Opinion ID: 776079
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Adequate Remedy at Law and the Balance of Harms

Text: 128 Section 10(j) relief is an extraordinary remedy, Szabo v. PIE Nationwide, Inc., 878 F.2d 207, 209 (7th Cir. 1989) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted), reserved for those situations in which the effective enforcement of the NLRA is threatened by the delays inherent in the NLRB dispute resolution process, id. In assessing the propriety of interim relief in this case, we must focus on the collective bargaining rights of the store's employees and what belated relief may mean to the future exercise of those rights. Hoffman v. Inn Credible Caterers, Ltd., supra, 247 F.3d at 369; see also Electro-Voice, 83 F.3d at 1567, 1572. As summarized above, the Director has presented evidence which, if believed, indicates that FFI refused to hire a number of RSI employees so as to avoid a duty to bargain with the Union. Based on that evidence, the Director has asked for an order requiring FFI, inter alia, to offer employment to the RSI employees that FFI failed to hire and to recognize and bargain with the Union. We must consider whether, in the absence of the relief that the Director has requested, the right of store workers to organize, and to reap the benefits of collective bargaining, will be irreparably undermined. See id. at 1572-73; Inn Credible Caterers, 247 F.3d at 369. 129 The district court was not persuaded that the Union faced the prospect of irreparable harm in the absence of interim injunctive relief. This was not a case like Electro-Voice, the court reasoned, in which there was persuasive and egregious evidence that the employer had committed unfair labor practices that had a chilling effect upon the union's efforts to organize. R. 23 at 5-6. On the contrary, FFI had solicited applications from all of RSI's employees; it had made offers to twenty non- supervisory RSI employees and three supervisors; and Francisco had actively recruited several RSI employees, including one who was an active Union supporter. Id. at 6. The court also noted that several FFI employees had acknowledged in testimony that they would be allowed to determine the matter of unionization themselves. Id. In short, the alleged facts do not indicate that Francisco Foods has a propensity for coercive acts which would severely harm future Union efforts. Id. Even if FFI did engage in unfair labor practices, the court concluded, the Board had the ability to order FFI to bargain with the Union and to hire any employees who were improperly refused employment with FFI to be hired. Id. at 6-7. 130 In defense of these findings, FFI makes one point that we must address at the outset--that the Director put on no evidence of irreparable harm that will occur in the absence of an injunction, and that he necessarily failed as a consequence to carry his burden to establish such harm. We do not know why the Director chose not to make an independent case on irreparable harm, but we do not agree that the omission left the record devoid of evidence from which the prospect of an irreparable injury may be inferred. In appropriate circumstances, the same evidence that establishes the Director's likelihood of proving a violation of the NLRA may provide evidentiary support for a finding of irreparable harm. Pye v. Excel Case Ready, 238 F.3d 69, 74 (1st Cir. 2001). At the same time, as we mentioned at the outset, a strong showing as to the Director's likelihood of success will permit a weaker showing as to the balance of harms posed by the grant or denial of interim injunctive relief. Electro-Voice, 83 F.3d at 1568. 131 In this case, the Director presented relatively compelling evidence that FFI made a calculated decision to evade the obligation to bargain with the Union as RSI's successor by hiring only a minority of RSI's employees. As the Director points out, the harms posed to a union and its members in this situation are well-recognized. A union finds itself in a peculiarly vulnerable position in the transition from predecessor to successor. Fall River, 482 U.S. at 39, 107 S. Ct. at 2234. It has no formal and established bargaining relationship with the new employer, is uncertain about the new employer's plans, and cannot be sure if or when the new employer must bargain with it. Ibid. The workers represented by the union face a similar vulnerability: If the employees find themselves in a new enterprise that substantially resembles the old, but without their chosen bargaining representative, they may well feel that their choice of a union is subject to the vagaries of an enterprises's transformation. Id. at 39-40, 107 S. Ct. at 2234. Given the uncertainties that both the union and its members face during the transition, a successor's refusal to recognize the union or, as allegedly was the case here, its refusal to hire a majority of the predecessor's employees so as to escape that obligation, inflicts a particularly potent wound on the union and its members. Having the new employer refuse to bargain with the chosen representative of the[ ] employees [who worked for the predecessor] 'disrupts the employees' morale, deters their organizational activities, and discourages their membership in unions.' Id. at 49-50, 107 S. Ct. at 2239, quoting Franks Bros. Co. v. NLRB, 321 U.S. 702, 704, 64 S. Ct. 817, 818 (1944). 