Opinion ID: 739940
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Finding of Anti-Union Animus

Text: 27 New Breed also challenges the Board's finding of anti-union animus. This court has recognized that the Board is particularly capable of drawing inferences from the facts of a labor dispute. Penasquitos Village, Inc. v. NLRB, 565 F.2d 1074, 1079 (9th Cir.1977). The Board may base its inferences on either circumstantial or direct evidence. Folkins v. NLRB, 500 F.2d 52, 53 (9th Cir.1974) (per curiam). 28 The record supports the Board's determination that New Breed's hiring practices were motivated by anti-union animus. New Breed's failure to join the PMA after stating in its bid that it was considering membership, its clandestine hiring practices, and its unfulfilled promises to retain the Maersk employees support the Board's finding that New Breed's failure to hire Maersk employees was motivated by anti-union animus. 29 We are not persuaded by New Breed's reliance on Industrial Catering Co., 224 N.L.R.B. 972, 1976 WL 7109 (1976). In Industrial Catering, the Board held that an employer did not violate the Act by filling vacancies according to its standard procedures where: (1) the new employer did not have a contractual relationship with the previous employer, (2) the employing industry had changed, and the new employer's methods of operation differed from those of the previous employer, (3) there was a complete break in operations between the time when the previous employer terminated its operations and when the new employer took over, (4) the collective bargaining agreement with the previous employer had expired, and (5) none of the predecessor's employees were employed by the new employer. Id. at 984. 30 Moreover, unlike the employer in Industrial Catering, New Breed is engaged in exactly the same methods of operation as Maersk, assumed operations immediately following Maersk's termination, and sought to avoid a valid, existing collective bargaining agreement. New Breed's actions are therefore distinguishable from those of the employer in Industrial Catering. Thus, Industrial Catering does not preclude the Board's finding of anti-union animus in the circumstances of this case. 31