Opinion ID: 720996
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Statutory Exclusion of Supervisors

Text: 12 Patrick Media contends Troxler is a supervisor who is statutorily excepted by section 14(a) of the Act from the collective bargaining agreement. 13 The interpretation of a statute is a question of law we review de novo. Braun v. INS, 992 F.2d 1016, 1018 (9th Cir.1993). 14 Section 14(a) provides that no employer ... shall be compelled to deem ... supervisors as employees for the purpose of any law, either national or local, relating to collective bargaining. 29 U.S.C. § 164(a). The Supreme Court has interpreted this section of the Act to mean that while employers will not be forced to bargain with supervisors, employers may voluntarily chose to do so. News Syndicate, 365 U.S. at 699 n. 2. We have also held that the language in section 14(a) does not preclude the petitioner and the union from entering into an agreement covering the supervisor if they chose to do so. Sakrete of N. Cal., Inc. v. NLRB, 332 F.2d 902, 908 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 961 (1965). 15 Patrick Media incorrectly asserts that, as a matter of law, section 14(a) precludes supervisors from being covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Section 14(a) allows Patrick Media to refuse to cover supervisors, but does not, as a matter of law, prevent Patrick Media from including supervisors, or working foremen, in the CBA. Whether Troxler, a working foreman, is a supervisor and whether he is covered by the CBA must be determined by interpretation of that document. See Local Union 89, Int'l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, AFL-CIO v. Gen. Tel. Co. of Northwest, 431 F.2d 957, 959 (9th Cir.1970).