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ber has increased steadily since this procedure was instituted in 1939. A certification of bargaining representatives was issued in 92.5 percent of the 241 cases thus disposed of.

Cases closed by certification following a Board ordered election numbered 1,014 or 17.1 percent of all representation cases closed, compared with 11.8 percent for 1942. The 1943 number represents an actual increase of 36.8 percent over that for the previous year.

A total of 1,137 cases, or 19.2 percent of all cases closed, were withdrawn by the petitioner. The number of cases dismissed was considerably smaller, representing 9 percent of the cases closed.

The total number of cases closed by certification in both adjusted and Board ordered cases was 1,243 or 21 percent of all cases closed compared with 15 percent for the 3 preceding years. An additional 2,568 cases (43.3 percent of the total number) were closed after a union won a consent election or pay-roll check or was recognized without an election. Thus in 64.3 percent of all representation cases disposed of during the year, a union secured bargaining rights. The number of cases in which unions were unsuccessful in an election increased slightly over previous years. The proportion of cases dismissed without an election for lack of merit or other reason declined gradually during the past 4 years, from 15.7 percent in 1940 to 6.8 percent in 1943. The following table summarizes the methods used in closing representation cases during the past 4 years:

Table 4.-Disposition of representation cases closed during the fiscal years 1940–43,

by method

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ELECTIONS AND PAY-ROLL CHECKS CONDUCTED IN 1943 7

Number and Extent

Over 1,400,000 workers were eligible to participate in the 4,153 elections and pay-roll checks conducted in 1943 for the choice of

*For a detailed description of the different types of election procedures, see Seventh Annual Report, p. 34.

bargaining representatives. The extent of participation in the elections maintained the high level of previous years. Eighty percent of the eligible workers cast valid votes in the 3,642 elections, or presented proof of union membership in the 511 pay-roll checks. Over 923,000 workers, or 82 percent, of those casting valid ballots, chose a union to represent them in collective bargaining; slightly more than 203,000, or 18 percent, voted against participating unions. Of the total number of elections and pay-roll checks held during the year, 2,755, or 66.3 percent, were conducted upon agreement of the parties, for informal disposition of the case (in the year 1942, consent elections and pay-roll checks were 72.4 percent of the total). The next largest group were the 1,162 elections directed by the Board, representing 28 percent of the total number, a sizeable increase over 1942 when they constituted 21.3 percent of all elections. Only 236 elections, or 5.7 percent, followed stipulations providing for Board certification upon consent election. Consent elections and pay-roll checks accounted for 46.7 percent of the total valid votes; ordered elections, 43 percent; and stipulated elections, 10.3 percent.

Unions and Industries Involved

The great majority of elections and pay-roll checks conducted during the year were uncontested, with the choice for or against a single union. They constituted 76.7 percent of the total number. The Congress of Industrial Organizations was involved in 49.5 percent of the one-union elections, the American Federation of Labor in 41.2 percent, and unaffiliated unions in 9.3 percent. Elections with two parties on the ballot amounted to 22.5 percent of the total; threeparty elections, less than 1 percent.

The single industry in which the largest number of elections and pay-roll checks were conducted was iron and steel (including ordnance), which alone accounted for 18.3 percent of the elections and 22.6 percent of the valid votes cast. Over 79 percent of the elections and 90 percent of the valid votes cast were in manufacturing industries. Steel, aircraft, shipbuilding, and nonelectrical machinery together accounted for 55.6 percent of the total valid vote.

While the total number of elections and pay-roll checks declined 1.4 percent compared with the previous year, the number in several major industries increased. Iron and steel, with 758 elections in the current year, increased 38.6 percent over 1942. Elections conducted in establishments manufacturing all types of machinery increased 24.6 percent. Aircraft and shipbuilding increased 162.3 percent and 84.1 percent, respectively. In the nonmanufacturing industries, notable increases were made in mining (65.9 percent) and public utilities (101.4 percent).

See tables 11 and 13 in Appendix, pp. 95, 97.

