Opinion ID: 186380
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Viewing the Statements in the Totality of the Circumstances

Text: 25 Urging that the coercive tendencies of an employer's conduct must be assessed within the totality of the circumstances surrounding the occurrence at issue, Pet. Br. at 22 (quoting Brown & Root, Inc. v. NLRB, 333 F.3d 628, 634 (5th Cir.2003)), Federated also argues that Vella's and Hart's comments do not violate NLRA § 8(a)(3), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3), when viewed in the larger context of the employer's overall communication with the Tampa employees. Pet. Br. at 21-22. Arguably, based on the language it chose to use in its decision, the Board did assess the comments at issue with the totality of the circumstances in mind. But we need not decide whether it was correct in doing so (and whether we should adopt the Fifth Circuit's totality-of-the-circumstances test): substantial evidence supports the Board's conclusion that the comments were unlawfully threatening when viewed either on their own or in context. 26 Though Federated maintains that its communication with employees was deliberate, careful and balanced, Pet. Br. at 5, in order to do so, Federated had to delve into the dozens of letters it distributed to the staff, and the slides Vella and Hart used in the employee meetings, for bits and pieces of positive language-such as assurances that it would engage in give and take bargaining with the union should it be elected-and cites them out of context. See, e.g., Pet. Br. at 23 (citing 12 separate references to the give and take nature of post-unionization bargaining in the letters and power point presentation); id. (providing two examples of the statement we will respect your decision.). It is true that the Board has previously held that statements such as those the Board found Vella and Hart to have made in violation of § 8(a)(1), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1)-e.g. that the employees would have to bargain from zero in the event of unionization-are not violative of the [NLRA] when other communications make it clear that any reduction in wages or benefits will occur only as a result of the normal give and take of negotiations. Taylor-Dunn, 252 NLRB at 800. But random citations do not a coherent view make. Federated's attempt to lose us in the trees does not detract from the fact that a reasonable factfinder examining the textual record of the campaign-and even the specific instances where Federated used this supposedly neutral language-could conclude that the communications were designed to engender employee fears about potential loss of wages and benefits. 27 In a September 11, 2000, letter to employees, for example, Federated wrote: 28 Unionism means bargaining. Bargaining means give and take. And, give and take means that associates could get more, the same, or less when a union negotiates a contract. That's right, less. 29 Letter of September 11, 2000, J.A. at 46 (emphasis in original). The slides upon which Federated based the presentation at the employee meetings on October 2nd-4th contained more of the same: 30 If the union is selected by a majority of voters, the union gets the right to participate in give and take bargaining 31 [Bargaining] Does not start from where you presently are in wages, benefits, terms and conditions of employment... 32 EVERYTHING you have now goes on bargaining table — union will bargain with what you have now. 33 NO ONE can predict what will happen in bargaining 34 — MORE 35 — SAME 36 — LESS ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE 37 Slides 21-23, J.A. at 94-95. 38 A reasonable factfinder would therefore not be compelled to conclude that the impact of Vella's and Hart's comments is mitigated by the overall communications campaign. Although we are not called upon here to decide whether the letters and power point slides were, themselves, unlawfully threatening or coercive in violation of § 8(a)(3), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3), the wording of the letters and the slides-notwithstanding the salutary use of phrases such as give and take-might bolster the conclusion that the employees would be left with the impression that Federated was threatening futility. 39 In addition, the Board noted that Vella's and Hart's statements were not made in circumstances free from other unfair labor practices. ALJ Decision at 2 (quoting Noah's Bay Area Bagels, 331 NLRB at 189). As recounted above, the Board found that Federated had committed seven other unfair labor practices which, it was reasonable for the Board to conclude, len[t] additional coercive meaning to these managers' statements. Id. 40 Thus, Appellant's challenge to the Board's finding that Vella's and Hart's comments violated § 8(a)(3), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3), would fail, regardless of whether we were to adopt the Fifth Circuit totality-of-the-circumstances test. Vella's and Hart's comments when viewed in context of the record as a whole remain adequate to support the Board's conclusion that Federated was threatening the Tampa employees that electing the union would be futile. B. Withheld Wage Increase 41 Federated's second major challenge is that the Board erred in affirming the ALJ's finding that the employer violated § 8(a)(1) & (3) by withholding a wage increase in response to the union campaign. 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1) & (3). Because this finding was supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole, we cannot hold the Board in error. 42 The ALJ found that Federated violated the [NLRA] by failing to grant a wage increase and by placing the onus on the Union for doing so, ALJ Decision at 21, based on the following evidence: In April 2000, Federated management requested that two Tampa managers check the need to make seasonal wage adjustments for workers in the facility. Id. at 15. After a follow-up email on July 27, 2000, the two managers recommended a wage increase for both seasonal and regular employees on the basis that current wages were non-competitive. Id. Senior Vice President Hart considered this recommendation in mid-August, and in September rejected the recommendation, saying that the Tampa facility was not having trouble attracting seasonal workers. Id. 43 As a general rule, while a union representation proceeding is pending, an employer must decide whether to grant benefits precisely as it would if the union were not on the scene. Perdue Farms, Inc. Cookin' Good Division v. NLRB, 144 F.3d 830, 836 (D.C.Cir.1998). It follows that an employer may not withhold a wage increase that would have been granted but for a union organizing campaign. See also Pedro's, Inc. v. NLRB, 652 F.2d 1005, 1008 n. 8 (D.C.Cir.1981). 44 Two pieces of circumstantial evidence reflected in the record provide a basis for the Board to adopt the ALJ's finding that Federated withheld a wage increase because of the unionization campaign, and the Tampa employees' involvement therein. First, Federated decided not to grant the wage increase in the middle of the unionization campaign. Second, by the first or second week of November, Federated was, by its own admission, encountering difficulty filling openings for seasonal employees, and had to hire temporary workers to meet demand for its services. ALJ Decision at 15. But what is more persuasive is the evidence cited by the ALJ that a Federated manager showed a record of a wage increase at a non-unionized Federated facility in Georgia to Tampa employees, to make them aware of what would have happened at their facility if they had not been trying to unionize. See ALJ Decision at 17 (recounting testimony of five Tampa employees that managers brought a notice of a pay raise at Stone Mountain, Georgia around to them, and told them that they would have received a similar raise but for the union activity in Tampa). Arguably, an employer might be reluctant to raise wages shortly before a union election, lest it be accused of attempting to thereby influence the outcome of the election. Pedro's Inc. v. NLRB, 652 F.2d at 1008 & n. 8. It is even possible, as Federated strenuously argues, that in mid-September, its managers simply did not foresee that it would have difficulty by early November in attracting enough workers to staff up the facility during the peak holiday season-although this conclusion is certainly not compelled by the record evidence. But the credited testimony of five Tampa employees that they were told by Federated managers they were not receiving wage increases being granted in other facilities because of the unionization effort is indisputably relevant evidence [that] a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support [the] conclusion that Federated's purpose in withholding the wage increase was anti-union animus in violation of §§ 8(a)(1) & (3), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1) & (3). Evergreen America Corp., 362 F.3d at 837.