Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Co. v. National Labor Relations Board

This matter is here on petition of Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company to set aside an order of the National Labor Relations Board, and on the Board’s cross-petition for the enforcement of its order.

The case relates to Colgate’s discharge of and its refusal to reinstate certain employees, thirty-seven in number, a course determined by the Board to be discriminatory under § 8(1) and (3) of the Act. 29 U.S.C.A. § 158 (1, 3). The illegality of Colgate’s conduct, as determined by the Board, resides in its discharge of the employees pursuant to a closed-shop contract on demand of the union party thereto which had suspended the employees because of their activities in favor of a rival union at a time when activities looking toward a change of bargaining representatives were appropriate.

The closed-shop contract was between Colgate and a local of the CIO. It was entered into in 1941 for a term of indefinite duration, that is, “until changes become necessary because of conditions beyond the control of the Company or are requested by the employees through their representatives.” A condition of employment was that employees be “members in good standing” of the union. On July 24, 1945, a…