Opinion ID: 381791
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the propriety of the board's bargaining orders

Text: 35 We must conclude that the Board's choice of a bargaining order as a remedy for the employer's violation in this case cannot be upheld as a justified exercise of its discretion. The Board's opinion evidences little or no consideration of the competing interests at stake when a bargaining order is issued in a case with a history like this one. One of the fundamental rights under the Act which the Board is charged with protecting is employees' right to choose their bargaining representative, as well as the right to refrain from collective bargaining. 16 Those rights are unjustifiably compromised by the remedy chosen here. 17 We would be far more receptive to the Board's request for enforcement had its decision reflected any balancing of the competing considerations which surface so dramatically on this record; a balancing which is an essential component of any valid exercise of discretion. The scope of the Board's choice of remedies is limited to those which will effectuate the policies of this act. We are unable to discern from the Board's opinion how a bargaining order in this case would do so. 36 A. Necessity for a Reasoned Elaboration by the Board. Before the Board is entitled to the considerable respect and deference with which we normally approach any review of its choice of remedy, its orders must reflect a responsible exercise of discretion and clearly articulate the basis for its decision. A remedial order should recognize the competing considerations which are potentially affected by the remedy chosen, be grounded in factual determinations rather than speculation, and explain how, in light of present circumstances 18 its remedy can be expected to effectuate the purposes of the Act. 37 These general principles are particularly important in cases like this one, involving bargaining orders issued where there is a substantial possibility that in fact the employees do not desire representation by the Union. There are two situations 19 in which the dilemma frequently arises; when a Company refuses to accept a Union's offer of authorization cards as evidence of its majority, and then commits unfair labor practices during the election campaign, see NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575, 89 S.Ct. 1918, 23 L.Ed.2d 547 (1969); 20 and when, as in this case, a Company refuses to bargain with an incumbent Union, asserting a good faith doubt of Union majority support. 21 In such cases, before we will enforce a bargaining order, we must be able to determine from the Board's opinion (1) that it gave due consideration to the employees' section 7 rights, which are, after all, one of the fundamental purposes of the Act, (2) why it concluded that other purposes must override the rights of the employees to choose their bargaining representatives and (3) why other remedies, less destructive to employees' rights, are not adequate. 38 In its opinion in this case, the Board seems to regard a bargaining order as the automatic and clearly appropriate remedy for refusal to bargain. 22 This would be so if the only interests to be balanced were those of the employer and the Union, or if it were clear that the workers' interests paralleled those of the Union. But as the Supreme Court made clear in Gissel, bargaining orders do not automatically flow from a refusal to bargain if it is not clear that the employees desire the Union as their representative. 23 A balance must be drawn in such cases between the various purposes of the Act. For example, if the employer's violation is deliberate and egregious enough, the interest in deterrence of future violations may override the employees' wishes, especially if it is likely that the workers' rejection of the Union flows from the Company's violations. 39 When the violation is less substantial or is committed in good faith, the interest in deterrence is less substantial as well. Correspondingly, the employees' rights to decide whether they want Union representation, and by which Union, should be given greater weight; the Board should make findings as to the likelihood of infringement of those rights and explain, if it should conclude that a bargaining order is nevertheless necessary, why other remedies would not suffice and why other purposes of the Act must outweigh the employees' rights. 40 The Board's decision in this case failed to satisfy this standard. It apparently regarded the employees' wishes as of no consequence whatsoever in determining a remedy. It provided us with no explanation of why those rights must be sacrificed to other purposes. Finally, its order reflects no attempt to minimize the burden on employees, 24 and there is no explanation as to why an accommodation of competing interests is impossible. 41 B. The Propriety of the Board's Bargaining Order. We now turn to specific factors in this case which convince us that issuance of a bargaining order would not be a reasonable exercise of discretion. 