Opinion ID: 720629
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Withdrawal of Recognition from the Union

Text: 8 During an initial 12-month period from the date that a union is certified as a collective bargaining representative, it is conclusively presumed to enjoy the support of a majority of the employees in the collective bargaining unit. NLRB v. Curtin Matheson Scientific, Inc., 494 U.S. 775, 778, 110 S.Ct. 1542, 1544-45, 108 L.Ed.2d 801 (1990). Thereafter an employer may lawfully withdraw its recognition from the Union if it has a good-faith doubt, objectively founded, that the union continues to command majority support, id., unless the employer's own unfair labor practices may account for the employees' diminished allegiance to the union, Sullivan Indus. v. NLRB, 957 F.2d 890, 897 (D.C.Cir.1992). 9 In this case the Board determined that a majority of the employees in the bargaining unit no longer wanted to be represented by the Union; the Board also determined, however, that the cumulative effect of the employer's unremedied unfair labor practices contributed to the Union's loss of support. More specifically, when the strike against Quazite ended in August 1992 there were 68 employees in the bargaining unit, including 31 strikers of whom only 16 returned to work. Thirty-seven of the 53 employees actually working then signed cards stating that they no longer wanted to be represented by the Union. The Board held, however, that Quazite's unfair labor practices had undermined the Union by conveying to the employees the impression that the Union was powerless and by obstructing the Union's enforcement of the CBA. 10 The Board maintains that Quazite's unfair labor practices need have influenced only four of the 37 employees who signed anti-Union cards; had that number not done so the Union would have retained majority support (by a margin of 35 to 33). Quazite argues that, because 15 of the strikers never returned to work, the bargaining unit comprised 53 employees, not 68, wherefore it would need to have influenced 11 employees to sign anti-Union cards in order to have turned a majority against the Union. The Board responds by suggesting also that some or all of the 15 strikers who decided not to return to work may have done so in part because of Quazite's unfair labor practices and its ongoing anti-Union activities. 11 The Board identified several unlawful Company practices that it believes may have given employees the impression that the Union was ineffective and powerless: dealing directly with employees on grievance matters; failing to notify the Union before discontinuing incentive pay for assemblers who performed grinding tasks; and refusing to furnish the Union with attendance records. Further, the Company offered benefits to several employees if they agreed to resign from the Union. Quazite counters that most of the alleged incidents had occurred a year or more before the employees rejected the Union. The Board also found, however, that the Company harassed striking employees only a few weeks before they signed the anti-Union cards. In addition, the Board suggested that the Company's unfair labor practices, individually and cumulatively, may have contributed to the failure of the 1992 contract negotiations, which may in turn have dampened employee enthusiasm for the Union. 12 Quazite, reminding us that the Board held that there was nothing unlawful about the Company's 1992 bargaining, posits some quite different reasons for the employees' disaffection. The mid-1992 strike was the Union's third in three years; like the two earlier strikes, it involved acts of violence against non-striking employees, including damage to their homes and automobiles, and threatening letters. In fact, all but four of the 37 cards disavowing the Union were signed within a few days of the reported fire-bombing of an automobile owned by a non-striker--and that was the second such report. 13 Whether the Board considered Quazite's alternative explanation for the Union's loss of support is not clear on the present record. By adopting the ALJ's decision--which is silent on the question--the Board simply concluded, without explanation or evidence, that the Company's unfair labor practices contributed significantly to the loss of support for the Union among the employees. 315 N.L.R.B. at 1080. Because the Board made no findings linking any particular unfair labor practice with the vote of any employee, Quazite argues that the Board is making an employer's withdrawal of recognition into a per se violation of § 8(a)(5) whenever there is an unfair labor practice charge outstanding. Without necessarily adopting that characterization of the Board's decision, we do agree with the employer that the Board has disregarded its responsibility to give a reasoned explanation for its action. 14 We have consistently held that the Board must adduce substantial evidence to support its finding that an employer's unfair labor practices tended to undermine a union's majority support. See Avecor Inc. v. NLRB, 931 F.2d 924, 934 (1991). Applying that principle in Williams Enters. Inc. v. NLRB, 956 F.2d 1226 (1992), we advised the Board that in assessing the effect of an unfair labor practice upon a petition stating that employees did not want to be represented by a union, it could have considered any improper conduct ... providing that it adequately explained the basis for a finding that the conduct tainted the petition. Id. at 1236. The Board itself, in Master Slack Corp., 271 N.L.R.B. 78, 84, 1984 WL 36573 (1984), had earlier identified four factors that it would consider in determining whether an unfair labor practice had a meaningful impact upon employees' adherence to the union. In Williams we endorsed the Board's formulation of the relevant factors, namely: 15 (1) The length of time between the unfair labor practices and the employee petition; (2) the nature of the unfair labor practices, including whether they are of a nature that would cause a lasting or detrimental effect on the employees; (3) the tendency of the unfair labor practices to cause employee disaffection with the union; and (4) the effect of the unlawful conduct on the employees' morale, organizational activities, and membership in the union. 16 956 F.2d at 1236. We have no indication in this case, however, that the Board applied these factors or for that matter any factors. Indeed, apart from the conclusory statement that the employer's unfair labor practices were the type of violations that tend to undermine the Union's status in the employees' eyes ... and did so, the Board provided no explanation for its key finding that the withdrawal of recognition occurred in an atmosphere and context poisoned by Respondent's commission of unfair labor practices which had the effect of contributing significantly to the Union's loss of majority among the bargaining unit employees. 315 N.L.R.B. at 1080. 17 Lacking both substantial evidence and a reasoned explanation of any causal link between Quazite's practices and the Union's loss of support, the Board's decision that the employer's unfair labor practices caused the Union's loss of support cannot be sustained. Consequently, we remand this matter for the Board to document its determination that the unremedied unfair labor practices in this case individually and cumulatively were the type of violations that tend to undermine the Union's status in the employees' eyes ... and did so. 315 N.L.R.B. at 1080. In substantiating its conclusion, the Board must either apply its own four-part test of Master Slack, or alternatively give a reasoned explanation for changing that test or for departing from it in this case. 18