National Labor Relations Board v. H. C. Smith Construction Co.

The order which the Board asks us to enforce rests upon a determination that respondent violated section 8(a) (1) of the Act by discharging an employee for concerted activity protected by section 7 of the Act.

To the extent that this determination is based upon factual premises we think the Board’s findings represent a “choice between two fairly conflicting views” of the evidence and are therefore binding upon us. Universal Camera Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board, 340 U.S. 474, 488 , 71 S.Ct. 456, 465 , 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951).

Respondent raises one legal issue. The Board concedes that the employee based his action upon an erroneous assumption that the collective bargaining agreement contained a provision regarding the chain of command on the job when in fact it did not. Respondent argues that, as a matter of law, employee activity directed to the implementation of a supposed provision of the collective bargaining agreement cannot be protected concerted activity within section 1 when there is no such provision in the contract.

The reasonableness or unreasonableness of the employee’s asserted interpretation of the contract is relevant to the factual issues of the employee’s…