42 (1) Passage of Time and Clear Expression of Employee Desires. An extraordinary amount of time has elapsed since the initial refusal to bargain in the spring of 1973, most of which can be attributed to the Board and this court; thus deliberate delay by any party is not a factor in this case. More important, an extraordinary amount of time passed, nearly five and a half years, before the Board entered its remedial order, and during that time not only had there been, we assume, substantial turnover in the workplace, but the employees were provided an opportunity by the Board to express their wishes as to representation in an election certified as fair without objection from the Union. The question of whether the passage of so much time and intervening events are factors which should be taken into account by the Board in formulating a remedy is in much dispute among the courts, commentators and the Board itself. On the one hand, with the passage of time, any coercive effects of an unfair labor practice may dissipate, employee turnover may result in a work force with no interest in the Union, and a fair election might be held which accurately reflects uncoerced employee wishes as of the present time. On the other hand, holding a rerun election simply because of the passage of time rewards employer recalcitrance and offers no deterrence to future unfair labor practices. 43 While these considerations cut in opposite directions we do not believe they require either a rigid refusal to examine present conditions or automatic deference to possible present employee wishes. A balancing of competing interests among three parties, in a situation in which an innocent party must inevitably carry some of the burden of the remedy chosen, is never an easy task. In order to properly balance those interests, the Board should formulate its remedy in light of the violation with which it is faced and the conditions in the bargaining unit at the time it renders its decision. 25 One reason we respect the Board's exercise of discretion in setting remedies is that it is able to bring its expertise and insight to bear in finding a solution to the myriad unique and ever-changing relationships among employers, employees and Unions. A remedy, by its very nature, must be adjusted to fit the realities of the situation it is expected to resolve. 44 The courts have frequently referred to the passage of time and employee turnover as relevant considerations cutting against a choice of a bargaining order as a remedy; not decisive but certainly to be taken into account. See NLRB v. Alvin J. Bart & Co., 598 F.2d 1267 (2d Cir. 1979); NLRB v. Western Drug, 600 F.2d 1324 (9th Cir. 1979); NLRB v. Ship Shape Maintenance Co., 474 F.2d 434 (D.C. Cir. 1972). In this case we not only have an extraordinary delay between the initial refusal to bargain and the ultimate formulation of the remedy, with the resulting inevitable turnover in the work force, but we have a clear, uncoerced expression in the interim by the employees that they do not desire the Union to represent them. There is no need to speculate from time and turnover to conclude that employee sentiment no longer favors the Union; we know it does not. The Board, however, takes the position that this undisputed fact is not a reason militating against a bargaining order. Since the Union is presumed 26 to have had majority support at the time the Company refused to bargain, in the Board's eyes the results of the subsequent election only prove that in fact the Company's unfair labor practice succeeded in dissipating the Union's majority. In order to prevent the Company from benefiting by its own wrong, it is therefore automatically necessary to order bargaining in spite of the employees' present desires. The passage of time, in the Board's view, in fact only exacerbates the wrong, since the longer the Union is wrongfully deprived of the opportunity to prove to the employees how much it could do for them as their bargaining representative, the more likely it is that support for the Union will dwindle. 45 In our view, this argument gives too much weight to the interests of the Union, too little to the statutory rights of the employees, and rests too much on speculation. In any case, its underlying rationale is inconsistent with the Supreme Court decisions in Gissel and with the Board's own practice as expressed in Irving Air Chute Co., 149 NLRB 627 (1964), enf'd, 350 F.2d 176 (2d Cir. 1965). The inevitable implication of the Board's view is that any wrongful refusal to bargain can and should be remedied at any time by a bargaining order, regardless of employee desires, since the simple fact that no bargaining is occurring may be undercutting the Union's support. But in Gissel, the Supreme Court agreed with the Board's finding of unlawful refusals to bargain combined with other, coercive, unfair labor practices, and still held that if possible, elections should be held to determine employee choice. 395 U.S. at 614, 89 S.Ct. at 1940. We recognize that Gissel was an initial recognition case, and this situation involves a withdrawal of recognition, but it seems to us that unlawful refusals to bargain are as likely, if not more likely, to dissipate support for a fledgling Union as for an established Union. The two situations are not, of course, identical; different policy considerations are implicated in the choice of a remedy. However, Gissel does clearly establish that an 8(a)(5) violation should not automatically trigger a bargaining order if there is a substantial possibility that the employees do not want the Union and that a fair election can be held. Employee section 7 rights thus play an important role in the selection of a remedy. 