Court Opinion

ID: 9453164
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:04:48.159363+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:32.410857
License: Public Domain

SOBELOFF, Circuit Judge
(concurring specially):
While I concur in the result reached by the majority, I feel obligated to record my disagreement with some of its reasoning. With my colleagues, I conclude that the Labor Board’s order should be enforced because the union represented a majority of the employees in an appropriate unit and the employer had no good faith doubt of this fact. Florence Printing Co. v. NLRB, 333 F.2d 289 (4th Cir. 1964); NLRB v. Overnite Transportation Co., 308 F.2d 279 (4th Cir. 1962).
My concern is with the court’s over-broad dicta regarding the unreliability of signed authorization cards and its gratuitous assertion that in the absence of the employer’s poll, the union’s majority would not have been satisfactorily established. I think the majority opinion, as well as the Logan1 cáse, decided today, upon which it relies, overstates the unreliability of authorization cards and undermines the useful functions they may properly serve. Since the Logan opinion, with its elaborate discussion of authorization cards, is incorporated by reference into the majority opinion of this case, it is necessary to examine Logan closely.
Oddly, in Logan the court observes with singular impartiality that there is nothing more unreliable than cards in determining the desires of a majority of employees unless it be an employer’s poll. Yet in the instant case, the court joins these two “unreliable” devices and “conclusively” establishes the union’s majority. I agree that a survey taken by an employer is likely to be an extremely poor barometer of the employee’s attitude toward unionization. The primary force of the poll conducted by this employer is, in light of its revelations, to show convincingly the employer’s lack of good faith. Only secondarily, and insubstantially, does the poll buttress the conclusion that the union represented a majority of employees as established by the authorization cards.
There is no gainsaying that abuses may attend the solicitation of authorization cards.2 Nor can it be denied that a valid secret-ballot election is normally the preferred method of selecting a bargaining representative. Nevertheless, the cards are not-inherently unreliable, and it cannot be laid down as a flat rule of law that they are unreliable regardless of circumstances. The fact is that the only statistical study of cards, upon which the Logan opinion relies heavily, concludes: “[Authorization cards do *555have validity.” 3 In reaching the same conclusion almost from the inception of the Wagner Act, this circuit for almost thirty years has repeatedly held cards to be “ample proof of majority representation.” NLRB v. Greensboro Coca Cola Bottling Co., 180 F.2d 840, 844 (4th Cir. 1950); Bilton Insulation, Inc. v. NLRB, 297 F.2d 141 (4th Cir. 1961); Peoples Motor Express Co. v. NLRB, 165 F.2d 903 (4th Cir. 1948); NLRB v. Schmidt Baking Co., 122 F.2d 162 (4th Cir. 1941). In addition, the Supreme Court, both before and after the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, has sanctioned the card count as an alternative means to an election for achieving exclusive representative status. See United Mine Workers v. Arkansas Oak Flooring, 351 U.S. 62, 76 S.Ct. 559, 100 L.Ed. 941 (1956); Franks Bros. Co. v. NLRB, 321 U.S. 702, 64 S.Ct. 817, 88 L.Ed. 1020 (1944).
In light of the prevalent, judicially-approved 4 practice of using authorization cards during the twenty years since the 1947 statute, I am unconvinced by the strained statutory interpretation fashioned in Logan that Taft-Hartley was meant to eliminate cards. Section 9(a) specifically provides that exclusive bargaining representatives may be “designated or selected” by a majority of employees. Section 8(a) (5), with which we are here concerned, makes it a violation to refuse to bargain with a representative chosen in accordance with section 9(a), which does not require an election. While it is true that section 9(c) now specifies that the only method the Board can employ for certification is a secret-ballot election, the statute nowhere limits employees to this procedure and it does not make compliance with section 9(c) a prerequisite to an 8(a) (5) violation. In fact, the House version of the Hartley Bill which would have required certification as a sine qua non of recognition was rejected in conference. See H.R. 3020,
80th Cong., 1st Sess. 21, 81 § 8(a) (5) (May 13, 1947); H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 510, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 41 (June 3, 1947). See also Lesnick, Establishment of Bargaining Rights Without an NLRB Election, 65 Mieh.L.Rev. 851, 861 (1967).
