National Labor Relations Board v. Western Drug

During 1974 and 1975 the Retail Clerks Union (the Union) attempted to organize one drug store in a seven-store chain in Montana. Considerable litigation has ensued. The Board’s decision is reported at 231 N.L.R.B. No. 86.

This petition under § 10(e) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 160 (e), seeks enforcement of an NLRB bargaining order against Western Drug.

Substantial evidence on the record as a whole supports the findings of the NLRB that Western violated §§ 8(a)(1) and (3) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 158 (a)(1) and (3), by docking wages, reducing working hours, and requiring two employees to take compensatory time off, all by reason of the employees’ union activities, and by responding to those activities with interrogations, threats, solicitation of grievances, and promises of benefits.

A more difficult problem is presented by the Board’s remedial order which requires Western to bargain with the Union. Under NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575, 614 , 89 S.Ct. 1918 , 23 L.Ed.2d 547 (1969), the Board may enter a bargaining order if:

The parties agree, and the record substantiates, that serious unfair labor practices were committed. Whether the Union once…