Opinion ID: 6641619
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Application of the Board’s Test to Dubuque

Text: Dubuque next contends that the Board improperly applied its test to the facts of this case and that under the new standard, properly applied, its actions did not give rise to a bargaining duty. In addressing this contention, we are required by statute to uphold “the findings of the Board with respect to questions of fact if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole.” 29 U.S.C. § 160(f). Dubuque objects, first, to the Board’s finding that its relocation did not constitute a change in the scope and direction of its business. It relies for support on the ALJ’s finding that the Rochelle plant was a “smaller, newer, more modern ..., better laid out” facility and his conclusion “that [Dubuque’s] relocation of the hog kill and cut to Rochelle clearly turned on a fundamental change in the scope, nature, and direction of [its] business of which labor costs were but a single important factor.” ALJ Decision, 287 N.L.R.B. at 538. The Board rejected this conclusion, stating that “[t]here is no evidence that the relocation decision was accompanied by a basic change in the nature of the employer’s operation.” Dubuque Packing, 303 N.L.R.B. at 393. The Board’s position enjoys ample support in the record. In fact, its rejection of the ALJ’s conclusion is specifically supported by the ALJ’s findings. The ALJ stated that Dubuque used the Rochelle facility to substantially replace the Dubuque facility. As production in Rochelle increased, there was a corresponding reduction at Dubuque until the hog kill and cut processing departments and related operations there were completely phased out. Larry J. Tange-man, general plant superintendent at Du-buque, became superintendent of the Rochelle facility and about 13 members of Dubuque management also were transferred to Rochelle, as was certain production equipment. The purposes of the Rochelle plant, to slaughter hogs, dress carcasses, and to process pork into hams, bacon, and sausage, were the same as at the Dubuque plant. ALJ Decision, 287 N.L.R.B. at 529. Indeed, in view of these facts, the ALJ felt it necessary to “find” on the record that “the transfer ... did not constitute subcontracting.” Id. at 529 n. 82. Aside from the ALJ’s conclusory statement, Dubuque points to nothing indicating that the Dubuque and Rochelle operations were objectively dissimilar enough (in scale of operations for example) for the relocation to constitute a “basic change in the nature of the employer’s operation” as that phrase is used in the test. See Dubuque Packing, 303 N.L.R.B. at 391. Viewed as a whole, the record offers substantial support for the Board’s position. Dubuque’s second contention is that because “the record ... is very clear that the union “would not’ offer labor concessions,” bargaining would have been futile; hence it was not required. Brief for Dubuque at 40. Dubuque cites for support Local 777, where we observed: It would make a mockery of the labor law for this court to hold that the Company had committed an unfair labor practice by refusing to bargain when the Union gave a public demonstration of its intransigent opposition to a management proposal, attempted to thwart the realization of this proposal by political action, and conditioned any bargaining on an illegal recognition of it as collective bargaining representative. Local 777, 603 F.2d at 888 (emphasis in original). While we agree that our precedent, like the Board’s test, relieves employers from any duty to bargain in the face of a union’s adamantine intransigence, that principle has no bearing here. As counsel for the UFCW pointed out at oral argument, the UFCW “could, would, and did” accept concessions— in 1978, in August 1980, and again in October 1981 — all in a vain attempt to keep the Du-buque facility open. Indeed, the vote that led to Dubuque’s “irrevocable” decision to relocate was not a vote to categorically refuse Dubuque’s overtures, but a vote to insist on financial disclosure as a prelude to bargaining. The Board’s finding that good-faith bargaining between Dubuque and the UFCW might not have been futile was substantially supported by the record.