Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/348/96
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Ray BROOKS, Petitioner, v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD. | LII / Legal Information Institute
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348 U.S. 96 (75 S.Ct. 176, 99 L.Ed. 125)
Ray BROOKS, Petitioner, v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.
Argued: Oct. 18, 1954.
[HTML] Mr.Erwin Lerten, Los Angeles, for petitioner.
Relying on this letter and the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in National Labor Relations Board v. Vulcan Forging Co., 188 F.2d 927, petitioner refused to bargain with the union. The Labor Board found, 98 N.L.R.B. 976, that petitioner had thereby committed an unfair labor practice in violation of §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5) of the amended National Labor Relations Act, 61 Stat. 140141, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1), (a)(5), 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(a)(1, 5), and the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit enforced the Board's order to bargain, 204 F.2d 899. In view of the conflict between the Circuits, we granted certiorari, 347 U.S. 916, 74 S.Ct. 517.
(a) A certification, if based on a Board-conducted election, must be honored for a 'reasonable' period, ordinarily 'one year,' in the absence of 'unusual circumstances.'
(b) 'Unusual circumstances' were found in at least three situations:
(2) as a result of a schism, substantially all the members of officers of the certified union transferred their affiliation to a new local or international;
(c) Loss of majority support after the 'reasonable' period could be questioned in two ways: (1) employer's refusal to bargain, or (2) petition by a rival union for a new election.
(d) If the initial election resulted in a majority for 'no union,' the electionunlike a certificationdid not bar a second election within a year.
The Board uniformity found an unfair labor practice where, during the so-called 'certification year,' an employer refused to bargain on the ground that the certified union no longer possessed a majority. While the courts in the main enforced the Board's decisions,
(b) Since an election is a solemn and costly occasion, conducted under safeguards to voluntary choice, revocation of authority should occur by a procedure no less solemn than that of the initial designation. A petition or a public meetingin which those voting for and against unionism are disclosed to management, and in which the influences of mass psychology are presentis not comparable to the privacy and independence of the voting booth.
Certain aspects of the Labor Board's representation procedures came under Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, 61 Stat. 136. Congress was mindful that, once employees had chosen a union, they could not vote to revoke its authority and refrain from union activities, while if they voted against having a union in the first place, the union could begin at once to agitate for a new election.
The National Labor Relations Act was amended to provide that (a) employees could petition the Board for a decertification election, at which they would have an opportunity to choose no longer to be represented by a union, 61 Stat. 144, 29 U.S.C. 159(c)(1)(A)(ii), 29 U.S.C.A. § 159(c)(1)(A)(ii); (b) an employer, if in doubt as to the majority claimed by a union without formal election or beset by the conflicting claims of rival unions, could likewise petition the Board for an election, 61 Stat. 144, 29 U.S.C. 159(c)(1)(B), 29 U.S.C.A. § 159(c)(1)(B); (c) after a valid certification or decertification election had been conducted, the Board could not hold a second election in the same bargaining unit until a year had elapsed, 61 Stat. 144, 29 U.S.C. 159(c) (3), 29 U.S.C.A. § 159(c)(3); (d) Board certification could only be granted as the result of an election, 61 Stat. 144, 29 U.S.C. 159(c)(1), 29 U.S.C.A. § 159(c)(1), though an employer would presumably still be under a duty to bargain with an uncertified union that had a clear majority, see National Labor Relations Board v. Kobritz, 1 Cir., 193 F.2d 8.
The Board continued to apply its 'one-year certification' rule after the Taft-Hartley Act came into force,
except that even 'unusual circumstances' no longer left the Board free to order an election where one had taken place within the preceding 12 months.
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that a 'reasonable' period depended on the facts of the particular case.
We find wanting the arguments against these controlling considerations. In placing a nonconsenting minority under the bargaining responsibility of an agency selected by a majority of the workers, Congress has discarded common-law doctrines of agency. It is contended that since a bargaining agency may be ascertained by methods less formal than a supervised election, informal repudiation should also be sanctioned where decertification by another election is precluded. This is to make situation that are different appear the same. Finally, it is not within the power of this Court to require the Board, as is suggested, to relieve a small employer, like the one involved in this case, of the duty may be exacted from an enterprise with many employees.
To be sure, what we have said has special pertinence only to the period during which a second election is impossible. But the Board's view that the one-year period should run from the date of certification rather than the date of election seems within the allowable area of the Board's discretion in carrying out congressional policy. See Phelps Dodge Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board, 313 U.S. 177, 192197, 61 S.Ct. 845, 85 L.Ed. 1271; National Labor Relations Board v. Seven-Up Bottling Co., 344 U.S. 344, 73 S.Ct. 287, 97 L.Ed. 377. Otherwise, encouragement would be given to management or a rival union to delay certification by spurious objections to the conduct of an election and thereby diminish the duration of the duty to bargain. Furthermore, the Board has ruled that one year after certification the employer can ask for an election
E.g., Globe Automatic Sprinkler Co., 95 N.L.R.B. 253; see Celanese Corp. of America, 95 N.L.R.B. 664, 672674. Both before and after the Taft-Hartley Act, the Board and the courts did not apply the rule to a collective bargaining relationship established other than as the result of a certification election. E.g., Joe Hearin, 66 N.L.R.B. 1276 (card-check); National Labor Relations Board v. Mayer, 5 Cir., 196 F.2d 286 (card-check; Squirrel Brand Co., 104 N.L.R.B. 289 (order to bargain).
E.g., National Labor Relations Board v. Brooks, 9 Cir., 204 F.2d 899; cf. National Labor Relations Board v. Sanson Hosiery Mills, Inc., 5 Cir., 195 F.2d 350; see National Labor Relations Board v. Geraldine Novelty Co., 2 Cir., 173 F.2d 14, 1617.
Celanese Corp. of America, 95 N.L.R.B. 664. The Board has on several occasions intimated that even after the certification year has passed, the better practice is for an employer with doubts to keep bargaining and petition the Board for a new election or other relief. Id., at 674; United States Gypsum Co., 90 N.L.R.B. 964, 966968; see also J. P. O'Neil Lumber Co., 94 N.L.R.B. 1299.