Opinion ID: 739940
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: New Breed's Intent to Avoid Successorship

Text: 37 A new employer is deemed a successor employer if it (1) conducts essentially the same business as the former employer and (2) a majority of the new employer's work force consists of former employees or would have consisted of former employees absent a refusal to hire because of anti-union animus. Kallmann, 640 F.2d at 1100. An employer cannot avoid becoming a successor by unlawfully refusing to hire a predecessor's employees. Id. While a successor employer is not bound by the predecessor's collective bargaining agreement, NLRB v. Burns Int'l Sec. Serv. Inc., 406 U.S. 272, 281-82, 92 S.Ct. 1571, 1579, 32 L.Ed.2d 61 (1972), a successor employer must nonetheless recognize and bargain with the employees' bargaining representative, Kallmann, 640 F.2d at 1100. 38 New Breed concedes that it conducted essentially the same business as Maersk. New Breed disputes, however, that Maersk employees would have constituted a majority of its work force absent anti-union animus. New Breed argues that it was unaware of the repercussions of becoming a successor employer and therefore could not have been motivated by a desire to avoid successorship. 39 Actual motive, a state of mind, being the question, it is seldom that direct evidence will be available that is not also self-serving. Shattuck Denn Mining Corp. v. NLRB, 362 F.2d 466, 470 (9th Cir.1966). Therefore, in the context of a discriminatory discharge, a trier of fact may infer motive from the total circumstances proved. Id. In this case, New Breed promised Maersk employees that they would be retained, but then placed anonymous job advertisements in newspapers, thereby ensuring that no Maersk employee would apply for the positions. Moreover, New Breed's executives-who had considered joining the PMA and so advised the Army-decided not to join at the same time they decided not to hire Maersk employees. The evidence supports the Board's conclusion that New Breed's pattern of conduct evinces an intent to avoid bargaining with the Unions and the Board's finding that New Breed was a successor employer required to recognize and bargain with the Unions.