Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/637/410/348807/
Timestamp: 2020-02-20 08:45:26
Document Index: 75727302

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 151', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 158', '§ 7', '§ 157', '§ 8', '§ 160', '§ 7', '§ 8', '§ 158', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8']

Trw-united Greenfield Division, Petitioner-cross-respondent, v. National Labor Relations Board, Respondent-cross-petitioner, 637 F.2d 410 (5th Cir. 1981) :: Justia
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Trw-united Greenfield Division, Petitioner-cross-respondent, v. National Labor Relations Board, Respondent-cross-petitioner, 637 F.2d 410 (5th Cir. 1981)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit - 637 F.2d 410 (5th Cir. 1981) Feb. 20, 1981
TRW-United Greenfield Division ("the Company") petitions for review, and the National Labor Relations Board cross-petitions for enforcement, of an order of the Board, 245 N.L.R.B. No. 147, adopting the findings and conclusions of the Administrative Law Judge that TRW-United violated Section 8(a) (1) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. (1976), during unionization efforts among TRW-United's employees at its Evans, Georgia plant. The Board found that the Company committed unfair labor practices by coercively interrogating certain employees concerning their own and other employees' union activities, soliciting an employee to report on the union activities of other employees, and threatening employees with loss of jobs, loss of promotions, plant closure, and a regressive bargaining posture if they unionized. The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW ("the Union") has intervened to seek denial of the Company's petition and enforcement of the Board's order.
The question presented for review is whether the Board's finding that the Company violated § 8(a) (1) of the Act through coercive interrogation, solicitation, and the making of certain threats is supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole.
After losing the December 16 election, the Union filed unfair labor practice charges and elections objections.2 Agreeing with the Administrative Law Judge, with a few minor exceptions not relevant here, the Board found that the Company violated § 8(a) (1) of the Act by (1) engaging in coercive interrogation in the above described encounters between Company personnel and employees Andrews, Sutton, and others; (2) soliciting employee Andrews to attend Union meetings and report the activities of the Union to management; (3) threatening employee Sutton with plant closure if the employees unionized and also with loss of promotion for supporting the Union; (4) threatening the employees as a whole with plant closure and loss of jobs in its October 7 letter; and (5) threatening, at the Springstroh and the Leitner meetings, to take a regressive bargaining stance which would jeopardize existing benefits if the employees unionized.
Section 8(a) (1) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(a) (1) (1976), prohibits employers from interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of their right of, inter alia, self-organization under § 7 of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 157 (1976). The test for determining whether an employer has violated § 8(a) (1) is whether the employer's questions, threats, or statements tend to be coercive, not whether the employees are in fact coerced. Sturgis Newport Bus. Forms, Inc. v. N. L. R. B., 563 F.2d 1252, 1256 (5th Cir. 1977); N. L. R. B. v. Huntsville Manufacturing Co., 514 F.2d 723, 724 (5th Cir. 1975). The presence of coercive tendencies in a particular instance of an employer's conduct is to be determined in light of the totality of the circumstances in which that particular instance of conduct occurred. N. L. R. B. v. Laredo Coca Cola Bottling Co., 613 F.2d 1338, 1342 (5th Cir. 1980), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 101 S. Ct. 246, 66 L. Ed. 2d 115 (1980); N. L. R. B. v. Varo, Inc., 425 F.2d 293, 298 (5th Cir. 1970). "Remarks that may not appear coercive when considered in isolation may take on a different meaning when evaluated with respect to the totality of the circumstances." N. L. R. B. v. Laredo Coca Cola Bottling Co., 613 F.2d at 1341 (quoting N. L. R. B. v. Kaiser Agricultural Chemicals, Div. of Kaiser A. & C. Corp., 473 F.2d 374, 381 (5th Cir. 1973)).
We review the validity of the Board's order under the substantial evidence rule. 29 U.S.C. § 160(e) & (f) (1976); Universal Camera Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 340 U.S. 474, 71 S. Ct. 456, 95 L. Ed. 456 (1951); Mueller Brass Co. v. N. L. R. B., 544 F.2d 815 (5th Cir. 1977). We separately analyze the Board's findings of coercive interrogation, solicitation, threats of plant closure, job loss and promotion loss, and threats of the assumption of a regressive bargaining posture.
