FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD FOR THE FISC,AL YEAR ENDED JAE SO 1936 FIRST ANNUAL REPOR.T OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD For the Fiscal Year Ended June -30; -1936 PROPERTY t.A4....1 !...111‘,/ 1 44 I NATiONI-0 KARL, UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE cP■ WASHINGTON 1936 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. - - - - Price 15 cents NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD J. WARREN MADDEN, Chairman. JOHN M. CARMODY. EDWIN S. SMITH. BENEDICT WoLir, Secretary. BEATRICE M. STERN, A88i8tant Secretary. CHARLES FART, General CaUn8d. ROBERT B. WATTS, Associate General Counsel. NATHAN WITT, Assistant General Counsel. DAVID J. SAPOSS, Chief Industrial Economist. MALcoLat Ross, Director' of Publications. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Washington, D. C., January 41 1937. SIR: I have the honor to submit to you the First Annual Report of the National Labor Relations Board, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1936, in compliance with the provisions of section 3 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, approved July 5, 1935. J. WARREN MADDEN, Chairman. The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, The PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C. CONTENTS Page I. Introduction 1 II. Predecessor Boards 4 A. National Labor Board 4 B. The First National Labor Relations Board 5 C. Other boards 7 III. The National Labor Relations Act 9 A. Legislative history 9 B. Policy and provisions 9 1. Findings and policy 10 • 2. The Board 10 3. Rights of employees 10 4. Representatives and elections 11 5. Jurisdiction 11 6. Procedure 11 7. Penalties 12 IV. The National Labor Relations Board 14 A. The Board 14 B. Organization—Washington office 11 C. Organization—Regional offices 16 D. Regional offices—Location, territory, and personnel 17 V. Procedure of the Board 18 A. Rules and regulations 18 • 1. Procedure under section 10 of the act 18 2. Procedure under section 9 (c) of the act 25 VI. Work of the Board 29 A. Statistical summary 29 B. Settlements 31 C. Informal activities 32 D. Cooperation with Senate investigation 32 VII. Complaint cases 33 A. Analysis of charges received 33 B. Disposition of complaint cases 34 1. Cases closed before issuance of complaint 34 2. Cases disposed of after issuance of complaint 35 3. Cases pending 37 C. Hearings and intermediate reports 38 VIII. Representation cases 40 A. Disposition of cases received 40 1. Cases closed before hearing 40 2. Cases closed after hearing 41 3. Cases pending 41 B. Elections 41 IX. Litigation 46 A. Injunction proceedings 46 B. Enforcement litigation 50 C. Miscellaneous ligitation 51 D. Comments. 55 X. Division of Economic Research 60 XI. Publications Division 67 A. Public relations problems • 67 B. Board policy in its public relations 68 C. Activities of Publications Division 69. XII. Principles established 70 A. Interference, restraint, and coercion in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in section 7 of the act 70 VI CONTENTS XII. Principles established—Continued page B. Discrimination for the purpose of encouraging or discouraging membership in a labor organization 77 1. Discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employ- ment 77 2. Discriminatory refusal to reinstate employees after a shut-down, lock-out, or strike 81 3. Discrimination in regard to any term or condition of employment 83 4. The closed shop" proviso 84 C. Collective bargaining 84 I. Provisions of the act relative to collective bargaining 84 2._ The duty to bargain collectively 84 (a) The elements of bargaining • 85 (b) The requirement of good faith 86 (c) Collective bargaining distinguished from ad- justment of individual grievances 87 (d) Bargaining with individual employees 88 3. The majority rule 88 (a) Exclusive representation 88 (b) Determination of majority 89 4. Fulfillment of the duty to bargain 91 5. Duty to bargain where there is a strike 93 D. Domination and interference with the formation or adminis- tration of a labor organization and contribution of finan- cial or other support to it 94 E. Investigation and certification of representatives 102 1. Certification with or without election 103 2. The existence of a question concerning representation 104 3. Direction of election 106 (a) Date on which eligibility of voters is deter- mined 106 (b) The period within which the election is directed to be held 107 (c) Form of the ballot 107 4. Majority rule 108 5. Election or certification during existence of contract 108 6. Jurisdictional disputes 109 F. The unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining 112 1. History of labor relations in the industry and between the employer and his employees 113 2. Skill 114 3. Functional coherence 115 4. Mutual interest 116 5. Wages 117 6. Organization of employers business 117 7. Form of self-organization among employees 118 8. Eligibility to membership in labor organization 119 