NATURE OF ACTION

This case came before the Court upon the petition of Wah Chang Corporation, a corporation of the State of New York, doing business in Albany, District of Oregon (Chang), to review and set aside the order of the respondent National Labor Relations Board (Board) affirming its trial examiner’s findings and conclm sions (Examiner), issued on October 14, 1959, which order held that Chang had engaged in unfair labor practices in violation of § 8(a) (1), (2) and (3) of the Labor Management Relations Act, as amended (Relations Act), Title 29 U.S. C.A. § 158.

Chang is engaged in interstate commerce, and the alleged unfair labor practices allegedly occurred at its plants in Albany. The Board, in its answer to Chang’s petition, has cross-petitioned for enforcement of its order (Tr. 49).

JURISDICTION

This Court has jurisdiction of the proceedings under §§ 10(e) and (f) of the Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 160 (e, f).

STATEMENT OF CASE

Chang’s operation at Albany consists of four separate plant buildings where it produces reactive and rare metals which include zirconium, hafnium, co~ lumbium and tantalum. These metals are very valuable and extremely hard to produce. Their proper processing requires constant attention and alertness of the operators. (Tr. 112.)

Zirconium and Allied Metals Union is a so-called company union (Union), and was bargaining agent for the production and maintenance employees of Chang as the result of a Board-conducted election. Chang and Union entered into a working bargaining-agent agreement dated August 1, 1957, which had, by its terms, expired on July 31, 1958. However, the parties by mutual consent extended this agreement, and negotiations were being had between the parties for renewal when Metals Trade Council of Portland and Vicinity, AFL-CIO (Council) decided to attempt to secure enough signatures of the production and maintenance employees of Chang to enable Council to request a Board-conducted election. At no time did Council advise Chang that it was going to solicit Chang’s employees for signatures on Council’s authorization cards. For the purposes of this case, we will accept the Board’s findings of fact, stated in the Board’s brief to be, briefly, that the Board found that Chang unlawfully assisted Union by:

The important Article XXII, contained in the October 8, 1957 one-year contract, provided:

The Board insists that the record as a whole reveals substantial evidence to sustain each of the four charges and findings and that its order is valid and enforceable. Chang avers the review involves two basic questions:

We deal with the Board’s charges, findings and conclusions in the order set out numerically above; there may, however, be some overlapping instances.

At this point we admonish ourselves that the authorities are legion to the effect that if there is any substantial evidence in the record as a whole to support the charges, findings and conclusions of the Examiner as may have been adopted by the Board, such findings and conclusions of the Examiner must stand, and are not subject to a judicial rehash. Yet, if Examiner’s determinations and findings are unsupported by any substandal evidence in the record as a whole, or if his inferences drawn from the evidence before him are unwarranted, his conclusions may be judicially reviewed, and, if found wanting, set aside. Flemming v. Huycke, 284 F.2d 546 (9 Cir. 1960). Except for one legal principle involving the full meaning and application of Article XXII aforesaid, this review must be resolved from a search and appraisal of the entire evidentiary record.

LEGAL INTERPRETATION OF ARTICLE XXII

Recalling that the language of Article XXII is “There shall be no soliciting or petitioning in the plants without the consent of [Chang] and [Union],” this provision, so far as “soliciting without the consent of [Chang] and [Union]” may well be violative of the Relations Act. The Examiner’s inference that the real purpose of Article XXII was “to obstruct or impede” rival union activities on behalf of Council is evident not only from the requirement prohibiting “soliciting without the consent of [Chang] or [Union]” but also because it banned solicitation “in the plants” without regard to during [emphasis supplied] working hours, and, hence, constituted an unreasonable impediment to organization, is only the Examiner’s personal inference and legal interpretation of the wording of Article XXII. We believe it to be an unwarranted inference and unsound legal interpretation and, further, that such an unwarranted inference and unsound legal interpretation cannot be a buttress or utilized by the Board in meeting its burden of proof that Chang discharged any one or more of the four dischargees because of “soliciting” activities.

Article XXII, under any logical and reasonable interpretation, includes the unlawful prohibition of “soliciting or petitioning” without the consent of [Chang] and [Union], which in and of itself is an unfair labor practice, but it also includes the lawful prohibition of “soliciting or petitioning” in the plants [emphasis supplied.] Query: Does the absence of the words “during working hours” following the word “plants” change and negate the valid rule against and prohibiting soliciting or petitioning in the plants during working hours ? We think not; the reasonable and logical inference is that the prohibition against the “soliciting or petitioning in the plants” necessarily includes and means during working hours and does not mean during closed or shutdown periods of operation. It is unrealistic and absurd to say or try to assert that an employee actually on the premises and within one of the four plants within the reasonable area of his assigned work station, and within and during the time of his regularly assigned shift or duty period, clothed in proper working gear, is not inferentially and actually in the plant “and during working hours.”

