Rea Trucking Company, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Rea Trucking Company has petitioned this court to review and set aside an order of the National Labor Relations Board finding that company to have been guilty of unfair labor practices. The Board has cross-petitioned for enforcement of its order.

We are well satisfied that substantial evidence on the record as a whole supports the Board’s finding that petitioner laid off fifteen employees in order to discourage union activity among its employees, in violation of § 8(a) (3) and (1) of the Act.

Petitioner contends, however, that the complaint filed by the Regional Director asserts that the employees were discharged “because of their activities on behalf of the union”; that the record is silent as to whether any of them were active on behalf of the union; that the findings do not purport to reach this question. Thus petitioner contends that it has been found guilty of an unfair labor practice other than the one alleged in the complaint.

The charge filed by the union (which resulted in the complaint) was wholly consistent with the findings of the Board. While the complaint did indulge in different phraseology respecting the anti-union motive for the discharges, we are satisfied…