Results of Elections'

The C. I. O. won 75.1 percent of the 2,350 elections and pay-roll checks in which it participated; the A. F. of L. won 69.3 percent of 2,018 elections, and unaffiliated unions won 55.8 percent of 745 elections. While these proportions have not varied greatly from year to year, the proportion of votes cast for A. F. of L. and C. I. O. unions in 1943 was lower than in 1942. In 1943, the C. I. O. polled 61.8 percent of the votes cast in the elections in which it participated compared with 68 percent for 1942; the A. F. of L. received 41.6 percent of the votes, contrasted with 50.9 percent for the previous year. Unaffiliated unions received a slightly higher proportion in 1943, 46.9 percent compared with 45.1 percent in 1942. No union was successful in 573 elections or 13.8 percent of the total number. A summary of the results of elections conducted in 1943 appears in the following table:

Table 5.-Results of elections and pay-roll checks conducted during 1943, by participating unions

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The petitioning union was successful in 78.6 percent of all elections and pay-roll checks. The A. F. of L. won 78 percent of the elections in which it was the petitioner; the C. I. O., 81 percent, and unaffiliated unions, 73 percent.

In 76 percent of the elections there was only one party on the ballot, with the choice for or against the petitioning union. In the 1,312 elections where the choice was for or against an A. F. of L. affiliate, the union won in 81.5 percent and received 70.4 percent of the total valid vote. The C. I. O. with 1,577 elections in which no other party was on the ballot, won 85 percent and received 74.5 percent of the votes. Unaffiliated unions, with 296 such elections, won 82.4 percent and received 71.3 percent of the votes.

In 513 contests between the A. F. of L. and C. I. O., the C. I. O won 52.2 percent, the A. F. of L., 41.1 percent; the C. I. O. received 51.6 percent of the votes and the A. F. of L., 39.1 percent. Both the A. F. of L. and C. I. O. won a majority of the contests with un

See tables 11 and 12 in Appendix, pp. 95, 96.

affiliated unions. The success of the petitioning union in contested elections is indicated in the following table:

Table 6.-Success of petitioning unions in elections with 2 parties on the ballot, fiscal

year 1943

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In 24 industries, the C.I.O. won a larger proportion of the elections than the A. F. of L; the A. F. of L. won a larger proportion in 14 industries. The C.I.O. won over 50 percent of the elections held in iron and steel, lumber, rubber, electrical machinery, automotive equipment, metal mining, crude petroleum production, warehousing, and the service trades. The A. F. of L. won over 50 percent of the elections conducted in the construction, finance, highway passenger, and freight transportation, communication, and tobacco manufacturing industries.

Unaffiliated unions won a relatively high proportion of the elections in the chemical and coal mining industries (24.3 and 27.3 percent, respectively). The comparatively high proportion of elections won by unaffiliated unions in these industries is due to the presence of cases involving the United Mine Workers of America. In several industries unions were unsuccessful in a relatively large proportion of the elections (from 20 to 30 percent): textiles, furniture, printing, stone, clay, and glass, automotive equipment, coal mining, nonmetallic mining, wholesale and retail trade, and highway freight transportation.

IV

THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT IN PRACTICE:
UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE CASES

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Sections 7 and 8 of the National Labor Relations Act provide, in effect, that employees shall be free to engage in concerted activities, to organize themselves, and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and that employers shall not interfere with employees in their exercise of those rights. More specifically, Section 8 makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7; to dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or to contribute financial or other support to it; to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization by discriminating in regard to the hire or tenure of employment of employees or any term or condition of their employment, except that an employer may under certain circumstances agree with a labor organization to require membership therein as a condition of employment; to discriminate against an employee because he has filed charges or given testimony under the Act; or to refuse to bargain collectively with the duly designated representatives of the employees in an appropriate unit.

The Board's Seventh Annual Report, covering the fiscal year 1942, gave a general outline of the fundamental principles established by the Board's decisions in unfair labor practice cases. Since then, the Board has issued a substantial number of additional decisions in such cases, although their proportion in the Board's work has continued to decrease. The details of these decisions issued during the fiscal year 1943 may be obtained by referring to the analytical digest-index in each of the volumes of the Board's Decisions and Orders. Following is a more general discussion of the trends and developments in the Board's unfair labor practice cases during the last fiscal year.

INTERFERING WITH, RESTRAINING, OR COERCING EMPLOYEES IN THE EXERCISE OF THE RIGHTS GUARANTEED BY THE ACT

Since the Act has been in operation for more than 8 years, it is not surprising that many of the unfair labor practice cases coming before the Board present no new or startling techniques of interference with

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