Court Opinion

ID: 9475406
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:26:46.294048+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:42.531754
License: Public Domain

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I think Indianapolis Mack’s failure to make an offer of proof here as to the appropriateness of the bargaining unit should be of much greater consequence than the majority would grant. The Board found, and its finding is fully supported by the evidence, that Indianapolis Mack was a “successor” to Mack Truck, the former owner. Under these circumstances, there is no automatic presumption that an 18-year-old service department unit should be reexamined or restructured. Whatever may be the presumption in an initial certification of parts and service department units, it defies common sense to invoke such a presumption to derail a successful bargaining history of many years standing. See The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc., 153 NLRB 1549, 1550, 59 LRRM 1679 (1965) (the Board “will not disturb an established bargaining relationship unless required to do so by the dictates of the Act or other compelling circumstances”); see also Rock-Tenn Co., 118 LRRM 1377 (1985); Crown Zellerbach Corp., 102 LRRM 1434 (1979).
The Board in its brief argues that “the record supports the conclusion that the common work interests of the mechanics during their 18 years of separate representation in the bargaining unit were basically unaffected by any changes introduced by the Company following the takeover and their shared community of interests remained intact.” Board’s Brief at 16. The majority, on the other hand, advances the possibility that the change of ownership may have had a substantial impact on the duties of the service and of the parts departments and on the community of interest existing in them. Had Indianapolis Mack offered to prove facts showing some change affecting the community of interest within the service department, I could readily accept the majority’s approach. But there was no offer of proof putting the appropriateness of the bargaining unit in doubt. Under those circumstances, I think the presumption must be that relationships existing before the change of ownership continue in force and the appropriateness of the bargaining unit can be inferred from prior history. Hence, absent any showing of facts pointing in some other direction, the Board did not act arbitrarily in accepting the historical bargaining unit.
I therefore respectfully dissent.