46 Similarly, in Irving Air Chute, the Board held that when an employer commits a section 8(a)(5) violation before an election is held (for example, by refusing to accept the results of its own poll demonstrating a Union majority), no bargaining order will issue as a remedy if the Union has proceeded to an election and its election loss is not set aside after the filing of objections. The Board distinguishes its practice in Irving Air Chute by noting, once again, the different factual context and different policy considerations, and concluding that the Union should not be held to have waived its 8(a)(5) rights here because it elected to try to reestablish a bargaining relationship as quickly as possible, after exhausting its remedies before the Board. This may well be true, and we do not dispute it here, but the Board is ignoring the implications of Irving Air Chute. The practice of the Board as expressed in that case must be predicated, as was Gissel, on an assumption that a fair election is not necessarily precluded by a simple refusal to bargain in spite of the fact that during the time when the Company should be bargaining, the Union may be losing its majority through no fault of its own. If in a case like Irving Air Chute the policy in favor of effectuating the freely expressed wishes of the employees outweighs both any interest in deterrence (apparently even of a bad faith refusal to bargain) and the bargaining rights of the Union, then surely in this case the expressed wishes of the employees must be accorded a heavy weight in the balance. 27 47 (2) Deterrence Rationale. The Board asserted that it selected a bargaining order because it was obviously appropriate and, we would say, necessary to remedy effectively the unlawful conduct and to return the situation to what it was prior to the unlawful withdrawal of recognition. Of course, it is clear that the Board cannot turn the clock back seven years, but we assume that it means to say that restoring the status quo, insofar as it is possible, will prevent the Company from benefiting from its own wrongs, and thus will serve as a deterrent to future misconduct. 48 Deterrence is, of course, a legitimate remedial purpose and the need for deterrence has resulted in many bargaining orders in cases where it is clear the employees no longer support the Union. 28 However, in the circumstances of this case, a bargaining order would cross the line from a permissible remedy designed to deter future violations to an impermissible punitive measure. The potential deterrent effect of a bargaining order is lessened in a case in which the initial violation was marginal and apparently committed in good faith. Furthermore, the Company has an otherwise clean labor relations record, and there is no suggestion but that if the Union were able to persuade a majority of workers that they would be better off with it as their representative, the Company would willingly bargain with the Union. We can find little in this Company's conduct which requires deterrence. Facts suggesting that a bargaining order would have little or no deterrent value have been heavy factors in prior decisions not to enforce proposed bargaining orders. See, NLRB v. Ship Shape Maintenance Co., 474 F.2d 434 (D.C. Cir. 1972); NLRB v. General Stencils, Inc., 472 F.2d 170 (2d Cir. 1972). 49 A brief resummary of the facts of this case is appropriate to demonstrate the narrowness of our holding. The initial refusal to bargain occurred seven years ago, in a context that suggests the Company was proceeding in good faith, though in violation of the law. We have no way of knowing in fact whether the employees were in favor of the Union at that point, though we recognize the presumption that they were. Two years later, the Union requested an election, which was conducted in an atmosphere free from coercive unfair labor practices, and lost decisively. Five more years have passed since then, during which inevitable employee turnover has occurred. If any of these facts were altered, we would be more willing to defer to the Board, in spite of the inadequacy of its opinion. If the Company's violation appeared to be in bad faith, or were accompanied by other unfair labor practices, the deterrent effect of a bargaining order would be more important. If there is no evidence other than mere passage of time to suggest the employees no longer support the Union, the interest in restoring a previously established and wrongfully disrupted bargaining relationship would perhaps override the possibility that employee sentiment had changed. No remedy, especially when competing interests of three parties are involved, can be wholly satisfactory after the passage of so many years. Given the facts of this case, however, we must conclude that a bargaining order would be an unreasonable and unwise remedy, contributing to industry unrest rather than restoring peace, 29 and thus frustrating the fundamental purposes of the Act. 50 This case must be remanded to the Board, since the language of its proposed cease and desist order and notices to be posted were premised on the issuance of a bargaining order. We do not know what present conditions in the Company's plant are, but the Board may well conclude that a rerun election would be appropriate, after the employees are informed that the Company violated the Act when it refused to bargain with the Union, and that the Union's inability to represent their interests in the years following was a result of that unlawful conduct. The Board is free to consider this and other possible remedies, short of imposing a bargaining order, on remand. 51