Opinion ID: 754581
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Withdrawal of Union Recognition

Text: 15 Absent unusual circumstances, an employer is obligated to recognize and bargain with a validly certified union for a reasonable period, ordinarily one year following certification, regardless of any changes in the majority status of the union. Brooks v. NLRB, 348 U.S. 96, 98-104, 75 S.Ct. 176, 178-82, 99 L.Ed. 125 (1954). During the certification year, the union enjoys a conclusive presumption of majority support. Bryant & Stratton Bus. Institute, Inc. v. NLRB, 140 F.3d 169, 186 (2d Cir.1998). After the certification year, an employer may rebut the presumption of a union's continuing majority support and withdraw recognition of the union if it can show either that the union in fact no longer had the support of a majority of the unit employees at the time the employer withdrew recognition, or that the employer had a reasonable good-faith doubt as to the union's continued majority status. See id.; NLRB v. Hi-Tech Cable Corp., 128 F.3d 271, 278-79 (5th Cir.1997). In the past, Board decisions have muddied the waters with respect to the appropriate standard an employer must meet in meeting his burden of proving a reasonable good-faith doubt. See Allentown Mack Sales & Service, Inc., 118 S.Ct. at 827 (finding that Board decisions using the language clear, cogent, and convincing evidence incompatible with its stated preponderance of the evidence standard in determining an employer's reasonable good-faith doubt). Allentown teaches that the Board cannot reject or discount probative evidence that tends to establish the existence of a good-faith doubt, otherwise appropriate under a preponderance of the evidence standard, by applying a stricter evidentiary standard than that which it has promulgated. Id., 118 S.Ct. at 826-28. 2 However, even if an employer claims a reasonable good-faith doubt in the union's continuing support, the employer cannot lawfully withdraw recognition from the union if it has committed yet unremedied unfair labor practices that could have reasonably tended to contribute to employee disaffection from the union. Hi-Tech Cable, 128 F.3d at 279. 16 On November 8, 1995, Beverly Farm notified the Union that it was withdrawing its final offer and withdrawing recognition. When asked by the Union on what basis it was withdrawing recognition Beverly Farm responded that it had become apparent from the lack of employee participation in Union-sponsored activities that the majority of the unit employees no longer favored the Union. In testimony before the ALJ, a Beverly Farm officer testified that no more than 12 of the 180 to 225 unit employees, on duty at the time, took part in informational picketing on June 14, 1995, and that by November 8, 1995, only three or four employees wore green union T-shirts and hats on designated Union Appreciation Days. 17 The Board concluded that Beverly Farm's doubts were not well-founded and were unreasonable. First, the Board pointed to Beverly Farm's failure to bargain in good faith by calling a premature impasse and the fact that Beverly Farm for months ignored its duty to bargain once the Union articulated its intent to return to the bargaining table. Second, citing Colonna's Shipyard, 293 NLRB 136, 140 (1989) and Robinson Bus Service, 292 NLRB 70, 78 (1988), the Board noted that Beverly Farm's purported observation of low employee participation in Union events occurred during the certification year and even if the low participation had been after the certification year, the workers' failure to participate in greater numbers is not a reliable symptom of disaffection. The Board reasoned that given Beverly Farm's studied indifference to the Union, its unilateral implementation of terms of employment previously rejected by a majority of the unit members and its refusal to meet and bargain with the Union, the employees' absence from Union-sponsored events could reflect nothing more than reluctance to publicly brand themselves union proponents. Thus, the Board's finding that Beverly Farm failed to meet its burden of proof that majority support for the Union had collapsed by November 8, 1995, is supported by substantial evidence. 18 Furthermore, the Board reasonably concluded that Beverly Farm improperly withdrew recognition of the Union in violation of Sections 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act. Most of the events alleged to establish a lack of union support came after a period when Beverly Farm refused to bargain, and during this very same period Beverly Farm committed unfair labor practices, suggesting that its behavior enabled it to undermine the Union. In addition, the Board found that many of Beverly Farm's actions constituting unfair labor practices took place during the certification year. Under the circumstances of this case, we feel the Board properly concluded that Beverly Farm was not able to rely on the employees' inaction to excuse its illegal behavior and its withdrawal of recognition violated Sections 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act. See Hi-Tech Cable, 128 F.3d at 279 (holding that the temporal proximity between the unfair labor practices and the withdrawal of recognition allows for a conclusion that employees' display of disaffection for their union might have been induced by the company's unlawful actions). 19 Beverly Farm also objects to the Board's findings that Beverly Farm engaged in several separate and independent Section 8(a)(1) unfair labor practices. 3 We find Beverly Farm's arguments to be without merit and, thus, do not address them. We also note that the Board found the independent Section 8(a)(1) incidents isolated and not pervasive and did not use them as a basis for its order extending the certification period an additional ten months.