Opinion ID: 729635
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Local 600M

Text: 55 Sullivan's contract with Local 139B provided for the checkoff of employees' union dues upon their written authorization. In its decision and order, the Board refused to order Sullivan to honor the dues checkoff provision of the expired bookbinders' contract. The Board stated that it did so because the bookbinders' agreement had expired, and it is well settled that the checkoff obligation does not survive contract expiration. Sullivan II, 317 N.L.R.B. at 566, 1995 WL 318651 at  9 n.15. The Union then filed a request for reconsideration of the remedy, which the Board denied. Before us, Joint Petitioners Local 600M and the GCIU (together, the Union), argue that the Board erred. 56 In reviewing the Union's claim, we will not substitute our judgment for the Board's. We treat the Board's choice of remedy with particular deference: [a] Board-ordered remedy 'should stand unless it can be shown that [it] is a patent attempt to achieve ends other than those which can fairly be said to effectuate the policies of the Act.'  Pegasus Broadcasting of San Juan, Inc. v. NLRB, 82 F.3d 511, 513 (1st Cir.1996) (quoting Virginia Elec. & Power Co. v. NLRB, 319 U.S. 533, 540, 63 S.Ct. 1214, 1218-19, 87 L.Ed. 1568 (1943)). 57 The Union first contends that the Board has not met its obligation to explain its decisions and support those decisions with substantial evidence, in either the original decision and order or its order denying the request for reconsideration. See Burlington Truck Lines v. United States, 371 U.S. 156, 167, 83 S.Ct. 239, 245, 9 L.Ed.2d 207 (1962). Accordingly, it asks that we remand the Board's order for clarification and reconsideration. See NLRB v. Food Store Employees Union, 417 U.S. 1, 9-10, 94 S.Ct. 2074, 2079-80, 40 L.Ed.2d 612 (1974). 58 We find that remand is unnecessary, as the Board has in fact explained and supported its decision, unlike in Burlington Truck Lines, on which the Union relies. See Burlington Truck Lines, 371 U.S. at 167, 83 S.Ct. at 245 (There are no findings and no analysis here to justify the choice made, no indication of the basis on which the Commission exercised its expert discretion.); see also District 1199P v. NLRB, 864 F.2d 1096, 1100 n. 3 & 1102 (3d Cir.1989). The Board found the pertinent fact--that the contract had expired--and applied the relevant law--that a checkoff obligation does not survive contract expiration. The two cases the Board relies on support its statement of the law. See Litton Fin. Printing Div. v. NLRB, 501 U.S. 190, 198-99, 111 S.Ct. 2215, 2221, 115 L.Ed.2d 177 (1991) (noting that the Board has held that dues check-off provisions are excluded from the general rule that an employer commits an unfair labor practice if, without bargaining to impasse, it effects a unilateral change of an existing term or condition of employment); Indiana & Mich. Elec. Co., 284 N.L.R.B. 53, 55, 1987 WL 89684, at  3 (1987) (The exception ... permitting unilateral abandonment of ... checkoff arrangements after contract expiration is based on the fact ... that '[t]he acquisition and maintenance of union membership cannot be made a condition of employment except under a contract which conforms to the proviso to Section 8(a)(3).'  (quoting Bethlehem Steel, 136 N.L.R.B. 1500, 1502 (1982))); see also Ortiz Funeral Home Corp., 250 N.L.R.B. 730, 731 & n. 6, 1980 WL 12092 (1980), enforced 651 F.2d 136 (2d Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 946, 102 S.Ct. 1445, 71 L.Ed.2d 659 (1982). That the Board's conclusion was made succinctly does not defeat its logic. 59 Second, the Union argues that United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America, Local 250 (Mack-Wayne Closures), 290 N.L.R.B. 817, 1988 WL 214001 (1988), supplemented, 305 N.L.R.B. 764, 1991 WL 258339 (1991), applies here. That case addressed what remedy applies when a union breaches its duty of fair representation with regard to processing an employee's grievance. The Board held that once the General Counsel meets its initial burden of proving that the underlying grievance was not clearly frivolous, the burden shifts to the union to establish that the grievance was not meritorious. If it cannot, the employee will be awarded back pay. See 290 N.L.R.B. at 820, 1988 WL 214001 at  5. 