Opinion ID: 1281454
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Court of Appeal Decision in This Case

Text: The Court of Appeal in this case noted the facts with respect to the unfair labor practice allegations were nearly identical to those in the first decision of the Court of Appeal in 8 ALRB 87. There, the court upheld findings of unfair labor practices but concluded the remedial order was overbroad. The Court of Appeal here followed the lead of the court in the first Court of Appeal decision in 8 ALRB 87 [7] and held both that the record supported findings of unfair labor practices, [8] and that the Board's order was overbroad. In particular, the Court of Appeal here adopted the reasoning that (1) the right of access was statutory and not necessarily based on the First Amendment, (2) whether the right of access was statutory or based on the First Amendment, the union's right of access was not unlimited, (3) access could be denied altogether if other reasonable means of communication were available, and (4) the union here made a sufficient showing that in fact there were no alternative reasonable means of communication. From these principles, extracted from the first Court of Appeal opinion in 8 ALRB 87, the court in this case concluded that, although the union had established a right of access, the Board's order for unlimited access was overbroad. The Court of Appeal here, as in the first Court of Appeal opinion in 8 ALRB 87, vacated the access order and remanded the matter to the Board. The Board was directed to reword the order to require the grower to permit reasonable access to the labor camp and work place and to make specific provisions in detail setting limits on time and numbers of organizers. The court also struck the award of attorney fees and costs as invalid. In addition, the Court of Appeal vacated a portion of the Board's order for one hour of remedial field access on company time, on the ground that the order would permit access to be taken an unlimited number of times and that the financial burden of providing such access on company time was punitive. The Court of Appeal remanded that issue to the Board for further clarification. We granted review of the court's decision. As shall be seen, we conclude that the Court of Appeal's primary holdings  striking the award of attorney fees, upholding the unfair labor practice findings and vacating the camp access order as overbroad  were correct and should be affirmed. Part of the reasoning underlying the Court of Appeal's conclusions with respect to the unfair labor practice findings and overbreadth of the Board order was erroneous however. Further, the Court of Appeal's order that the Board should make specific detailed provisions setting limits on access was improper and will be reversed. Finally, the portion of the Court of Appeal judgment vacating and remanding the order for one hour of compensated field access was based on a misapprehension of the Board's order and will be reversed.