Opinion ID: 363952
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: recognition of local 806

Text: 20 The Board agreed with the conclusion of the administrative law judge that Hartz unlawfully aided, assisted and supported Local 806 and that Hartz' recognition of that union, when it did not represent an uncoerced majority of the employees, and while substantial real questions concerning the representation of the employees existed, was an unfair labor practice under § 8(a)(1), (2) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), (2). 8 The Board based its conclusion on the findings that (1) Hartz supervisors solicited Local 806 membership cards; (2) Vazquez and other Local 806 adherents were allowed to solicit authorization cards on company time; (3) Local 806 organizers were given access to the plant for organizational purposes; and (4) Hartz hastily recognized Local 806 when the union did not have the support of a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit. We find substantial evidence in the record to support these findings, and agree that they justify the conclusion that Hartz' unlawful aid and support for Local 806 constitutes an unfair labor practice. 21 We note initially Hartz' differing responses to the organizational campaigns of the three unions. Both District 65 and Local 888 made repeated unsuccessful attempts to gain recognition as bargaining agent for Hartz' employees in the course of recognition campaigns covering several months. Both unions offered to submit their authorization cards for a check by an impartial observer. This is significant in light of the fact that on at least one occasion District 65's demand for recognition was denied on the basis of a good faith doubt as to the Union's majority status. In contrast, Hartz entered into a recognition agreement with Local 806 upon receipt of the first demand for recognition, and after that union had been campaigning for less than two weeks. Recognition was granted despite the claim of each of the other unions that it in fact commanded majority support. Further, it is undisputed that at no time did either the union or Hartz officials verify that the cards presented by Local 806 represented the views of a majority of the employees in the bargaining unit. Hartz' blunt rejection of the demands of two unions and its precipitate recognition of a third hardly exemplifies the policy of strict neutrality required by the Act in situations where rival unions seek recognition. 9 See NLRB v. Signal Oil and Gas Co., 303 F.2d 785, 786 (5 Cir. 1962), citing Midwest Piping and Supply, Inc., 63 NLRB 1060 (1945). 22 While Hartz' differing responses to the three unions might not be sufficient in itself to constitute a violation of the Act, the record as a whole supports the Board's conclusion that Hartz gave unlawful aid and support to Local 806's organizational campaign. The testimony of employees Cansing, Aguirre, and Lorenzano establishes that Plant Manager Feinberg and Personnel Manager Morales 10 attempted to induce employees to sign authorization cards for Local 806 by making either promises or threats. 11 Several witnesses, some of whom were Hartz supervisory employees, testified that Local 806 adherents and organizers were permitted to engage in organizational activities in the plant on company time in violation of Hartz' no solicitation rule. 12 There is, as Hartz points out, evidence contrary to these findings. The administrative law judge, however, made specific and detailed findings as to the credibility of the witnesses on whose testimony he relied in his ultimate findings of fact. His credibility findings were accepted by the Board. 13 From our review of the record we conclude that the testimony upon which he relied was not inherently incredible. Giving due reference to the findings of the administrative law judge and the Board, our inquiry can go no further. NLRB v. Pittsburgh S.S. Co., 337 U.S. 656, 659-60, 69 S.Ct. 1283, 93 L.Ed. 1602 (1949); Truck Drivers Local 705 v. NLRB, 166 U.S.App.D.C. 92, 93, 509 F.2d 425, 426 (1974). 23 Hartz characterizes its conduct as isolated acts of lawful employer cooperation which, even if found to be coercive, did not affect enough authorization cards to taint Local 806's alleged majority status. On the contrary, the Board found, and we agree, that Hartz' aid to and support of Local 806 pervaded that Union's campaign from beginning to end, and that this support violates § 8(a)(1) and (2) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), (2). Local 806's organizational campaign was begun only after Vazquez went to Harrison to discuss another union. Vazquez returned with the news that Hartz management would not deal with District 65 or Local 888, but would recognize Local 806. Vazquez and his companions on the Local 806 committee were apparently given free rein to conduct their organizational campaign on company time, despite Hartz no solicitation rule. Company time was also set aside for other Local 806 campaign activities, 14 and Local 806 officials were allowed in the plant on working time. As noted Supra, recognition was extended to Local 806 after less than two weeks campaigning, without even a count of the authorization cards. Finally, after Hartz and Local 806 entered collective bargaining agreements in the face of protests and unfair labor practice charges from the two rival unions, the employees on the Local 806 committee received wage increases far in excess of those granted to other employees, under circumstances which were found by the administrative law judge to smack of rewards for services rendered in helping to esconce (sic) a union of (Hartz') choice. While any one of these elements might, in a different case, be found to be permissible employer cooperation, we are constrained to view the totality of circumstances in evaluating the effects of employer assistance. International Association of Machinists, etc. v. NLRB, 311 U.S. 72, 80, 61 S.Ct. 83, 85 L.Ed. 50 (1940). When we do so, the conclusion is inescapable that Hartz' aid and support of Local 806 was widespread, pervasive, and in violation of the Act. 24 Hartz argues that the General Counsel must demonstrate that the improper activities of the employer affected a sufficient number of employee authorization cards to destroy the majority status of the recognized union. It is true, of course, that the General Counsel must show the nature and extent of the employer's improper activities and its likely impact upon the employees so that the Board and this court may determine whether the conduct was sufficiently pervasive to taint the union's majority status. It is not necessary, however, that this impact be established with mathematical certainty. We agree with the approach taken by other circuits, that proof of a pattern of employer assistance may provide sufficient circumstantial evidence to justify the inference that the union's majority support is tainted. Amalgamated Local Union 355 v. NLRB, 481 F.2d 996, 1002 n. 8 (2 Cir. 1973); Department Store Food Corp. v. NLRB, 415 F.2d 74, 77 n. 4 (3 Cir. 1969); NLRB v. Clement Bros. Co., Inc., 407 F.2d 1027, 1029-30 (5 Cir. 1969). 15 The Board properly drew such an inference in the instant case, stating that Hartz' numerous acts of unlawful assistance to Local 806 render the authorization cards obtained by that Union unreliable as indicators of employee choice. 25 The Board drew additional support for its conclusion from its finding that Local 806 was a minority union on the date of recognition. We agree with the administrative law judge, however, that this finding is unnecessary to a decision in this case. As the judge noted, under all the circumstances, including the large number of authorization cards signed for each union, 16 it is not feasible or possible to arrive at a rational or absolute determination as to which, if any, of three competing unions here commanded the allegiance of a majority of the unit employees. Accordingly the judge concluded that it was improper for the company to preempt that determination in the arbitrary, high-handed and unfair manner which it employed. 26 Employer recognition of a union is as much an unfair labor practice when the union has majority support procured by employer assistance as when the union in fact lacks majority support entirely. See NLRB v. Clement Bros. Co. Inc., 407 F.2d 1027, 1029 (5 Cir. 1969); cf. ILGWU v. NLRB (Bernhard-Altmann Corp.), 366 U.S. 731, 81 S.Ct. 1603, 6 L.Ed.2d 762 (1961). The record supports the Board's finding that Hartz engaged in a pervasive campaign of support for Local 806 and the Board's conclusions that employee support for the union was tainted by the Company's unlawful assistance and Local 806 did not represent an uncoerced majority of the employees. 17 On this basis we grant enforcement of the portion of the Board's order dealing with the recognition issue.