G. Administrative remedies 120 1. Provisions of the act governing orders 120 2. Types of orders issued by the Board 120 (a) Orders requiring employers to cease and desist from engaging in unfair labor practices 120 (b) Orders requiring employers to take affirmative action which will effectuate the policies of the act__ 124 XIII. Jurisdiction 135 A. Types of cases considered, in general 135 B. Unfair labor practices as a prime cause of labor disputes__ 137 C. Effect of labor disputes on interstate and foreign commerce_ _ _ 138 XIV. List of cases heard and decisions rendered_ 147 XV. Fiscal affairs 150 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD I. INTRODUCTION The National Labor Relations Board was created not as a com- pletely new experiment in the field of labor relations but as a result of the cumulative experience of many years during which various ways to deal with labor relations had been tried by the Federal Government. From this experience was evolved the plan incorpo- rated in the National Labor Relations Act in the field of interstate commerce. A brief account of this history may be useful. The first role of the Federal Government in the field of labor re- lations was that of a military preserver of the peace in strike areas where local and State governmental agencies claimed to be unable to control the violence incident to specific strikes. Many calls were made upon the Federal Government for intervention in such circum- stances, and frequently the Federal Government responded. Although this intervention resulted in bitter protests by labor organizations, it evoked no complaint from industry against governmental interfer- ence. The Federal Government, through its courts, also intervened in this field. The increasingly frequent use of injunctions against strikers, obtained by employers, was a source of constant complaint by the unions, but again the employers had no objection to this par- ticular form of Federal intervention. It was in the railroad industry that the Government first began to play the role it has now adopted for other industries in which a strike would interrupt interstate commerce. In 1888 Congress passed a statute applying to the railroad industry providing for the investi- gation, by a Commission consisting of the United States Commis- sioner of Labor and two other people to be appointed by the Presi- dent for each dispute, of labor disputes threatening to interrupt in- terstate commerce, and for arbitration. The parties did not avail themselves of this law and it became a dead letter. In 1898 the Erd- man Act was passed, providing for temporary boards to be appointed to mediate and conciliate disputes, and providing also for voluntary arbitration. No provision was made for investigations. In 1913 the Newlands Act was passed, establishing a Board of Mediation and Conciliation to settle labor disputes in the railroad industry. This Board had the power to render opinions as to the meaning and application of agreements which had been arrived at by the process of mediation, but whose interpretation was in dispute. The act also contained provisions for arbitration. In 1920 an act was passed setting up a tripartite board, com- posed of representatives of labor, industry and the public, to hear 1 , A FIRST ANNUAL REPORT , ' • c all disputes which thell. ties could not settle in conference. This board could render decisioris. but the parties were not compelled to comply with the boards orders. The Railway Labor Act of 1926 made it mandatory upon the railroads and the employees to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements through representatives chosen by each party, free from interference by the other. A board for the purpose of mediation of disputes was also established. This act was amended in 1934, but its essential princi- ples remained unchanged. The employees under this act, are pro- tected in their right of self-organization free from the interference of the employers. This summary review of legislation affecting the railroad industry makes it apparent that the entrance of the Federal Government into labor disputes for the purpose of protecting the right of employees to self-organization and collective bargaining, is not a novel thing. As early as 1876 the Federal Government conducted investigations of labor relations. In 1882 the Senate, by resolution, directed the Committee on Education and Labor to undertake a study of labor disputes inquire into their causes, and to recommend suitable legis- lation. Four' subsequent commissions made extensive inquiries into the problem—the Industrial Commission of 1898, the Anthracite Coal Commission of 1902, the United States Commission on Indus- trial Relations of 1912, and President Wilsons Industrial Conferences of 1919. The first three of these were authorized by acts of Congress. In 1884 the Government formed the Bureau of Labor, and through this medium and through special commissions it intervened in dis- putes between employers and employees.