Opinion ID: 385886
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: pervasive unfair labor practices

Text: 51 In Gissel the Court emphasized that the determination of when to issue a bargaining order is within the discretion of the Board. 395 U.S. at 612 n.32, 89 S.Ct. at 1939 n.32; NLRB v. Peninsula Ass'n for Retarded Children and Adults, 627 F.2d 202, 204 (9th Cir. 1980); NLRB v. Pacific Southwest Airlines, 550 F.2d at 1150-51. Although that discretion is not unbounded, the Court should enforce a bargaining order where the unfair labor practices are pervasive and severe enough to fit in either the first or second Gissel category. 52 In this case, the Board explained its decision to issue a bargaining order, based on the range of unfair labor practices that it had found, as follows: 53 The numerous and persistent acts of unlawful interrogation by higher level management, the selective hiring policy based upon unlawful questioning of job applicants or employees seeking to arrange employment interviews for job applicants, the use of employees to engage in surveillance, and the creating of an impression among employees that management was engaging in surveillance of their union and protected activities, as well as the threats of loss of employment are collectively sufficient to warrant a determination that a fair rerun election could not be held. Equally pernicious ... is management's manipulative use of the wage review program to grant pay increases to groups of employees in all departments in an effort to undermine their support for the Union and influence the outcome of the election. It is reasonable to conclude that the total cumulative effect of these unfair labor practices, coupled with the additional unlawful refusal to employ Gabler on a part-time basis, will be a lasting one, and the conditions necessary for providing a fair expression of employee sentiment in a rerun election will not be achieved by a traditional cease and desist order. 54 The total number, severity, and immediacy of the unfair labor practices in this case far exceeds those in NLRB v. Peninsula Ass'n for Retarded Children and Adults, 627 F.2d at 204, (where the violations were characterized as relatively mild), and in NLRB v. Chatfield-Anderson Co., Inc., 606 F.2d at 269, (where the most severe violations were mitigated and others were almost trivial), two recent cases in which we refused to enforce Board bargaining orders. 55 The wage increases, which were granted immediately prior to the election, are the most significant among the many unfair labor practices cited by the Board. It is unlikely that those who received such benefits, or who heard of them, will forget that it is the Company that has the final word on wage increases and decreases. 56 In addition, we are not persuaded that the harmful effect of the Company's unfair labor practices has been dissipated by the fact that two of the Company's representatives who committed some of the unfair labor practices (supervisors King and Molenda) have left its employ. Several of the unfair labor practices were committed by high level management personnel who did not, as did the management personnel in Chatfield-Anderson Co., Inc., choose to disavow their coercive conduct before the election. Moreover, the unlawful wage increases were granted by management, not by the departed supervisors. Cf. NLRB v. Peninsula Ass'n for Retarded Children and Adults, 627 F.2d at 205 (solicitation manager directly responsible for violations no longer with employer). Therefore, it appears unlikely that the effect on the employees of the unfair labor practices of management has been softened by the departure of two supervisors. 57 The Board's finding that a fair rerun election would not be possible is, therefore, supported by substantial evidence. 58 The Board's entire order, including the bargaining order, is enforced.