60 Specifically, the Union agrees that if Sullivan had bargained in good faith with the Union, under Litton and Indiana & Michigan Electric Sullivan would not have committed an unfair labor practice by refusing to continue in effect the dues checkoff provision of the expired contract. However, the Union points out, Sullivan did not bargain in good faith here; indeed, it committed an unfair labor practice. Accordingly, the Union continues, under Mack-Wayne Closures, any uncertainty created by Sullivan's refusal to bargain should be assessed against it. See id. 61 at  3 (noting that forcing the union to bear the risk of uncertainty was in keeping with traditional equitable principles that the wrongdoer shall bear the risk of any uncertainty arising from its actions). Here, the Union posits, the uncertainty concerning whether Sullivan would have agreed to continue in effect the dues checkoff provision pending agreement or impasse on a new contract should be assessed against Sullivan. Therefore, theUnion concludes, Sullivan should be ordered to make the Union whole by remitting dues for the bookbinder unit employees for the entire period from the date Sullivan ceased doing so, with interest. Refusal to do so, the Union maintains, would reward Sullivan for its unlawful refusal to recognize and bargain with the Union. 62 The Board responds that Mack-Wayne Closures is distinguishable. Contrary to the Union's contention, the Board argues, Mack-Wayne Closures did not rest solely on the principle that uncertainty should be resolved against the wrongdoer whose conduct created the uncertainty. It also rested on two other considerations. First, the Board noted that the union obviously [had] more particular knowledge regarding the merits of the underlying grievance than the General Counsel, such that the case fell within the principle that the burden of establishing a particular matter will often be placed on the party with special knowledge regarding that matter. 290 N.L.R.B. at 819, 1988 WL 214001, at  4. This consideration does not apply here. Second, the Board argues, Mack-Wayne Closures also stressed the special character of the grievance-arbitration process, where the employee is in effect 'presumed' to be 'innocent.'  Id. 1988 WL 214001 at  5. If the burden were not shifted, the employee would lose a procedural and tactical advantage, i.e., of having the employer bear the burden of proof. Id. at  4. The Board points out that no similar loss of rights is demonstrable in this case, which involves the denial, not of rights under an existing contract, but of the opportunity to negotiate a new contract. 63 The Board notes that it based its refusal to issue a prospective order on the settled principle that such provisions do not survive the expiration of the contract, because the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 186(c)(4), permits dues checkoff arrangements only as part of a valid collective bargaining agreement. See Litton, 501 U.S. 190, 199, 111 S.Ct. 2215, 2221-22, 115 L.Ed.2d 177 (1991). Also, it points out, it cannot order an employer to agree to a checkoff provision, even where the employer's refusal to agree to such a provision is based on a desire to frustrate agreement and not on any legitimate reason. See H.K. Porter Co. v. NLRB, 397 U.S. 99, 108, 90 S.Ct. 821, 826, 25 L.Ed.2d 146 (1970) ([A]llowing the Board to compel agreement when the parties themselves are unable to agree would violate the fundamental premise on which the Act is based--private bargaining under governmental supervision of the procedure alone, without any official compulsion over the actual terms of the contract.). 64 Similarly, the Board maintains, the remedy for unlawful repudiation of a contractual checkoff provision cannot extend beyond the expiration date of the contract, where the employer has not agreed to a subsequent contract containing such a provision. See Ortiz Funeral Home Corp., 250 N.L.R.B. at 731 & n. 6 (noting that a union's right to dues checkoff ... is extinguished on expiration of the collective-bargaining agreement creating that right). The Board concludes that nothing in the record could enable it to determine whether, or when, the parties would have reached agreement on a new contract if Sullivan had not refused to bargain. Since the Board would be left having to decide, in essence, what the parties should have agreed to, it contends that it properly declined to speculate. 65 We find the Board's reasoning persuasive. Simply put, it is too far a reach to extrapolate the Board's fairly narrow reasoning in Mack-Wayne Closures into this context. See Mack-Wayne Closures, 290 N.L.R.B. at 820, 1988 WL 214001, at  5 (describing the specific circumstances in which the burden of proof shifts to the union). The Union has not presented any authority that would help us close that gap. Accordingly, as the Union has not shown that the Board's remedy is  'a patent attempt to achieve ends other than those which can fairly be said to effectuate the policies of the Act,'  Pegasus Broadcasting, 82 F.3d at 513 (quoting Virginia Elec. & Power Co. 319 U.S. at 540, 63 S.Ct. at 1218), we affirm the Board's denial of the request to honor the dues checkoff provision.