The proper solution of the problem arising from the possible abuse of this long-established procedure lies in a case-by-case analysis of the use made of the cards and not in their outright repudiation. Evaluation of the reliability of authorization cards should be made in two distinct contexts. One is where there is no election and no employer unfair labor practice other than a refusal to bargain; the other is where there has been an election which is vitiated by an employer violation.
The first* category, illustrated by the instant case, is where the union submits to the employer cards from a majority of employees and demands recognition and collective bargaining. The majority opinion here and the Logan opinion indicate that on these facts alone the employer would be justified in refusing to bargain, basing a claim , of doubt on the asserted inherent unreliability of cards. This smacks of policy-making by stereotype.
The facts of the instant case are instructive. The employer was presented with authorization cards from nearly 70% (19 out of 29) of the employees in the unit. The statistics relied upon in Logan to denigrate cards point out that when 70% of the employees have signed up, three out of four times the union will be successful in a subsequent election. In addition, in this case there was no allegation of any ambiguity in the cards or any misrepresentation or threat or any of the other abuses so painstakingly catalogued in Logan. Notwithstanding the acknowledged statistical chances and the apparent propriety of this judicially-approved *556practice, the court suggests that the employer may without further showing assert a good faith doubt about the union’s majority. I submit that such a contention by the employer would be baseless. Under the circumstances set forth above, it would be incumbent upon the employer to show some irregularity justifying his doubt.
This test was indeed met in Logan, which could have been more appropriately decided on narrower grounds than that chosen by the court. In that case, the employer received cards signed by barely more than 50% (43 out of 80) of the eligible employees who had four years earlier rejected the union in a consent election. Upon investigation, the employer discovered evidence of widespread union coercion designed to secure signatures. Armed with four affidavits depicting economic threats made to employees by the union, the employer filed unfair labor practice charges before the union petitioned the Board for a bargaining order. In the light of these facts, it was not unreasonable to infer that the union lacked a validly obtained majority and that the employer had a bona fide doubt. A refusal to enforce the Board’s order on these facts rather than a wholesale denunciation of authorization cards would have been the more defensible course.
The Logan dicta undermine authorization cards in the second set of circumstances in which we must evaluate them. In this category the cards are vital. The situation arises when, after being presented with cards, the employer commits unfair labor practices which vitiate the subsequent Board-supervised election. In this context we are faced with a question of remedies: is a re-run election adequate to redress the wrong done or must an order to bargain based on the card majority be issued?
Just as in determining whether an employer had a good faith doubt, so in reviewing a remedy fashioned by the Board to expunge the consequences of unfair labor practices, an ad hoc investigation appears in order. In each case the ultimate question will be: given the unfair labor practice, will a re-run election be a more reliable test of the employees’ desires than the card count taken before the commission of the violation? The answer will depend, of course, on the nature of the employer infraction as well as upon the circumstances attending the card check.
A good recent example of the necessity for card checks as an antidote to unfair labor practices is NLRB v. Ralph Printing and Lithograph Co., 379 F.2d 687 (8th Cir 1967). In that case, the union submitted cards from 93% of the employees and demanded recognition. There was no oral statement of disbelief in the union’s majority and no allegation of ambiguity in the text of the cards or of threats or misrepresentations in their obtention. Nevertheless the employer refused to submit the cards to a neutral third party. After losing the election by a narrow margin, the union filed objections based on coercive interrogation and surveillance. While the investigation of these objections was pending, the company granted a ten-cent an hour wage increase, with an implied promise of more benefits if the workers should continue to vote “correctly.” The Eighth Circuit properly enforced the Board’s order to bargain. Under these circumstances, could there be any doubt that the substantial card majority furnished a more reliable guide to the employees’ true feelings than a re-run election? This is a far cry from the employer’s “minimal infractions” in Logan, which could perhaps be cured by a second election.
