Opinion ID: 715049
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Effects Bargaining

Text: 13 The Board determined that the subcontracting decision itself was outside the scope of mandatory bargaining under the Act, and OFC's failure to bargain over that decision did not violate § 8(a)(5) or (1) of the Act. Oklahoma Fixture Co., 314 N.L.R.B. at 959-60; see First Nat'l Maintenance Corp. v. NLRB, 452 U.S. 666, 686, 101 S.Ct. 2573, 2584, 69 L.Ed.2d 318 (1981) (holding that a company is not required to bargain over the decision to shut down part of its business for purely economic reasons). However, the Board found that OFC was required to bargain about the effects of its decision to subcontract, and that by failing to give the Union adequate notice and an opportunity to bargain over the effects of its decision, OFC violated § 8(a)(5) and (1). Oklahoma Fixture Co., 314 N.L.R.B. at 960-61; see First Nat'l Maintenance, 452 U.S. at 681-82, 101 S.Ct. at 2582.
14 The National Labor Relations Act, as codified, states that it is an unfair labor practice for an employer to refuse to bargain over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(5) and (d). The subject matter of mandatory bargaining has been interpreted to include the effects of management decisions. See First Nat'l Maintenance, 452 U.S. at 681, 101 S.Ct. at 2582. The Supreme Court has stated: 15 There is no dispute that the union must be given a significant opportunity to bargain about these matters of job security as part of the effects bargaining mandated by § 8(a)(5). And, under § 8(a)(5), bargaining over the effects of a decision must be conducted in a meaningful manner and at a meaningful time, and the Board may impose sanctions to insure its adequacy. 16 First Nat'l Maintenance, 452 U.S. at 681-82, 101 S.Ct. at 2582 (citations omitted). 1 A concomitant element of 'meaningful' bargaining is timely notice to the union of the decision to close, so that good faith bargaining does not become futile or impossible, Penntech Papers, Inc. v. NLRB, 706 F.2d 18, 26 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 892, 104 S.Ct. 237, 78 L.Ed.2d 228 (1983), and [t]he [decision] cannot be a 'fait accompli' which would make good-faith bargaining 'futile or impossible,'  NLRB v. Emsing's Supermarket, Inc., 872 F.2d 1279, 1286 (7th Cir.1989) (citing Penntech Papers, 706 F.2d at 26, and NLRB v. National Car Rental Sys., 672 F.2d 1182, 1189 (3rd Cir.1982)). The Board, without supporting evidence, determined that OFC did not afford the Union a meaningful opportunity to bargain about the effects of the subcontracting decision, stating, we find that [OFC] announced its decision to terminate the bargaining unit in a manner that precluded meaningful bargaining over the effects on unit employees. Oklahoma Fixture Co., 314 N.L.R.B. at 960. The Board expressly did not determine how many days' notice would constitute a meaningful opportunity to bargain, only holding that OFC's 1-day notice was clearly insufficient. Id. at n. 5. Whether an employer has provided meaningful and timely notice is essentially a question of fact, and the Board's findings in this regard are to be accepted if supported by substantial evidence. Emsing's Supermarket, 872 F.2d at 1287. 17 As an initial matter, we disagree with the Board's determination that OFC only afforded the Union one days' notice. Although OFC announced the terminations on Tuesday, one day after notifying the Union of the decision, the company continued to pay the electricians through the end of the week. Thus, at a minimum, the Union had four days' within which to request bargaining. It did nothing but file a complaint the very next day. Meaningful effects bargaining could certainly have been requested and could have occurred during the four days when the electricians, though terminated, were still being paid. Under the case law, the fact that the employees were still on the payroll is an important determinant of the Union's leverage and bargaining power; indeed, the Board's standard Transmarine remedy to effectuate bargaining only requires the company to pay, not rehire, the employees. Accord Kirkwood Fabricators, Inc. v. NLRB, 862 F.2d 1303, 1307 (8th Cir.1988) (the court also approved of the Board's limited back pay remedy, reasoning that it provid[ed] the Union some measure of bargaining strength which it would have had if [the company] had engaged in effects bargaining at the appropriate time.). 18 OFC contends that meaningful effects bargaining in this case could have occurred after the terminations and even after the electricians were removed from the payroll. The company argues that even if the subcontracting decision was presented to the Union as a fait accompli, the company and the Union could still have meaningfully bargained over effects even after the employees were terminated. Under the facts of this case, these contentions have merit. In several cases the Union did not request effects bargaining until long after the termination decision was completely effectuated, suggesting that meaningful effects bargaining can occur even after the termination decision has been completely implemented. See, e.g., Orbitron Indus., Inc., 319 N.L.R.B. No. 117, 1995 WL 732848 (1995) (company ceased operations at its plant on December 31, 1993, and Union did not request effects bargaining until October 19, 1994). 19 The Board properly found that the Union had no right to bargain over the subcontracting decision itself, only its effects, and this effects bargaining could be meaningfully conducted even after the employees were removed from the payroll. See Creasey Co., 268 N.L.R.B. 1425, 1984 WL 36116 (1984). In Creasey, the Union was informed on November 2 that the company would close on November 5; the company bargained with the Union on November 3, 4, 10, and 15, and December 12. The Board did not consider that the fact that several of the bargaining sessions occurred after the company was closed affected the meaningfulness of the bargaining. We do not decide at what time the window for meaningful effects bargaining closes, but the window does not automatically close upon the implementation of a termination decision. 