Opinion ID: 356189
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reliance on the Unwillingness to Agree to an Election

Text: 18 Seeking to base its good faith doubt on another source, the Company contends that its doubt was based on the Union's unwillingness to agree to an election. It is true that such a refusal was given weight in N. L. R. B. v. Laystrom Manufacturing Co., 359 F.2d 799, 801 (7th Cir. 1966), where the Seventh Circuit reasoned that an inference that the union doubted its majority status could be drawn from such a refusal. However, reasoning from the fact that either one of two contradictory inferences can be drawn from such a refusal, we find the rationale of that case inapplicable here. On one hand, as in Laystrom, the union's refusal can be interpreted as meaning that the union doubts its majority status. On the other hand, it is at least equally plausible to assume that the union is unaware or does not believe that the employer has a good faith doubt and therefore feels no obligation to participate in the burdensome election procedure. See N. L. R. B. v. Trimfit of California, 211 F.2d 206 (9th Cir. 1954). Laystrom was a strong case for drawing the first inference. The union there in similar circumstances had agreed to an election (and won) in the past rather than insisting on avoiding the burdensome election procedure, and on the occasion in question the employer in advance of the election request had communicated to the union its good faith doubt. 359 F.2d at 800. Here, however, no past union practices fuel the inference that the union doubted its support and the employer's doubt was not communicated to the union until long after the election request. Significantly, in Laystrom the ALJ chose to draw the inference that the union doubted its majority status (or at least that the employer so thought) while here the ALJ did not. Because an inference of the state of mind of one of the parties is better drawn by the trier of fact and the Board (see N. L. R. B. v. Nevada Consolidated Copper Corp., 316 U.S. 105, 62 S.Ct. 960, 86 L.Ed. 1305; 4 K. Davis, Administrative Law § 29.05) and in light of the distinction between Laystrom and our case, we give no weight to the Union's refusal to agree to an election on these facts. 19