Stanley Forman Reed

“ The suggestion that an appropriate hearing upon evidence may be dispensed with because the rejected evidence would not have materially affected the outcome, seems to be based either on the assumption that the Board has in some way passed on the weight of the rejected evidence without hearing it, or that the Court is now free to appraise it and perform the function which the Board neglected to perform. ”

“ Crystal City is a separate industrial unit, not one mechanically integrated into the division. The local superintendent deals with labor grievances, the plant has its own purchasing agent and there is no exchange of employees. On the other hand, labor policies and wages come from the central office in Pittsburgh, there is great similarity in the class of work done. Wages, hours, working conditions, manufacturing processes differ only slightly among the plants. An independent unit at Crystal City, the Board was justified in finding, would frustrate division-wide effort at labor adjustments. ”

“ While the ruling of the Board determining the appropriate unit for bargaining is not subject to direct review under the statute, the ruling is subject to challenge when, as here, a complaint of unfair practices is made predicated upon the ruling. [13] Petitioners press that challenge upon the ground (1) that the procedure denied due process of law, (2) that there was no substantial evidence to justify the uling, and (3) that the authority granted the Board is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. ”

“ The unit proceeding and this complaint on unfair labor practices are really one. [21] Consequently the refusal to admit further evidence of the attitude of the workers is unimportant.
The second offer refused is to produce evidence that the Crystal City Union, contrary to the previous finding of the Board in a distinct proceeding in which the Union was not a party, [22] is free of employer domination. The entry of the order upon stipulation and consent does not detract from its force. ”

“ In the certification proceeding the Board stated that the Union, by reason of the consent order, had 'ceased to be able to function as a labor organization and its existence as such at Crystal City then terminated' and that 'Since the Crystal City Union can no longer function as a labor organization its wishes are immaterial'. ”

“ The Labor Act places upon the Board the responsibility of determining the appropriate group of employees for the bargaining unit. In accordance with this delegation of authority, the Board may decide that all employees of a single employer form the most suitable unit for the selection of collective bargaining representatives, or the Board may decide that the workers in any craft or plant or subdivision thereof are more appropriate. ”

“ One of the most important safeguards of the rights of litigants and the minimal constitutional requirement, in proceedings before an administrative agency vested with discretion is that it cannot rightly exclude from consideration, facts and circumstances relevant to its inquiry which upon due consideration may be of persuasive weight in the exercise of its discretion. ”

“ It will be observed that the function assigned to the Board is not the choice of the labor organization to represent a bargaining unit, for that is to be the free choice of the majority of the employees in some defined group of employees which the Board finds to constitute the appropriate unit. ”

“ It is entirely proper for the Board to utilize its knowledge of the desires of the workers obtained in the prior unit proceeding, since both petitioners, the employer and the Crystal City Union, were parties to that prior proceeding. ”

“ The petitioners' contention that section 9 (a) grants to the majority of employees in a unit appropriate or such purposes the absolute right to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing [11] is correct only in the sense that the 'appropriate unit' is the one declared by the Board under section 9 (b) , not one that might be deemed appropriate under other circumstances. ”