Laborers' International Union

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 24, 1969

176 N.L.R.B. 996 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

996 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Laborers' International Union of North America,
Local Union No. 600, AFL-CIO and Secord Bros.
Inc., and International Union of District 50, U. M.
W. A., Party to the Dispute . Case 3-CD-245
June 24, 1969
DECISION AND DETERMINATION OF
DISPUTE
BY MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN, AND JENKINS
This is a proceeding under Section 10(k) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended,
following a charge filed by Secord Bros . Inc., herein
called the Employer , alleging that Laborers'
International Union of North America, Local
Union No . 600, AFL-CIO, herein called
Respondent or the Laborers , violated Section
8(bX4XD ) of the Act. A duly scheduled hearing was
held before David W . Larrison , Hearing Officer, on
March 31, 1969. All parties appearing were afforded
full opportunity to be heard , to examine and
cross-examine witnesses , and to adduce evidence
bearing upon the issues . Thereafter the Employer
and the Laborers filed briefs.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a
three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
makes the following findings:
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
The parties stipulated that Secord Bros . Inc., the
Employer herein, a New York State corporation
with its principal office and place of business in the
town of West Seneca , New York , is a construction
contractor who engages primarily in the installation
of water and sewer systems in western New York
State ; that during the past 12 months, it purchased
goods and materials in excess of $50,000 which have
been delivered directly or indirectly to its
construction projects from outside the State; and
that its gross annual volume of business exceeds $1
million. We find that Secord Bros . Inc. is engaged
in commerce within the meaning of Section 2(6) and
(7) of the Act and that it will effectuate the policies
of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
II. THE LABOR ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
We find that Laborers' International Union of
North America, Local Union No. 600, herein called
the Laborers, is a labor organization as defined in
Section 2(5) of the Act.
III. THE DISPUTE
A. Background and Facts of the Dispute
In October 1967, the Employer entered into a
contract with the city of Jamestown , New York, to
install certain pipelines and perform other work.
Late in October , Anthony Foti , the Laborers
business representative , had a conversation with
Henry F. Secord , the Employer's
secretary-treasurer , at the Jamestown project field
office . According to Secord , Foti said that the
Employer was down in Foti' s territory and was
taking his work , and that he, Foti , wanted to get
together with the Employer over the Jamestown
contract . Secord replied that the Employer had a
union -shop labor contract with District 50 covering
the Jamestown work , and that there was therefore
no need for further discussion of the matter. Foti
denied Secord ' s version of the conversation and
testified that it involved only a discussion of wages
on the forthcoming Jamestown project. Work
commenced on the project in December 1967.
In May 1968 Secord and Foti had a second
conversation at the Jamestown project field office,
during which Foti , according to Secord , complained
that the Employer was taking work away from his
people , that he wanted his people on the job, and
that something would have to be done about it.
Secord replied that, in view of the current contract
with District 50, he could do nothing about it. Foti
testified that this conversation, like the first
conversation , involved merely the discussion of
wages on the Jamestown project.
On August 28, 1968 , the Employer entered into a
contract with the village of Lakewood , New York,
for the laying of pipelines and the construction of a
steel tank at a project approximately 3 miles from
the Jamestown project . According to Secord, in
October 1968 , about a month before the
commencement of work on the Lakewood project,
he and Foti had a third conversation at the
Lakewood jobsite field office , during which Foti
demanded that the Employer give work on the
Lakewood project to the Laborers , and that, when
Secord refused on the grounds that he had a
union-shop contract with District 50 covering such
work , Foti replied that if the Employer did not
comply, he would do something about it. Foti
denied the occurrence of the third conversation.
Employees of the Employer were assigned all of
the work on the Jamestown project ; on the other
hand , employees of the Employer's subcontractors
were assigned the construction of the water tank and
its foundation at the Lakewood project. Shortly
after the commencement of the Lakewood project in
November 1968, the Laborers posted a picket with a
picket sign at the intersection of a public road and
an access road prepared by the Employer's
176 NLRB No. 142
LABORERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION
employees and leading to the water tank installation
site , some 800 feet away . The sign read as follows:
SECORD BROS., INC.
DOES NOT MAINTAIN
THE WAGES HOURS &
WORKING CONDITIONS
ESTABLISHED IN THIS
AREA BY
LABORERS
LOCAL 600
The picketing has continued and was in effect at
the time of the instant hearing , some 3 months later.
There has been no other picketing.
B. The Work in Dispute
The work in dispute involves the access road and
pipeline work at the Lakewood project, assigned to
the Employer's employees represented by District
50.
C. The Contentions of the Parties
The Employer and District 50 contend, in
substance , that the Laborers has engaged in a
jurisdictional dispute in violation of Section
8(b)(4)(D ) by encouraging the Employer's employees
and employees of other employers to engage in a
strike where an object thereof is to force or require
the Employer to assign the work of pipeline
installation to employees represented by the
Laborers , rather than to employees represented by
District 50, with which the Employer currently has a
union-shop contract . At the instant hearing, the
Laborers disclaimed interest in all work at the
Lakewood project and contended that the purpose of
their picket sign was merely to alert the Employer
as to its alleged substandard wage scales and to
enforce the Employer's compliance with alleged
prevailing area wage scales.
D. Applicability of the Statute
Before the Board may proceed with a
determination of dispute pursuant to Section 10(k)
of the Act, it must be satisfied that there is
reasonable cause to believe that Section 8(b)(4)(D)
has been violated . The testimony of Secord
supporting such a finding was contradicted by Foti.
However , the Board is not charged with finding in a
jurisdictional dispute context that a violation did in
fact occur , but only that there is reasonable cause to
believe that there has been a violation . Without
997
ruling on the credibility of the testimony in issue, we
find that such reasonable cause exists and that the
dispute is properly before the Board for
determination under Section 10(k) of the Act.'
We find without merit Respondent's claim that it
was merely seeking to enforce upon the Employer
the payment of the alleged prevailing wage rate,
and, therefore, its conduct was not for an objective
proscribed by Section 8(b)(4)(D). The fact that
Respondent directed its picketing exclusively toward
the only worksite manned solely by employees of
subcontractors, and the absence of evidence that the
Respondent at any time specifically complained
directly to the Employer about alleged substandard
wages or requested the establishment of alleged
prevailing wage scales , leads us to conclude that a
concurrent objective of the Laborers was to force or
require the assignment of the disputed work at the
Lakewood jobsite to employees represented by
Respondent rather than to employees represented by
District 50, by inducing the cessation of the
subcontracted work. That one basis for
Respondent's claim was its insistence upon the
Employer's payment of alleged prevailing wage rates
does not detract from the jurisdictional nature of the
dispute.
E. Merits of the Dispute
At the hearing, Respondent disclaimed interest in
the work being performed at the Lakeside project
and the current bargaining agreement between the
Employer and District 50 covering the project.
Under all the circumstances , we shall determine the.
existing jurisdictional controversy by awarding to
the Employer' s employees represented by District
50, rather than to employees represented by the
Laborers, all work on the Lakeside project other
than that performed pursuant to subcontract. The
present determination is limited to the particular
controversy which gave rise to this proceeding.
DETERMINATION OF DISPUTE
Pursuant to Section 10(k) of the National Labor
Relations Act, as amended, and upon the basis of
the foregoing findings and the entire record in this
case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the
following Determination of Dispute:
1. Employees represented by District 50
U.M.W.A., and employed by Secord Bros. Inc., are
entitled to perform all pipeline construction and
associated work pursuant to the current contract
between Secord Bros. Inc. and the village of
Lakewood, New York, excepting the construction of
the water tank and its foundation, currently assigned
to employees of subcontractors of Secord Bros. Inc.
' United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Local No.
753 (Blount Bros. Corporation), 173 NLRB No. 190, Jefferson County,
Alabama, and Vicinity Carpenter District Council (S A W Masonry, Inc.),
173 NLRB No. 190.
998 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. Neither Laborers' International Union of
North America, Local Union No. 600, AFL-CIO
nor its members are entitled by means proscribed by
Section 8(b)(4)(D) of the Act, to force or require
assignment of the work in dispute to individuals
represented by the aforesaid Union.
3. Within 10 days from the date of this Decision
and Determination of Dispute, Laborers'
International Union of North America, Local
Union No. 600, AFL-CIO, shall notify the Regional
Director for Region 3, in writing, whether or not it
will refrain from forcing or requiring Secord Bros.
Inc., by means proscribed by Section 8(b)(4)(D), to
assign the work in dispute in a manner inconsistent
with the above determination.