20 We turn now to the adequacy of the notice given in this case. Adequacy of notice is essentially a question of fact, and as such, the amount of notice required may vary somewhat from case to case. In some situations, if the company is not required to bargain about the termination decision, it may not be required to give any notice at all with regard to effects bargaining. See Chippewa Motor Freight, Inc., 261 N.L.R.B. 455, 460, 1982 WL 24447 (1982); accord Daniel I. Burk, 313 N.L.R.B. at 1268 (notice requirement excused in cases of emergency). In other situations, more notice might be required in order for meaningful bargaining to occur simply because there are more issues on the table. For example, unlike the case before us, a company may have multiple divisions or departments that could utilize the services of employees working in the affected division, and with enough notice, employees could be transferred to these other divisions. 21 The cases fail to yield a bright-line rule as to what constitutes adequate notice. Compare Emsing's Supermarket, 872 F.2d at 1287 (three or four days' notice insufficient), with Chippewa, 261 N.L.R.B. at 460 (two days notice adequate). The discrepancy seems to stem in part from the underlying factual situations in the cases; the cases seem to turn on whether the employer refused to bargain rather than the amount of prior notice. See, e.g., Kirkwood Fabricators, 862 F.2d 1303 (holding that same day notice was inadequate where the Union requested effects bargaining six days after the company was sold, but the company refused to meet with the Union); Penntech Papers, 706 F.2d 18 (holding that same day notice was inadequate where company failed to bargain in good faith after the closure). Further, some cases are implicitly or explicitly premised on a position that we explicitly reject, namely that the window for meaningful effects bargaining always closes upon termination, see, e.g., Emsing's Supermarket, 872 F.2d 1279; rather, the adequacy of notice depends on the facts of a given case. 22 Based upon the record before us, we find that four days' notice constituted adequate notice to effectuate meaningful effects bargaining under the facts of this case. Increased notice would fail to serve any purpose in this case. The Union had ample time to request effects bargaining, and meaningful bargaining could have taken place both during the four days or thereafter. At no time did the OFC refuse to bargain. Further, given the brevity of the electricians' employment and considering the nature of the decision, there were few effects over which to bargain, making additional notice superfluous. A situation involving more established employees might present more effects over which to bargain, such as pension contributions, possible intracompany transfer, seniority concerns, and so forth. In this case, the only issue was the amount of severance pay.
23 Once the company provides appropriate notice to the Union, the onus is on the Union to request bargaining over subjects of concern. NLRB v. Island Typographers, Inc., 705 F.2d 44, 51 (2d Cir.1983). If the Union fails to request bargaining, the Union will have waived its right to bargain over the matter in question. Id.; Associated Milk Producers, Inc., 300 N.L.R.B. 561, 563, 1990 WL 180527 (1990). A waiver of a statutory bargaining right must be clear and unmistakable. Metropolitan Edison Co. v. NLRB, 460 U.S. 693, 708, 103 S.Ct. 1467, 1477, 75 L.Ed.2d 387 (1983). However, a union cannot simply ignore its responsibility to initiate bargaining over subjects of concern and thereafter accuse the employer of violating its statutory duty to bargain. Island Typographers, 705 F.2d at 51. Further, the filing of an unfair labor practice charge does not relieve the Union of its obligation to request bargaining. Associated Milk Producers, 300 N.L.R.B. at 564 ([I]t [i]s incumbent on the Union to request bargaining--not merely to protest or file an unfair labor practice charge.). 24 In this case, the Union candidly admits it never requested effects bargaining at any time during the week of the June 8th, or any time thereafter, thereby waiving its right to effects bargaining. The Union's chief negotiator testified that he knew we could bargain over the effects of [the decision], but that he chose not to request bargaining because he was concerned only with the decision itself, rather than its effects. The Union negotiator's comments clearly indicate that the Union intended to waive its rights to effects bargaining. The negotiator's statement clearly suggests that the Union failed to request effects bargaining because it never desired effects bargaining. 25 The Union's failure to raise an issue does not constitute waiver of its right to bargain over the issue if the Union is led to believe that an attempt to bargain over the issue would be futile. Intermountain, 984 F.2d at 1568; accord NLRB v. National Car Rental Sys., Inc., 672 F.2d 1182, 1189 (3rd Cir.1982). However, in this case there was no indication that the company would refuse to bargain over effects. To the contrary, the record is uncontroverted that Vice President Cavins testified that he was authorized to bargain over severance benefits upon request and authorized to increase the amount of severance pay. 26 In American Diamond Tool, Inc., 306 N.L.R.B. 570, 1992 WL 44698 (1992), the Board held that Union waived its right to bargain over layoffs despite the lack of any prior notice of the layoffs. The Board found the combination of three factors constituted waiver: (1) the Union had actual notice of the layoffs after they took place; (2) the union had an opportunity to object to these layoffs at subsequent bargaining sessions; and (3) the company engaged in good faith bargaining, and there was no evidence that it would not have bargained about the layoffs. Id. at 570. The Board noted that the absence of notice was an important fact suggesting the unlawfulness of the layoffs, but the Union subsequently led the company to believe that it did not object, thus constituting waiver. Id. at 571. 27 In this case the Union had advance notice of the subcontracting decision, the Union had ample opportunity to request bargaining both during the week that the electricians were still on the payroll and thereafter, and there was evidence of willingness on the part of the company to bargain about effects. In light of all these factors, the Union's failure to request bargaining waived its right to bargain over the effects of the company's subcontracting decision. 28 ENFORCEMENT DENIED.