Professor Pollitt’s study of Labor Board re-run elections indicates that the Ralph Printing case is not an isolated exception. Premising his observations on 20,153 elections held between 1960 and 1962. Pollitt concludes that in over two-thirds of the cases, the party who destroyed the election process in the first instance wins in the re-run. Pollitt, NLRB Re-Run Elections: A Study, 41 N. Car.L.Rev. 209, 212 (1963). Moreover, his analysis suggests that certain unfair labor practices are more irremediable by re-run elections than others. For example, threats to move the plant appear *557highly successful and enduring in their effect, since in only 29% of the re-runs was a different result achieved. On the other hand, threats to eliminate benefits or to refuse to deal with the union if elected seem ineffectual, as indicated by a changed result 75% of the time.
It is true that these statistics are based on a limited sampling and are manipulatable. While not conclusive, they do indicate that unfair labor practices irremediable by a re-run election are more frequent than the Logan opinion suggests. Absent the possibility of a valid re-run election, the only effective recourse left the Board is to order bargaining on the basis of the card majority. As the Second Circuit recently observed:
“Such card majorities must by necessity be deemed evidence of the status quo ante where the employer’s conduct has been so flagrantly hostile to the organizing efforts of a union that a secret election has undoubtedly been corrupted as a result of the employer’s militant opposition.”
NLRB v. Flomatic Corp., 347 F.2d 74 (2d Cir. 1965).
“Crocodile tears” shed by an employer over the loss of his employees’ free and untrammelled choice after he has violated either section 8(a) (1) or (3) or both should not impress us. Nor do I share my brethren’s concern that the employees may end up being represented by a minority union. In the first place, this is not a statistical probability as evidenced by the figures cited in Logan. Secondly, the Supreme Court has made it clear that there are other values — such as the need to deter employer unfair practices — in our labor policy which may on occasion override the desideratum of majority representation. See, e. g., Brooks v. NLRB, 348 U.S. 96, 75 S.Ct. 176, 99 L.Ed. 125 (1954); Franks Bros. v. NLRB, 321 U.S. 702, 64 S.Ct. 817, 88 L.Ed. 1020 (1944). Finally, a minority union facing a hostile employer can cause the employees little harm while having strong incentive to do them much good. See, Bok, The Regulation of Campaign Tactics in Representative Elections Under the National Labor Relations Act, 78 Harv.L.Rev. 38, 134-5 (1964). As Professor Bok writes,
“There is every reason for the union to negotiate a contract that will satisfy the majority, for the union will surely realize that it must win the support of the employees, in the face of a hostile employer, in order to survive the threat of a decertification election after a year has passed.”
Bok, supra, at 135.
In summary, authorization cards, although susceptible to abuse, have always been considered an acceptable means of selecting a bargaining agent. Their validity may not be judged without investí-' gation into the particular card employed and the overall atmosphere in which signatures were procured. When textually unambiguous and secured without fraud or coercion, cards may be a reliable indicator of employees’ union desires. More importantly, where employer unfair labor practices have destroyed the possibility of a valid election, a card majority is the only reliable guide to the wishes of the employees. I regret this court’s unwarranted and unnecessary weakening of an established and occasionally essential device in the collective bargaining process.

. NLRB v. S. S. Logan Packing Co., (No. 10,355) 386 F.2d 562 (4th Cir. 1967).

. See the discussion in Union Authorization Cards, .75 Tale L.J. 805, 823-8 (1966); see also Judge Timber’s dissent in NLRB v. Gotham Shoe Manufacturing Co., 359 F.2d 684, 687 (2d Cir. 1966).

. 1962 Proceedings: Section of Labor Relations Law, American Bar Association, 18.

. See, e. g., NLRB v. Southbridge Sheet Metal Works, Inc., 1 Cir., 380 F.2d 851; Jas. H. Matthews & Co. v. NLRB, 354 F.2d 432 (8th Cir. 1965); NLRB v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., 341 F.2d 750 (6th Cir. 1965); NLRB v. American Manufacturing Co. of Texas, 351 F.2d 74 (5th Cir. 1965); NLRB v. Philamon Laboratories, Inc., 298 F.2d 176 (2d Cir. 1962).