Abstract
The purpose of this treatise is threefold: (1) to document the impact of an unusual wage reopener clause in a collective bargaining agreement between The Firestone Synthetic Rubber & Latex Company, a Division of Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Orange, Texas, and the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, Local 4-836 and to document a "poll" ordered by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont, Texas; (2) to bring an application of management-labor interplay into a case study suitable for curriculum materials in the disciplines of labor relations and vocational education; and (3) to document the history of the Firestone Petrochemical Center, Orange, Texas. The descriptive study encompasses thirty-five legal actions and seven peripheral charges that were the result of a lengthy strike. At one point in the dispute, fourteen cases were on the dockets concurrently. Included were twelve unfair labor practice charges and fourteen cases filed in state and federal courts (two of which were in the federal appellate courts). During the course of the dispute there were four attempts by some employees to bring about decertification election. Because of the strong desire for resolving a question of union majority, Firestone, through its attorney, made an attempt to solve the issue through a poll ordered by a federal district court. This illegal maneuver brought the immediate action of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In the course of the described events, two 10(1) injunctions were requested (one of which was granted), one 10(j) injunction was requested and granted, and two charges of illegal secondary boycott charges were alleged. ...
Garrett, Arthur Milton (1971). The impact of an ambiguous wage reopener clause in a collective bargaining contract and an employee poll on labor relations in a petrochemical plant on the Texas Gulf Coast. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -175760.