132 There can be little doubt that these oft-cited harms are presented here. If one credits the Director's evidence, FFI succeeded in displacing a union that had represented store employees for more than twenty-five years. It made no secret of its intent, declaring from the beginning of the transition that it would not recognize the Union when it assumed ownership of the store. Over the course of the hiring process, Francisco's stated goal of keeping RSI employees in the minority, her remark to Schumacher that she'd hire us all back if we would vote out the union, Tr. 421, her remark to Curtis that he would have been fired if she had to take the Union back, Tr. 543, and her inquiry as to whether long-time cashier Warriner could work for a nonunion store, Tr. 253, conveyed an unmistakable message that union representation jeopardized the hiring prospects of RSI employees. True, Francisco did allow for the possibility that FFI's employees might, at a later date, vote for union representation. But the successor's duty is to recognize and bargain with the union from the outset, not simply to permit a new vote on the matter. See Eldorado, Inc., supra, 2001 WL 1083271, at  n.4; Bay Area Mack, supra, 293 NLRB at 125 & n.5. It is difficult to construe remarks akin to I may let my new employees decide what to do, GC Ex. 4, as support for the Union, when the remark simply highlights the successor's ongoing efforts to displace the old employees along with the union that represented them. Indeed, as we discussed in the previous section, many of Francisco's alleged remarks predicting that the Piggly Wiggly would not be a union store when FFI took over constitute coercive remarks in violation of section 8(a)(1) under Board jurisprudence. See supra at 41-42. The district court's finding that FFI had not engaged in coercive activity, R. 23 at 5-6, is therefore inconsistent with the record evidence. 133 In this setting, the remedial authority of the Board cannot entirely cure the harms that will occur in the interim. Although the Board can order FFI to reinstate any RSI employee that it refused to hire for inappropriate reasons, the reality is that the rejected employees are moving on to other jobs; as additional time passes, the likelihood that they will be interested in or able to accept a position with FFI lessens. See Electro-Voice, 83 F.3d at 1573. Meanwhile, the RSI employees whom FFI did hire are working without the advocacy of their chosen representative. Assuming that the Board ultimately orders FFI to bargain with the Union, such a forward-looking order cannot fully compensate the employees of FFI for the variety of benefits that good-faith collective bargaining with the Union might otherwise have secured for them in the present. Squillacote v. U.S. Marine Corp., 116 LRRM 2663, 2665 (E.D. Wis. 1984); accord Rivera-Vega v. ConAgra, Inc., 876 F. Supp. 1350, 1371 (D. P.R.), aff'd, 70 F.3d 153 (1st Cir. 1995). Indeed, the longer that the Union is kept out of the store and from working on behalf of FFI's employees, the less likely it is to be able to organize and represent those employees effectively if and when the Board orders the company to commence bargaining. Electro-Voice, 83 F.3d at 1573. In sum, the district court's assertion that any wrong that occurred can be compensated by way of the Board's remedial authority turns a blind eye to the effect of the passage of time. Id. More than two years have already passed since FFI assumed ownership of the store, and years more may pass before this case is finally resolved. 134 The deprivation to employees from the delay in bargaining and the diminution of union support is immeasurable. That loss, combined with the likelihood that the Board's ability to rectify the harm is diminishing with time, equals a sufficient demonstration of irreparable harm to the collective bargaining process. . . . 135 Id. (citation omitted). 136 On the other side of the ledger, a grant of interim relief will impose obvious burdens on FFI, albeit ones that are only cursorily noted by the company on appeal. See FFI Br. at 40. Reinstatement of the ten RSI applicants whom FFI did not hire 15 will likely cause some displacement among FFI's current employees, although we note that five of those ten employees had relatively short tenures with RSI, which makes it less likely that they would accept jobs if offered them at this date. Moreover, requiring FFI to bargain with the Union will effectively unionize FFI's workforce for the first time. This will certainly mark a significant change for the employees who never worked for RSI and consequently were not represented by the Union. 137 However, the Director has presented a strong case on the merits and has already secured a favorable ruling from the ALJ who conducted the merits hearing. The Director's case, and the ALJ's findings, both suggest that FFI displaced the Union as the representative of the store's employees by means of discriminatory hiring decisions. In other words, FFI dramatically shifted the status quo in its favor through illegal means. See Inn Credible Caterers, 247 F.3d at 369 (By its own violation of the Act, [the successor] was able to hire a non-union workforce and thereby threaten to weaken severely, if not destroy, the power of the predecessor's employees to assert their collective bargaining rights.). The longer that the successor employer is permitted to benefit from a state of affairs that its own wrongdoing has brought about, the less likely it is that a final order in the Board's favor will be able to redress the wrongs that have been done and to restore the status quo ante. Electro- Voice, 83 F.3d at 1573. Restoration of that status quo is a vital means of preserving the Board's ultimate ability to provide meaningful redress for the wrongs alleged. 138 Given the Director's likelihood of prevailing on the merits, coupled with the recognized gravity of the harms posed to the collective bargaining rights of the store's employees, we find that the balance of the harms favors an award of interim relief. See id.