THE TIES THAT BIND First Case Analysis Well, the Widget Makers are back in action. After a messy beginning back in the early 1930’s, it is now present day and the IUWM has become an exceedingly strong union. Hoping to expand their area of representation, the union is targeting other private sector venues, including hospital and health care facilities. An organizing campaign is starting at a small local manufacturer. The IUWM has some employees in the company who have expressed an interest in representation by a union. One of those employees, Richard Trumped, is a particularly avid campaigner and will take every moment of the day that he possibly can to talk up the union. Some employees avoid him because he will talk of nothing else. The manufacturer makes the little ties for garbage bags, a highly precise and secret process. The machinery used to make these ties is high speed and precision. Employees have to be alert at all times or they could end up as a Glad Bag tie. Not a pretty sight! One day Richard approached some fellow workers while they were on break in the break room and extolled the union’s virtues. The other employees appeared to be interested so Richard went out to his vehicle and secured some signature cards. By the time he got back, the employees were back on the line and the break was over. He gave each of them a card to fill out “when they have time.” He went back to work. Later that day, he was filling his machine with wire when one of the employees went by. Richard said, “Don’t forget to sign your card – remember our motto, “Once a Widget always a Widget, we will never let you down! He then gave the widget sign with his hands. The employee continued about his business. Another employee, John L. Louise, a man with particularly bushy eyebrows, decided to take the bull by the horns, so to speak. He fashioned some nifty Widget pins made out of garbage bag ties. A real fashion statement! The pin itself stated, “Let’s tie one on for the IUWM.” The pin itself was 3-D, about 3 inches in circumference and was made of florescent pink ties. The CEO of the company saw the pin and saw RED! He ordered John L. to cease and desist immediately. The campaign was not going as well as Richard and John L. would have liked so they enlisted the help of the International. The International brought 30 members out to the work site to assist in the informational campaign. The Company, because of its production of highly specialized and precise products was completely encapsulated by a chain link fence about 20 feet high topped by a foot or so of razor wire. There were watchtowers at the four corners of the property. Each watchtower housed a security guard with a walkie-talkie and a missile launcher. There was absolutely no open perimeter space near the plant. All employees were transported to the plant by means of an underground subway from a point some 10 miles away. There is no populated area to speak of clo.

1. THE TIES THAT BIND
First Case Analysis
Well, the Widget Makers are back in action. After a messy
beginning back in the early 1930’s, it is now present day and
the IUWM has become an exceedingly strong union. Hoping to
expand their area of representation, the union is targeting other
private sector venues, including hospital and health care
facilities.
An organizing campaign is starting at a small local
manufacturer. The IUWM has some employees in the company
who have expressed an interest in representation by a union.
One of those employees, Richard Trumped, is a particularly
avid campaigner and will take every moment of the day that he
possibly can to talk up the union. Some employees avoid him
because he will talk of nothing else. The manufacturer makes
the little ties for garbage bags, a highly precise and secret
process. The machinery used to make these ties is high speed
and precision. Employees have to be alert at all times or they
could end up as a Glad Bag tie. Not a pretty sight!
One day Richard approached some fellow workers while
they were on break in the break room and extolled the union’s
virtues. The other employees appeared to be interested so
Richard went out to his vehicle and secured some signature
cards. By the time he got back, the employees were back on the
line and the break was over. He gave each of them a card to fill
out “when they have time.” He went back to work. Later that
day, he was filling his machine with wire when one of the
employees went by. Richard said, “Don’t forget to sign your
card – remember our motto, “Once a Widget always a Widget,
we will never let you down! He then gave the widget sign with
his hands. The employee continued about his business.

2. Another employee, John L. Louise, a man with particularly
bushy eyebrows, decided to take the bull by the horns, so to
speak. He fashioned some nifty Widget pins made out of
garbage bag ties. A real fashion statement! The pin itself
stated, “Let’s tie one on for the IUWM.” The pin itself was 3-
D, about 3 inches in circumference and was made of florescent
pink ties. The CEO of the company saw the pin and saw RED!
He ordered John L. to cease and desist immediately.
The campaign was not going as well as Richard and John
L. would have liked so they enlisted the help of the
International. The International brought 30 members out to the
work site to assist in the informational campaign. The
Company, because of its production of highly specialized and
precise products was completely encapsulated by a chain link
fence about 20 feet high topped by a foot or so of razor wire.
There were watchtowers at the four corners of the property.
Each watchtower housed a security guard with a walkie-talkie
and a missile launcher. There was absolutely no open perimeter
space near the plant. All employees were transported to the
plant by means of an underground subway from a point some 10
miles away. There is no populated area to speak of close by as
the area around the company was all farmland. At a loss as to
what to do, the International’s leafleteers climbed the fence and
made the pamphlets into airplanes and soared them into the
enclosed area near the plant. The CEO came out and saw what
was happening and saw WHITE!
The CEO, Wiry Ty Baggit, called all of the employees into the
large auditorium. He shut the plant down and gave a two-hour
talk on the problems with unionization. He told of the problem
the Widget Makers had encountered back in the 30’s and talked
at great length about the Norwegian rats. A shudder went
through the audience.

