Opinion ID: 387055
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the board's refusal to issue a bargaining order

Text: 17 The ALJ recommended that the Board order the Employer to recognize and bargain with the Union, despite the fact that the Union had never demonstrated majority status. The ALJ found this remedy necessary because he saw no rational expectation that a fair election among the employees can possibly take place in the foreseeable future. J.A. 36. He may be right, and the Employer's conduct may have so poisoned the well that traditional democratic processes of election and designation by authorization cards are no longer viable options. But the Board has never issued a bargaining order in favor of a union without a showing that, at least at one time, the union had the support of a majority of the employees in the unit, and the Board was unwilling to order such relief in this case. We uphold the Board's refusal. 18 There is language in one Supreme Court opinion suggesting that the Board's power to fashion remedies might extend to such an order. This dictum appears in N.L.R.B. v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575, 89 S.Ct. 1918, 23 L.Ed.2d 547 (1969), where the Court approved the Board's practice of issuing bargaining orders when the majority support of a union, as demonstrated by a showing of authorization cards, had been dissipated by serious unfair labor practices. The Court's discussion of remedial options made reference to three categories: category three included violations not serious enough to warrant a bargaining order because an election could still be held; category two included conduct tending to undermine majority strength and impede the election processes; and category one included conduct so outrageous and pervasive that a fair and reliable election would be impossible. The Court held that the Board could impose a bargaining order in category two cases if a card majority had been shown, and mentioned without apparent disapproval a Fourth Circuit dictum suggesting that bargaining orders in category one cases would not require a majority showing. 395 U.S. at 613-14, 89 S.Ct. at 1939-40. Since that time, commentators have hotly debated the extent of the Board's power in category one cases. 6 19 As indicated above, the Board has never granted such a bargaining order. The Board Members announced different rationales for their restraint in this case, and the Union focuses on their disagreement as necessitating a remand. Two Members of the Board agreed with the ALJ that a bargaining order was necessary. Two other Members were of the opinion that, while such an order might be appropriate in some circumstances, this was not such a case. Finally, Member Penello did not believe that the Board was ever authorized to issue a bargaining order in favor of a union that had never obtained the adherence of a majority. Since his was the determinative vote, the Union argues that the Board did not fully exercise its judgment, and asks us to remand the case to the Board after holding that Member Penello has been misled by an error of law. This request is, of course, premised on our agreeing that a bargaining order is proper for a minority union in some cases. We are not so sure we agree, and, in any event, are not prepared to fill in the interstices of Gissel on the facts of this case. 20 It is true that Member Penello, in providing the vote necessary to the majority decision on this point, opined that the Board should never order an employer to bargain with a minority union. In stating his views, he referred to his opinion in United Dairy Farmers Cooperative Association, 242 N.L.R.B. No. 179, 101 L.R.R.M. 1278 (1979), remanded, 633 F.2d 1054 (3d Cir. 1980). 7 In that exposition, he explored the subject at length, emphasizing his belief that the majority rule principle of section 9(a) of the Act was too fundamental to be sacrificed. He insisted that his fellow Members' resolution of the conflict between majority rights and remedial needs was fraught with danger for employee freedom of choice. He claimed that the congressional intent expressed in the statute precluded bargaining orders for minority unions and, as his arguments demonstrate, this perceived legislative policy judgment coincided with his own. 21 In an appropriate case this court may have to confront squarely the dilemma raised by Member Penello. This is not, however, a confrontation to be precipitated hastily, involving as it does the danger of unjustifiably imposing a bargaining representative against the will of the employees. The free choice of the employees is best determined through the inexorable logic of a secret ballot election. The Supreme Court has recognized that the election process ha(s) acknowledged superiority in ascertaining whether a union has majority support, Linden Lumber Division v. N.L.R.B., 419 U.S. 301, 304, 95 S.Ct. 429, 431, 42 L.Ed.2d 465 (1974). Where employer misconduct has destroyed the possibility of a free election, the Court has approved the Board's reliance on authorization cards as the most effective perhaps the only way of assuring employee choice, Gissel, 395 U.S. at 602, 89 S.Ct. at 1934. But for a government body to bypass the employees altogether, and impose a bargaining representative merely on the basis of its own assessment of the employees' needs, would pose a serious threat to employee freedom of choice. 22 We do not believe that such a conundrum should be resolved, even preliminarily, in the abstract. We are being urged to decide this important question merely in order to remand this case to the Board so that Member Penello can restate in slightly different terms the concerns that he has already expressed. We decline to do so. The Board has sufficiently articulated its conclusion that, whether or not this remedy may be justified in some hypothetical situation, a majority of the Board agrees that it is not appropriate in this case.