LABOR LAW-REINSTATEMENT OF SIT-DOWN STRIKERS NOT FORMALLY DISCHARGED BY THE EMPLOYER

A one-day sit-down strike occurred in the employer's plant on March 16, 1937. A general strike was called on the following day and lasted until June 24, 1937. On March 25, 1937, the employer sent a notice to all employees including the "sit-downers" urging them to return to work. The National Labor Relations Board found the company guilty of various unfair labor practices, all of which occurred during the general strike, and ordered a reinstatement of all employees who were on strike March 23, 1937, with back pay and full seniority rights.

Petitioner asserted that the men who engaged in the sit-down strike were no longer "employees" entitled to the protection of the act and challenged the order in so far as it reinstated them. Held, that since the "sit-downers" were never formally discharged by the employer, they retained their status as employees and the order for reinstatement must be obeyed. Stewart Die Casting Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board, (C. C. A. 7th, 1940) 114 F. (2d) 849, cert. denied (U.S. 1941) 61 S. Ct. 449.