3. Several weeks later an election was scheduled. It looked pretty
good because the union had had an opportunity to defuse some
of the statements made by Baggit. Baggit saw that he was
losing ground and six hours before the election, he again called
the employees together. He did not talk out against the union
and instead was very conciliatory and handed out little gift
packages containing brandied candies in bags tied together with,
of course, garbage bag ties. After this get together, he asked
the main union organizers up to his office for a drink. He did
not discuss the union, but did offer a $10.00 an hour raise for
the organizers. Trumped was tempted but did not take the
money. However, he was so offended he decided to secretly
sabotage the tie making machinery and caused a shut down that
lasted several hours. The video camera captured Trumped’s
image while he was jamming the machinery. While Baggit was
meeting with union organizers, his foremen were meeting with
small groups of employees in an effort to dissuade them from
joining the union. The foremen were careful not to say
anything that was not true, they just told of the oil on the tracks
and the rat incident. UGH!
The election was held without incident and the union lost.
Baggit came down to the shop floor and seeing BLUE, he fired
Trumped on the spot.
At the same time this organizing campaign was being
conducted, another small group of the IUWM was campaigning
in a hospital. They were leafleting in the cafeteria and also in
the operating rooms. The campaigners were mostly employees
of the hospital but there were also outside organizers. All of
the organizers and employees wore small pins stating, “After
surgery in this hospital, make sure you count all your Widgets.”
Well, there you have it. I don’t even know where to begin.
You are a new field examiner for the NLRB. No unfair labor
practices have been filed as yet, but you think there could be

4. some. Your boss has given you this scenario to examine you
knowledge of the NLRA and the case law which examines its
application. You want to impress her because you think you
want to go into this field. Examine every situation and exhaust
your knowledge of the Act and case law. You must support
your analysis with materials covered in the textbook. Put
another way, cases and other materials you find online may not
be used to support your analysis as submitted for this
assignment. Good luck!
Reminder from the Syllabus
All assignments are designed for the purpose of assessing the
student’s understanding of assigned readings and cases from the
course. While students may, of course, read materials other
than those assigned in the course, outside materials may not be
used to support responses to scenarios and questions posed as
any part of a course assignment, including the final exam, even
if properly cited. An Internet search using key words will yield
cases that may or may not be relevant, and in many cases will
yield an old case that has been overturned or is no longer
relevant for some other reason. Because of that concern, and
because there isn’t time for the instructor to assess the status of
cases not covered in the course during the grading process, no
credit will be given for the portions of any student submissions
based on such outside materials. Also, as with any good
academic writing, it is expected that even any course materials
used will be summarized in the students own words except
where the precise phrase or wording used by a court/author is
essential. Put another way, it is improper and unacceptable to
copy and paste substantial portions of the book or of a covered
case (that one has located in an electronic source) as all or part
of a response to a graded assignment for this course, even if
properly cited. While academic integrity may be debated with
regard to the wholesale importation of properly cited materials
written by third parties, an essential part of the learning process

5. in this course is the reading and synthesizing of what is stated
in the book, and then summarizing it in the student’s own words
in response to questions and issues presented for graded
analysis.
Academic Integrity
IUP students are expected to maintain the highest standards of
honesty and integrity. You are responsible for knowing and
abiding by the IUP Academic Integrity Policy, (website:
http://www.iup.edu/page.aspx?id=132892) including the
definitions of cheating, plagiarism, and other violations of
academic integrity. Plagiarism involves using the works, facts,
or ideas of another person or source as if they were your own.
It is illegal and violates both university policy and the
principles of scholarship. To avoid plagiarism, you must
properly cite other people’s words, facts, and ideas that you
incorporate into your work. If you paraphrase (put into your
own words) or quote (use the author’s exact words) from any
source (including material from the Internet), the paraphrase or
quote must be cited properly. Plagiarism, cheating, and other
forms of academic dishonesty are grounds for receiving an F (A
zero, zip, no points) for an assignment or exam, an F for a
course, and referral to the University Judicial Review and
potential sanctions including suspension or expulsion from the
university.