Therefore, the Examiner’s inference and legal conclusion that the words “soliciting or petitioning in the plants” do not reasonable and logically include and have reference to during regular shifts or work time is unwarranted, and is not supported by logic or legalistic reason. The Examiner’s finding of an unfair labor practice on the part of Chang in charge and finding 1 is illegal and must fail. N.L.R.B. v. Essex Wire Corp., supra.

In other words, this Article XXII is severable; the invalid portion does not vitiate the valid, and Chang may utilize the valid portion without regard to the invalid portion.

DISCUSSION OF TESTIMONY

It is the undisputed fact that each of the four termination notices to the dischargees state as the reason for their discharge the violation of Article XXII of the Union agreement, but under all of the circumstances that fact does not bind Chang to the unlawful portion of the Article and deprive it of the lawful portion. It is the undisputed testimony of William T. Walker, a witness for the Board, that he is the personnel manager of Chang and that his duties, inter alia, are:

And he identified a contract between Chang and Zirconium and Union and acknowledged that he had signed the four dischargees’ separation notices, and he issued memorandums from Chang to Zirconium and Union concerning the four dischargees. Neither cross-exam *19 ination nor redirect examination contained any probative evidentiary value, nor does Mr. Walker’s testimony in any way tend to prove or contain any substantial evidence of any of the Board’s four charges of unlawful conduct or unfair labor practices in violation of the Relations Act, particularly charges and findings 2 and 3. It is clear from the record that each of the four discharged employees well knew they were being discharged for solicitation and petitioning on behalf of Council in the plants during the shifts or working hours of other employees, and not because they had been required to do the prohibited act of getting the consent of Chang and Union to solicit or that they had sought and been refused such consent.

A resumé or narrative of the testimony of Quinton Dombrowsky, who appeared as a witness for Council, is as follows:

That he was employed by Chang as a lead operator in the tantalum and columbrara reduction department in October of 1958. He acknowledges that during October of 1958 he engaged in union activities on behalf of Council in passing out designation cards. That on a Wednesday, October 23, while he was on swing shift, he received a phone call from Kenneth Radford, a foreman at the tantalum, columbium and zirconium separations plant, who required some asbestos, and made inquiry if Dombrowsky had any in the store. Dombrowsky told him that he did. Radford shortly came to Dombrowsky’s plant and selected his desired asbestos. The two men engaged in conversation and Radford questioned Dombrowsky about Council, indicating that he, Radford, had heard there had been some soliciting going on. Dombrowsky disclaimed any knowledge about it except that he was looking for a card to sign and that he would sure like to find a card, whereupon Radford reiterated “I think you have been soliciting around.” Radford made inquiry as to whether Dombrowsky knew where he (Radford) could get ahold of some of the cards. The balance of the conversation on that occasion consisted of suggestions of workmen who might have Council’s cards and as to the relative benefits to the workmen of Union and Council. On the following night (October 24), Radford again telephoned Dombrowsky and their conversation concerned asbestos. Whereupon the testimony of Dombrowsky becomes critical and should be quoted from the record:

Dombrowsky received his discharge slip ■on November 1, 1958.

On cross-examination, Dombrowsky acknowledged that he had talked to Rad-ford on October 23, and that he had denied any knowledge of solicitation at the Chang plants and further acknowledged that he was aware that solicitation for Council was going on at the Chang plants and that he had, in effect, lied to Radford when he had disclaimed knowledge of solicitation. At this point the cross-examination of Dombrowsky becomes critical and the record is quoted:

Louis Winterstein corroborated Dombrowsky’s admission of soliciting Council’s card during working hours and while on duty. (Tr. 131). And further testified that he had talked with Ronald Graham, one of the dischargees, about signing Council’s cards at the same time Dombrowsky was present. That Graham had participated in the solicitation during Winterstein’s shift and during working hours. Further, that he had later had a telephone call from Graham while on shift and during working hours, asking Winterstein if he had any of the Council’s cards signed. Winterstein also testified that one Larry Helms, an operator for the columbium side of the separations plant, was present during these conversations and was solicited by Dombrowsky and that they engaged him in conversation too, while he was on duty and during working hours. (Tr. 133-134.) 2

Cross-examination by Board’s counsel develops that the witness had received other phone calls while on duty, but only on business or emergencies. That on this evening in question and during the conversation with Dombrowsky and Graham he and Helms each signed a Council authorization card white on duty and during working hours (Tr. 136-138), all of which is undisputed by Dombrowsky or Graham.

Dombrowsky’s foregoing admissions under cross-examination to the direct effect that he had falsified his denials of any solicitation by himself on behalf of Council tends to discredit his direct testimony and robs it of any forcefulness. However, granting the testimony full credibility as a matter of law, the statements reportedly made to the dischargees did not amount to threats of discharge of any of them from employment because of union activities and were not clearly coercive in character to the hearers.

