Court Opinion

ID: 9468320
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:11:58.019831+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:49.002358
License: Public Domain

SEITZ, Chief Judge,
concurring.
I agree that the Board did not abuse its discretion in refusing to defer to the second arbitration proceeding and that substantial evidence supports the Board’s conclusion that the employer violated section 8(a)(1) and (3). Because two members of the Board apparently would not have deferred to the second arbitration proceeding even if they had reopened the record to consider it, I rely on their rationale for not deferring in this case and do not think that it is necessary that I decide whether the Board abused its discretion by not reopening the record. I write separately because I believe the Board’s policy of not deferring to an arbitration proceeding in a case such as the present one may be unfair to the employer.
In Roadway Express, Inc., 145 N.L.R.B. 513 (1963), the Board held that it would not defer where, in addition to the absence of an impartial member, it appears from the evidence that the arbitration committee was constituted with members whose interests appeared to be aligned against the grievant. If the grievant had won at arbitration in this case, he would, of course, have been reinstated. When the employer won at arbitration, however, the Board refused to defer. The arbitration proceeding was thus a frustrating, costly hurdle for the *211employer, and the employer was compelled to participate in a proceeding in which it could not really win.
It is difficult to make principled judgments as to when the interests of the grievant and the union so diverge as to justify not deferring to an arbitration award, but in a day when employees are often hostile to their union and its leadership, the Board’s policy of refusing to defer when there is the “appearance” of bias on an arbitration committee may threaten the validity of the decisions of many committees that lack a neutral member. The Board may not have fully considered all of the possible ramifications of the Roadway Express doctrine as applied to a case such as the present one. Perhaps the Board will want to reconsider its doctrine, which is designed to promote fairness, to assure that it does not operate in a way that would be unfair to one party.