Opinion ID: 544345
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Insistence to Impasse on EBW Classification

Text: 37 The EBW was a highly profitable component of Facet's Madison Heights operation. In the fall of 1983, the EBW was operated by Union member Donald Doctor. Facet previously had sought to remove the EBW classification from the unit during negotiation of the 1980 contract. The company advanced a similar proposal throughout the 1983 negotiations which the Union likewise rejected. On November 2-3, 1983, Facet and the Union commenced a marathon bargaining session whereupon Facet presented its final offer to the Union containing five inseparable hang tough issues. Rec. vol. III at 2034-37. The fourth hang tough issue was the EBW proposal which Facet's director of industrial relations told the Union must be a salary job. Id. at 2035. The Union rejected Facet's proposal and informed the company that retaining the EBW position within the bargaining unit was an issue on which the membership would strike. Id. vol. II at 2031. On November 9, in a letter to the Union, Facet confirmed the parties current impasse on the issue. In December 1983, Donald Doctor was appointed to the salaried position of supervisor and notice was posted for an EBW set-up operator to fill Doctor's position. Doctor's duties were substantially the same after his promotion and the new EBW position was never filled. 38 Labor negotiations are divided into two major subject areas: mandatory subjects regulating wages, hours and working conditions and permissive subjects covering all other areas. See Gorman, supra p. 17 at 498. Either party to a labor negotiation may bargain to impasse 9 over a mandatory subject of bargaining. Id. In contrast to mandatory subjects of bargaining, parties to labor negotiations are not obligated to negotiate over permissive bargaining subjects. Newspaper Printing Corp. v. NLRB, 692 F.2d 615, 620 (6th Cir.1982). Thus, an employer who conditions acceptance of a collective bargaining agreement upon acceptance of a permissive subject of bargaining violates Sec. 8(a)(5) of the Act. NLRB v. Wooster Div. of Borg-Warner, 356 U.S. 342, 348-50, 78 S.Ct. 718, 722-23, 2 L.Ed.2d 823 (1958). The scope of a bargaining unit constitutes a permissive subject of bargaining, regardless of whether the unit previously has been certified by the Board. Newspaper Printing Corp., 692 F.2d at 619. A party who bargains to impasse over the scope of the bargaining unit therefore commits an unfair labor practice by taking a permissive subject of bargaining to impasse. Radio & Machine Workers, 604 F.2d 689 at 696. 39 Unlike the scope of a bargaining unit, transfer of work out of a unit by an employer constitutes a mandatory subject of bargaining. Newspaper Printing Corp. v. NLRB, 625 F.2d 956, 964 (10th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 911, 101 S.Ct. 1349, 67 L.Ed.2d 335 (1981). Therefore, unless transfers are prohibited under the collective bargaining agreement, an employer may transfer work out of the bargaining unit after bargaining to impasse, so long as it first bargains in good faith and is not motivated by anti-union animus. Id. at 964-65; see Boeing Co. v. NLRB, 581 F.2d 793, 797 (9th Cir.1978); University of Chicago v. NLRB, 514 F.2d 942, 949 (7th Cir.1975).  'It does not follow however, that an employer, under the guise of the transfer of unit work, may alter the composition of the bargaining unit. To do so would not only modify the job functions of various unit members but also affect their right to representation.'  Newspaper Printing Corp., 625 F.2d at 964-65 (quoting Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. v. NLRB, 602 F.2d 73, 77-78 (4th Cir.1979)). Where the duties of the newly-designated out-of-unit employees are substantially similar to those of the unit employees, the transfer may be a sham and consequently subject the employer to liability under Sec. 8(a)(5). NLRB v. Bay Shipbuilding Corp., 721 F.2d 187, 190-91 (7th Cir.1983). 40 Facet's proposal explicitly sought to take the EBW operator out of the bargaining unit. There was nothing wrong with advancing this proposal initially as the Union might have wished to bargain over its implementation. But as a permissive subject of bargaining, Facet was proscribed from insisting upon the subject once the Union communicated its unwillingness to negotiate. See Borg-Warner, 356 U.S. at 348-50, 78 S.Ct. at 722-23; Newspaper Printing Corp., 692 F.2d at 619. Facet nevertheless included the EBW proposal as a hang tough issue in its final offer, despite the company's knowledge that it was a strike issue for the Union. Finally, Facet acknowledge that a state of impasse existed in its letter to the Union. This conduct constitutes substantial evidence that Facet argued to impasse over the composition of the EBW unit classification. 41 Facet argues that its EBW proposal did not contemplate a change in unit scope, a permissive subject of bargaining; rather it implicated a transfer of work out of the unit, a mandatory subject. Facet therefore contends that it could take the EBW issue to impasse and unilaterally promote Doctor out of the unit once a valid impasse occurred. See Newspaper Printing Corp., 625 F.2d at 964-65. However, the ALJ heard evidence that Doctor's duties as a non-union supervisor were substantially similar to his duties as a unit employee and that the position allegedly created by Facet to replace Doctor went unfilled with no apparent effect on the EBW operation. The ALJ and Board reasonably could conclude from this evidence that Facet's transfer of work out of the unit was a mere guise motivated by anti-union animus rather than technological or managerial exigencies. See Bay Shipbuilding, 721 F.2d at 191. Accordingly, the Board's holding that Facet violated Sec. 8(a)(5) of the Act by insisting to impasse on a permissive subject of bargaining was supported by substantial evidence.