Santa Fe Drilling Company v. National Labor Relations Board

Santa Fe Drilling Co. (“Santa Fe”) petitions for a review of an order of the National Labor Relations Board (“the Board”), and the Board applies for an enforcement of the same order.

The order affirmed the decision of a Trial Examiner holding that Santa Fe had engaged in the following unfair labor practices during a union representation election held on an off-shore drilling platform near Kenai, Alaska: (1) coersive statements and threats to employees in violation of section 8(a) (1) of the National Labor Relations Act (“the Act”), and (2) discriminatory discharges of employees in violation of section 8(a) (3) of the Act. Santa Fe was ordered to cease and desist from coercing employees and from making discriminatory discharges. The Board further ordered Santa Fe to offer immediate and full reinstatement to five discharged employees and to make them whole for loss of pay.

Santa Fe contends that its agents did not coerce or threaten employees, that the discharges were for good cause and were not discriminatory, and that, in any case, reinstatement of three particular employees should not have been ordered. The Board contends that substantial evidence on the record as a whole…