National Labor Relations Board v. J. I. Case Co.

In this proceeding the National Labor Relations Board asks our decree enforcing its order requiring respondent to bargain with United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, hereafter called the Union. Respondent had rejected the Union’s request for a bargaining conference, and notwithstanding the Board’s order has continued to deny the request on the ground that the certification of the Union is invalid. The asserted invalidity rests on respondent’s interpretation of § 9(c)(1) of the Act, relating to representation proceedings. Before turning to the statute it will be helpful briefly to review the facts.

In November of 1950 the Union filed a petition with the Board requesting an elec tion and its certification as the bargaining representative of respondent’s production and maintenance employees at its Stockton plant. As is required by the statute in question, the petition alleged that a substantial number of respondent’s employees desired to be represented by the Union for collective bargaining and that respondent declined to recognize the Union. Another union filed a similar petition affecting the same employees and employer. In January 1951 the…