Opinion ID: 446609
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Affiliation Decisions

Text: 2 and the Board's New Rule 3 In this case, an independent, Board-certified union of bank employees, Firstbank Independent Employees Association, voted to affiliate with the Retail Clerks Union (Retail Clerks). In accordance with the independent union's constitution, only union members voted in the affiliation election. Upon a vote favoring affiliation, the union changed its name to Financial Institution Employees of America, Local 1182, chartered by the Retail Clerk's International Union, AFL-CIO. 1 The Board determined that the affiliation did not substantially change the character of the union. Seattle-First National Bank, 241 N.L.R.B. 751 (1979). The Board then amended the independent union's certification as the exclusive bargaining representative of the bank's employees to designate the newly-affiliated union as the independent's successor. Id. When the employer, Seattle-First National Bank, refused to bargain with the newly-affiliated union, the Board found the Bank guilty of an unfair labor practice and ordered it to bargain. Financial Institution Employees of America, 245 N.L.R.B. 700 (1979). 4 In reaching its decision to amend the union's certification, the Board followed its established practice of conducting due process and continuity determinations. 2 A continuity finding between a pre- and post-affiliation union has traditionally been the prerequisite for the Board's amendment of a union's certification. In this case, the Board found continuity between the pre- and post-affiliation union. 241 N.L.R.B. at 752. In amending the union's certification and ordering the Bank to bargain, the Board specifically relied upon a contemporaneous case, Amoco Production Co. (Amoco III ), 239 N.L.R.B. 1195 (1979), in which the Board found continuity despite the fact that non-union members had not been allowed to vote on the affiliation question. In Amoco III, the Board stressed that affiliation elections are internal union matters; thus, the Board did not require non-union employees to participate in those elections. Amoco Production Company appealed Amoco III to the Fifth Circuit; Seattle-First National Bank appealed the instant case to this circuit. 5 The Fifth Circuit remanded Amoco III to the Board for a statement of facts supporting the Board's affirmative continuity determination. Amoco Production Co. v. NLRB, 613 F.2d 107, 112 (5th Cir.1980). The Board's opinion had failed to set out those facts and the court could not determine whether the Board's continuity finding was supported by substantial evidence. Id. After the Fifth Circuit's remand, the Board asked us to remand as well because our case was analytically linked to Amoco III. We complied. Seattle-First National Bank v. NLRB, Nos. 80-7004 & 79-7515 (9th Cir. June 27, 1980) (order granting Board's motion for remand). 6 On remand from the Fifth Circuit, the Board, by a 3-2 vote, overruled Amoco III and concluded, in Amoco Production Co. (Amoco IV), 262 N.L.R.B. 1240 (1982), that affiliation decisions were not internal union matters. The Board held that a unit-wide vote on affiliation was a necessary prerequisite to obtaining an amended certificate showing the new affiliate as the successor bargaining representative. The Board declared that due process required a unit-wide vote and because a unit-wide vote had not been taken, the Board did not reach the continuity issue. The Board then revoked its earlier amendment of the union's certification and dismissed the unfair labor practice complaint against the employer, which had been based on the employer's repudiation of the existing contract and refusal to bargain. The union appealed the Board's Amoco IV decision to the Fifth Circuit. 7 Similarly, the Board, by a 3-2 vote, changed its earlier opinion in our case and followed Amoco IV. The Board's opinion states that excluding nonmembers from voting in affiliation decisions violates fundamental due-process standards. Seattle-First National Bank, 265 N.L.R.B. No. 55, 265 NLRB 426, 426 (1982). The Board revoked the newly-affiliated union's amended certification and dismissed the previously-granted refusal to bargain/unfair labor practice charge against the bank. The Board did not reconsider whether continuity existed between the pre- and post-affiliation union. The union petitioned for review. 8 In the Amoco IV appeal, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the Board's new ruling after acknowledging the existence of strong arguments to the contrary. Local Union No. 4-14 v. NLRB, 721 F.2d 150, 152-53 (5th Cir.1983). In a brief opinion, the court deferred to the Board, explaining, [W]e are unable to say that the general ruling that now requires the participation of nonunion members in an affiliation election is irrational or inconsistent with the Act .... Id.