Opinion ID: 161307
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Remedial Bargaining Order

Text: MJ Metal also challenges the NLRB’s issuance of a remedial bargaining order, arguing that the unfair labor practices found by the NLRB are insufficient to support such a remedy. In support of this contention, it first reasserts the argument that the discharges of Messrs. Leedall and Martin were not retaliatory. It then attacks the NLRB’s findings that MJ Metal managers and supervisors improperly interrogated employees about their union activities and threatened adverse action if they continued to support the union. According to MJ Metal, the various incidents noted by the administrative law judge merely involved management stating its views about unionization, and “[t]he NLRA does not compel an employer to remain silent regarding his feelings regarding a union.” Aplt’s Br. at 22. Additionally, MJ Metal contends that because the vote of Mr. Leedall should not have been counted in the election, “there is simply no evidence that a union majority was dissipated by MJ Metal’s actions.” Id. at 27. In Gissel, the Supreme Court held that the NLRB may issue a remedial bargaining order when an employer’s unfair labor practices, although not “outrageous” or 13 “pervasive,” still “have the tendency to undermine majority strength and impede the election processes.” 395 U.S. at 613-14. The Court further explained that, “[i]f the [NLRB] finds that the possibility of erasing the effects of past practices and of ensuring a fair election (or a fair rerun) by the use of traditional remedies, though present, is slight and that employee sentiment once expressed through cards would, on balance, be better protected by a bargaining order, then such an order should issue.” Id. at 614-15. The Court added that reviewing courts should afford substantial deference to the NLRB’s selection of an appropriate remedy. See id. at 612 n.32 (“In fashioning its remedies . . . [the NLRB] draws on a fund of knowledge and experience all its own, and its choice of remedy must therefore be given special respect by reviewing courts.”); see also Artra Group, Inc. v. NLRB, 730 F.2d 586, 593 (10th Cir. 1984) (“The [NLRB’s] position that [a remedial bargaining order] is a proper remedy is based on its expertise, and the choice of remedy is entitled to special respect by appellate courts.”). In light of this standard, we are unconvinced by MJ Metal’s challenge to the issuance of a remedial bargaining order. Because we have rejected MJ Metal’s challenge to the findings concerning the discharges of Messrs. Leedall and Martin, the record supports the conclusion that MJ Metal terminated four employees (Mr. Leedall, Mr. Martin, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Newcombe) because of their union activities. Courts have recognized that the discharge of union supporters may constitute a serious infringement of the NLRA. See NLRB v. Wilhow Corp., 666 F.2d 1294, 1304 (10th Cir. 1981) (noting 14 that “[a]n unlawful termination of an employee under § 8(a)(3) may raise a question in determining whether a fair election can be held”); see also NLRB v. Gordon, 792 F.2d 29, 33 (2d Cir. 1986) (stating that “[t]hreats of discharge of union adherents are hallmark violations” that “will support the issuance of a bargaining order unless some significant mitigating circumstance exists”) (internal quotation marks omitted); NLRB v. Davis, 642 F.2d 350, 353 (9th Cir. 1981) (characterizing the discharge of union supporters as “among the most serious infringements of [the NLRA]”). Here, as the NLRB observes, it was reasonable to conclude that the effect of the discharges was heightened by the small size of the company: MJ Metal discharged four union supporters in a unit of fifteen employees. Moreover, in its August 10, 1999 order, the NLRB noted many other unfair labor practices, including “retaliating against unit employees for their union activity by changing their work schedules, requiring them to bring doctor’s slips when they are absent and to document repairs to products and refusing to give them previously approved time off for personal business; . . . [and] threatening to demote employees to apprentice positions and hire journeymen sheet metal workers if employees select[ed ] the Union to represent them.” Aplt’s App. at 487-88. The NLRB added that high-ranking officials had been involved in these violations. Substantial evidence supports these findings. Accordingly, we conclude that the NLRB did not abuse its discretion in issuing a remedial bargaining order. 15