VIII. REPRESENTATION CASES

All cases initiated by the filing of a petition, pursuant to section 9 (c) of the act, requesting an investigation and certification of representatives of employees, are called representation cases. During the period ending June 30, 1936, 202 petitions, involving 75,719 1 employees, were filed with the regional offices, and one petition, involving 4,800 employees, was filed directly with the Board in Washington, special permission for such filing having been granted pursuant to the Board's Rules and Regulations.

A. DISPOSITION OF CASES RECEIVED

The representation cases are divided into "closed" and "pending" cases, and the "closed" cases are divided into two groups-those closed before hearing and those closed after hearing. Of the closed cases, 44.3 percent were finally disposed of before hearings were necessary, while 5.9 percent were closed after hearings. The balance, 49.8 percent, were pending on June 30, 1936. Table VI sets forth the disposition of these cases in detail, and shows the number of workers involved in each group of cases.

TABLE VI.-Disposition of all representation cases

1. Cases closed before hearing.-Of the 203 representation cases received by the Board before June 30, 1936, 90, involving 48,078 em

See note 1, p. 33, supra.

ployees, were closed before hearings were held. Thus in 44.3 percent of the representation cases it was not necessary to take formal action. In about a third of the cases thus closed, or 14.3 percent of all representation cases, the petitioners withdrew their petitions. In this group there were 29 cases, involving 27,172 employees. In some cases the withdrawals resulted from adjustments of the controversies between the parties directly; in some cases they occurred after the petitioners learned that the Board had no jurisdiction over the particular controversy; in others they were withdrawn and charges were filed.

By far the largest number of cases in this category were closed as a result of settlements secured with the aid of the regional directors. In representation cases the chief purpose was to determine which person or organization the employees within a proper unit wanted as their representative in collective bargaining negotiations with their eployer. A regional director, upon the filing of a petition, would always attempt to secure the consent of all parties involved to an election to determine this issue. In a consent election the terms and conditions of the election were usually the subject of agreement. In many instances the negotiations for a consent election led to an admission that the petitioner actually represented the majority of the employees and to the recognition of such representatives for the purpose of collective bargaining.

Fifty-two cases, 25.6 percent of all representation cases, were settled before hearing. These amounted to more than half of the cases in this category and involved 10,671 employees. Twenty-three of these cases were settled by the holding of consent elections, and in 29 cases elections were dispensed with and the employers recognized the representatives of the employees.

Five of the remaining 9 cases in this category, involving 6,100 employees, were closed by dismissal of the petitions, while the other 4, in which 4,135 employees were involved, were transferred to other agencies or from one regional office of the Board to another.

2. Cases closed after hearing.-Twelve cases, or 5.9 percent of the representation cases, involving 3,509 employees, came within this category. In each of these cases a hearing was held, pursuant to specific authorization by the Board, and in five cases, involving 2,334 employees, certifications of representatives were issued after elections were held. Two of the remaining seven cases were settled after hearing, in two cases the petitions were dismissed, in one case the petition was withdrawn by the petitioner, and in one case the Board refused to certify representatives after an election was held. The facts concerning representation were so clearly proven in the remaining case that the Board certified the petitioner as the representative of the employees without finding it necessary to conduct an election.

3. Cases pending.-One hundred and one, or 49.8 percent, of the representation cases in which petitions had been filed before June 30, 1936, were pending on that date. These cases involved 28,932 employees. Most of these cases were in the course of preparation. In 70 cases, involving 9,853 employees, the regional directors were either making preliminary investigations preparatory to submitting their recommendations to the Board, or were conducting negotiations in . an attempt to arrange consent elections, or the cases were being pre

pared for hearing. This accounts for 69.3 percent of the pending cases and 34.5 percent of all representation cases.

In seven1 cases, involving 2,622 employees, the Board was unable to hold hearings because of injunction suits. There were decisions pending in 12 cases on June 30, and in 1 case the Board was prevented by injunction suit from issuing its decision in a case already heard. These 13 cases involved 7,489 employees.

In addition to the 6 cases in which the Board had conducted elections and taken final action, the Board had ordered elections in 11 pending cases. Elections were about to be conducted in 3 of these cases; elections had been held and certifications were being prepared in 2 of the cases, and the remaining 6 elections were delayed because of the commencement of injunction suits. This group of 11 cases involved 8,951 employees. Thus in 13.8 percent of the pending cases the Board was unable to proceed further because of the existence of injunction actions."

Table VII sets forth the disposition of the representation cases by regions.

In 1 case the suit was against certain union witnesses to prevent them from testifying. 'A detailed discussion of the injunction actions is contained in chapter IX, infra.