Employer interrogation into union activities is not per se illegal. N. L. R. B. v. Laredo Coca Cola Bottling Co., 613 F.2d at 1342; Ridgewood Management Co. v. N. L. R. B., 410 F.2d 738, 740 (5th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 832, 90 S. Ct. 87, 24 L. Ed. 2d 83 (1969). However, any interrogation of employees by an employer "presents an ever present danger of coercing employees in violation of their § 7 rights." N. L. R. B. v. Laredo Coca Cola Bottling Co., 613 F.2d at 1342; Texas Industries, Inc. v. N. L. R. B., 336 F.2d 128, 133 (5th Cir. 1964). In determining whether certain interrogation tends to be coercive in the totality of the circumstances, the following factors are to be considered: (1) the history of the employer's attitude toward its employees; (2) the nature of the information sought; (3) the rank of the official of the employer in the employer's hierarchy; (4) the place and manner of the conversation; (5) the truthfulness of the employees' reply; (6) whether the employer has a valid purpose in obtaining information concerning the union; (7) whether this valid purpose, if existent, is communicated to the employees; and (8) whether the employer assures the employees that no reprisals will be taken if they support the union. Sturgis Newport Bus. Forms, Inc. v. N. L. R. B., 563 F.2d at 1256; Florida Steel Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 529 F.2d 1225, 1229 (5th Cir. 1976); N. L. R. B. v. Camco, Inc., 340 F.2d 803, 804 (5th Cir. 1965), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 926, 86 S. Ct. 313, 15 L. Ed. 2d 339 (1965). This list is not exhaustive, however, and coercion may occur even if all of these factors operate in favor of the employer. Sturgis Newport Bus. Forms, Inc. v. N. L. R. B., 563 F.2d at 1256; N. L. R. B. v. Camco, Inc., 340 F.2d at 804.
It is well settled that employer threats of plant closure, job loss, and loss of promotion in the event of unionization or support for a union are violative of § 8(a) (1) of the Act. See, e. g., N. L. R. B. v. Pope Maintenance Corp., 573 F.2d 898, 905 (5th Cir. 1978); N. L. R. B. v. Kaiser Agricultural Chemicals, Div. of Kaiser A. & C. Corp., 473 F.2d 374, 380-81 (5th Cir. 1973). Section 8(a) (1) is violated if, under the totality of the circumstances, "the employees could reasonably conclude that the employer is threatening economic reprisals if they support the Union." Hendrix Manufacturing Co. v. N. L. R. B., 321 F.2d 100, 105 (5th Cir. 1963); see also N. L. R. B. v. Kaiser Agricultural Chemicals, 473 F.2d at 381.
An employer may express to his employees his general view about unionism or any of his specific views about a particular union, as long as such expression does not contain a "threat of reprisal or force or promise of benefit." 29 U.S.C. § 158(c) (1976); N. L. R. B. v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575, 618, 89 S. Ct. 1918, 1942, 23 L. Ed. 2d 547, 580 (1969). An employer may even make a prediction as to the economic consequences he believes unionization will have on his business. Gissel Packing, 395 U.S. at 618, 89 S. Ct. at 1942, 23 L. Ed. 2d at 580.
Id. at 618, 89 S. Ct. at 1942, 23 L. Ed. 2d at 580-81. An employer's conveyance of his belief, however sincere, that the plant would or might close as a result of unionization is not a statement of fact unless the possibility of closing is capable of proof, a situation which is highly unlikely. Id. at 618-19, 89 S. Ct. at 1942, 23 L. Ed. 2d at 581.
Substantial evidence supports the Board's findings that the Company violated § 8(a) (1) by twice threatening plant closure and loss of jobs in the event of unionization. The first instance was in the letter of October 7 to all employees. The second was in the conversation between Director Wyse and employee Sutton about two days before the election. In this conversation, Sutton also was threatened with loss of promotion for supporting the Union.
The Board found coercive and in violation of § 8(a) (1) the statements made by Operations Manager Springstroh throughout his 20 meetings with the employees, and by Supervisor Leitner during his informal discussion with a few employees two days before the election. These statements were that bargaining would begin "from scratch" or with a "blank sheet of paper" if the Union were to win the election. In our view, these findings are supported by substantial evidence.
Accordingly, we uphold the Board's findings that the Company, in violation of § 8(a) (1), threatened its employees with the assumption of a regressive bargaining posture in the event of a Union victory in the election.
We conclude that substantial evidence supports the Board's findings that the Company violated § 8(a) (1) by engaging in coercive interrogation and solicitation, and by threatening plant closure, job loss, promotion loss, and a regressive bargaining posture. We therefore uphold the order of the Board and order its enforcement.