It is to be remembered that neither of the mentioned foremen weré foremen of any of the four dischargees or held any power or authority to discharge. Further, that none of their warnings could rationally or reasonably be construed as threats of discharge, and can only be regarded as de minimis. Per curiam decision, N.L.R.B. v. Grunwald *23 Marx, Inc., 290 F.2d 210 (9 Cir.), decided April 3, 1961. 3

No place in the record does there appear any substantial evidence of any unlawful discharge of the three remaining dischargees, Stutheit, Wallace, or Graham. In fact, none of these three dischargees appeared before the Examiner, nor was any reason or excuse offered for their nonappearance. It could be assumed that their testimony, if given, would be adverse to the Board.

“We * * * cannot conscientiously find that” the charges and Examiner’s finding 2 of unlawful or discriminatory discharge of the four dischargees and charges and finding 4 of threatening with discharge, are supported by any substantial evidence “when viewed in the light that the record in its entirety furnishes,” and therefore the findings must fall. N.L.R.B. v. Walton Mfg. Co., (N.L.R.B. v. Florida Citrus Canners Coop), 369 U.S. 404 , 82 S.Ct. 853 , 7 L.Ed. 829 (per curiam opinion April 9, 1962).

The testimony of Russell D. Underwood, a witness for the Board, is of no probative value to any of the Board’s charges and findings except to corroborate that witness Winterstein, for Chang, gave the witness a Council' card upon which was the name “Graham” at the top of the card, which he in turn had delivered to Mr. Pryor, general foreman. This testimony is not substantive evidence of any of the Board’s charges and findings, especially, 3, of alleged unlawful conduct and unfair labor practices by interfering with any agency’s organizational rights by interrogation and threats of discharge, and is not supported by any substantial evidence and must fall.

The testimony of Paul J. Kotyo, a witness called by Chang, generally corroborated the testimony of Winterstein and recites that Allen W. Wallace had solicited him on behalf of Council while on shift and during working hours and that while on shift he had signed a Council card produced by Wallace (Tr. 141). Further narrations of Chang’s witnesses are of no aid to us and would be of no comfort to the Board.

We conclude that there is no substantial evidence or reasonable or warrant-able inferences from the entire evidentiary record of the case to substantiate any of the four charges and findings of the Examiner, and they all must therefore fall.

*24 CONCLUSION

Accordingly, the petition of Chang to set aside the Board’s decision and order, dated at Washington, D. C. on October 14, 1959, as appears from Tr. 46 through 53, with its appendix, here reviewed, is granted, and the order is set aside and held for naught.

. “6. N.L.R.B. v. Edinburg Citrus Ass’n., 5 Cir., 147 F.2d 353 ; N.L.R.B. v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 8 Cir., 157 F.2d 486 ; Olin Industries, Inc., [Winchester Repeating Arms Co. Division] v. N.L.R.B., 5 Cir., 191 F.2d 613 , certiorari denied 343 U.S. 919 , 72 S.Ct. 676 , 96 L.Ed. 1332 .” 245 F.2d 589, 593 (CA 9 1957).

. “Q. Was he (Helms) on duty?

“A. Yes.

“Trial Examiner: Why was he out there with you?

“The Witnes.i: He has identical tanks only on the other side of the building.

“Trial Examiner: The other side of the building?

“The Witness: They are about ten feet apart.

“Trial Examiner: Did you say the other side of the building?

“The Witness: Well, it was the other side of the plant.

“Trial Examiner: How did he happen to be out with you then; were you over there with him?

“The Witness: No.

“Trial Examiner: You were watching your gauge?

“The Witness: Yes, and he was watching his.

“Trial Examiner: Ten feet away he-was in the conversation?

“The Witness: No, he was standing-with us.

“Trial Examiner: Then he was ten feet away from where he should have been?'

“The Witness: Yes.” (Tr. 135-136)

. The Board in its brief asserts that Chang’s employees conversed freely during working times about matters not relating to the work at hand (p. 10). This statement is not supported by any testimony, and are merely the leading questions and observations of the Examiner.

(Testimony of Paul J. Kotyo, Tr. 142-143).

“Q. Were there general discussions had from time to time between these three men, Dombrowsky, Graham and Wallace, with other employees in the slag plant about the union cards?

*****

“Q. I mean on your shift?

“A. On my shift, yes. There was three of us on that shift.

“Q. Did that tend to disrupt the operation?

“Mr. McCreary: Objected to, Mr. Examiner.

“Trial Examiner: Did what tend to disrupt?

“Q. Did these discussions tend to disrupt the operation of the slag plant?

“Mr. McCreary: I don’t think the witness is qualified to give an opinion as to whether there was a disruption.

“Trial Examiner: Did you ever talk about anything on your shift as long as you worked for this company with other employees while you were working?

“The Witness: In regards to what? [96]

“Trial Examiner: Anything under the sun.

“The Witness: We talked about processing and things of that sort.

“Trial Examiner: Did you ever talk about baseball or football?

“The Witness: Hunting.

“Trial Examiner: Chew the rag all of the time?

“The Witness: We do. Most any shift does that.

* * Sl« * *

“Q. Over what period of time were these discussions; more than one week?

“A. Approximately a week or so.”