.
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 159(c) (1).
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 160.
. Fay v. Douds, 2 Cir., 172 F.2d 720, 723.
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 159(c) (3).
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 187.
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 187.
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 160.
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 151.
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 160.
. 29 U.S.O.A. § 187.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- IDEAL ROLLER & MANUFACTURING CO., Inc. v. DOUDS
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published