Opinion ID: 4206537
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Union access to bakery

Text: The Board determined that Southern violated § 8(a)(5) and (1) by limiting the union's access to the plant in a number of ways. First, it upheld the ALJ's finding that the company had barred the union from entering the bakery to visit with employees between March and November 2012. Southern argues that it banned only one union representative, Cesar Calderon, from the plant during that period, implying that other union representatives would have been allowed to meet with employees at the plant. The record shows, however, that Ledbetter refused access to another union official, 2 A violation of § 8(a)(5) for failure to bargain with a union is also a violation of § 8(a)(1) because it interferes with employees' collective bargaining rights. See Metromedia, Inc., KMBC-TV v. NLRB, 586 F.2d 1182, 1188 (8th Cir. 1978). 3 Southern does not dispute that it violated the Act by installing surveillance cameras without first bargaining or notifying the union. We therefore uphold the Board's determination on this matter. 4 The company's only argument with respect to the September 2013 wage increase is that since its withdrawal of union recognition was lawful, it was under no obligation to bargain before raising wages. Because we uphold the Board's determination that the withdrawal of recognition was unlawful, as explained below, we also uphold the Board's determination that the wage increase violated § 8(a)(5). -17- David Woods, in July 2012. Even though Ledbetter offered conflicting testimony to the effect that union representatives other than Calderon would have been allowed to visit the plant, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence to support the Board's determination that the company had restricted all union access during this time.5 Southern also challenges the Board's conclusion that, even when union representatives were allowed to visit the bakery, the company had violated the NLRA because it only permitted union visits for the purpose of ensuring that the collective bargaining agreement was being followed. Although the agreement provided that a union representative would be allowed to visit the Southern plant after giving notice to the company for the purpose of ensuring that the agreement was being carried out, the Board adopted the ALJ's finding that in practice such visits had not been so limited. Under the NLRA, if an employer has a past practice of providing union representatives access to its facilities, that past practice becomes a term and condition of employment that cannot be changed without first notifying and bargaining with the union to agreement or good faith impasse. Frankl ex rel. NLRB v. HTH Corp., 693 F.3d 1051, 1064 (9th Cir. 2012). To establish a past practice, however, the party bound by such a practice must have been aware of its existence. See In re Regency Heritage Nursing & Rehab. Ctr., 353 N.L.R.B. 1027, 1027–28 (2009). We conclude that the Board has not provided evidence that the company was aware that the union had been using its visits to conduct any business other than monitoring performance of the collective bargaining agreement. The Board therefore erred by finding Southern violated the NLRA by making efforts to restrict the union's visits other than those described in the collective bargaining agreement. The Board 5 Southern also disputes the determination that at other times it barred union visits when the company's union steward was not scheduled to work. Since resolution of the union steward issue is not necessary to support our decision that the company violated § 8(a)(5) by banning union access, we decline to address the issue. See NLRB v. Curtin Matheson Sci., Inc., 494 U.S. 775, 788 n.8 (1990). -18- however did not err in determining that the company violated § 8(a)(5) and (1) by unilaterally restricting union meetings to a cubicle because the union's meeting space was a subject of mandatory bargaining. See BASF Wyandotte Corp., 274 N.L.R.B. 978, 980 (1985), enforced, 798 F.2d 849 (5th Cir. 1986).