The Circuit Court of Appeals declined to decree effective enforcement of an order of the National Labor Relations Board upon the ground that the Board's order, in material respects, rested upon findings that were not supported by substantial evidence. 1 Cir., 106 F.2d 119.
In its petition for certiorari, the Board took sharp issue with the Court of Appeals, asserting that some findings upset by the court were supported not merely by substantial but by 'uncontradicted' and 'undisputed evidence.' The petition also pointed out that the court's opinion was 'ambiguous and inconclusive' and 'left unclear the court's holding as to whether the Board had jurisdiction.' Our inspection of the court's opinion and decree disclosed that the court deemed the Board to be wholly lacking in jurisdiction. Nevertheless, the Board was ordered to proceed in accordance with the opinion which concluded with the indecisive statement that 'if the case should not be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction' a large part, but apparently not all, of the Board's order should be vacated. The court's decree did not direct enforcement even of those parts of the Board's order not expressly vacated. The Board's petition further pointed out that its motion for rehearing in order to clarify the question of its jurisdiction and to establish the status of 'those portions of the Board's order which the court neither vacated nor enforced' was denied without explanation. Because the Labor Board's petition in challenging the action of the Court of Appeals thus raised questions of grave public importance affecting the administration of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq., and judicial review as provided in the Act, we granted certiorari.
This proceeding was initiated upon charges filed by the Textile Workers Organizing Committee of the C.I.O. Thereupon, the Labor Board served a complaint and notice of hearing on the Bradford Dyeing Association (U.S.A.), respondent here.
In the complaint, it was alleged that respondent in order to discourage membership in the C.I.O., had discharged and refused to reinstate its employees, Edward Nelson and Percy Schofield, because of their affiliation and activities in the Textile Workers Organizing Committee of the C.I.O., (T.W.O.C.); respondent had dominated and supported the Bradford Dyeing Association Employees' Federation, a labor organization, and had refused to bargain collectively with its employees through the T.W.O.C. after a majority had selected it as their bargaining representative.
The Board's jurisdiction was unsuccessfully challenged on the ground that respondent's business involved no activities in or affecting interstate commerce within the meaning of the Act. And, answering, respondent alleged that Schofield was discharged because he smoked during working hours; 'that * * * Nelson was not discharged, that he was insubordinate and defiant, that he did not work and refused to work during the times when he was supposed to be working, that he was on the premises during hours when he was not supposed to be on the premises of respondent and was taking up the time of other employees who were supposed to be working during such time, that * * * Nelson went upon a vacation and has not returned to work after such vacation nor made any statement of his readiness to return to work or made any request that he be put to work again'; that respondent had not dominated or coerced the Federation; and that any labor disputes at its plant were attributable to the conduct of the T.W.O.C.
The Federation was allowed to intervene in the extensive hearing held by the Board.
After this hearing, the Board found that 'a labor dispute' in respondent's plant would widely affect 'the flow of commodities in interstate commerce', with consequent jurisdiction in the Board, and that the charges of the complaint had been substantiated.
The Board accordingly ordered respondent to cease and desist from (1) interfering, or coercing its employees in the exercise of their rights to self-organization; (2) dominating and interfering with the Federation or any other labor organization; (3) discouraging membership in the T.W.O.C.; (4) refusing to bargain collectively with the T.W.O.C.; and (5) ordered respondent affirmatively to offer reemployment to Schofield and Nelson and to make them whole, to withdraw all recognition from and completely disestablish the Federation, to bargain collectively with its employees through T.W.O.C., and to post the usual notices throughout its plant stating that the company would cease its unlawful and unfair labor practices and would treat its agreement with the Federation as of no effect.