Opinion ID: 511694
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Strikebreakers as core members

Text: 86 The majority places great emphasis on its assertion that the evidence is undisputed that the only victims of the union's challenged policy were financial core members who crossed the picket line. See maj. op. at 1254-1255. While this may be true, it is wholly beside the point. There are no other financial core members; if there were, under the union's rules they would receive the identical treatment. As pointed out earlier, some rule was required when a new category of members emerged, and there is absolutely nothing suspect either about the fact that a rule was adopted, or that it provided that financial core members would receive fewer benefits than full members. Also, the issue is not whether the policy disadvantages core members--and the Board and the majority go to great lengths to establish this uncontested point--but whether the policy discriminated against non-striking employees because of their conduct during the strike. The facts clearly demonstrate that core members do not receive different treatment because of their strike-related activities. They receive different treatment only if they currently--months after the strike has ended--refuse to participate in the affairs of the union and currently elect not to become eligible for the full range of benefits. As long as an employee is currently willing to accept full membership, he is entitled to all of the union-provided benefits--irrespective of what actions he took during the strike. 6 87 Given these facts, it cannot reasonably be said that the union's policy is one of retaliation for past conduct. Indeed, as the NLRB noted, employees who chose to work during the strike, but did not resign their [union] membership receive exactly the same benefits as full members who wholeheartedly supported the strike. ALJ op. at 10, reprinted in 275 N.L.R.B. at 916. Equally important, individuals who converted to financial core membership status during the strike and subsequently reinstated their full memberships receive all of the benefits of full membership. It is clear from these facts alone that the challenged policy does not penalize individuals because of strike-related conduct. 88 In short, while financial core members receive fewer benefits, it is not because they chose to become financial core members during the strike. They can receive the full benefits of union membership whenever they wish to do so. They need only do what all the other persons who receive those benefits have done--become full members of the union. Thus the fact that all the core members are individuals who worked during the strike does not by itself support any inference that the union's action was motivated by discriminatory animus. 89