Court Opinion

ID: 9467098
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:38:28.34011+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:09.621129
License: Public Domain

WEIS, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Once again, the Board relies upon NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575, 89 S.Ct. 1918, 23 L.Ed.2d 547 (1969), as its authority to issue a bargaining order, while ignoring the Court’s admonition that secret elections are the preferred method of ascertaining whether a union has majority support. Id. at 602, 89 S.Ct. at 1934. If, by unfair labor practices, the election process has become tainted, then remedial steps must be taken. But a rerun election is the most satisfactory alternative since it preserves the employees’ right to express their views in what obviously constitutes a matter of serious, personal concern.
Before the rerun election process may be bypassed, Gissel requires the Board to consider “the extensiveness of the employer’s unfair labor practices in terms of their past effect on election conditions and the likeli*947hood of their recurrence in the future.” Id. at 614, 89 S.Ct. at 1940. Only if the possibility of erasing the effects of past practices and ensuring a fair rerun election is, on balance, slight, may the Board issue a bargaining order. Id.
Here, the Board held that an order was necessary to “effectuate ascertainable employee free choice” because of the employer’s pervasive anti-union campaign. It found that the most “significant single violation of the Act, for purposes of imposing a bargaining order” was the creation of the Garry Hotline. In addition, the Board relied heavily upon the alleged effect of the asserted interference with the Board’s post-election investigation, saying, “for this reason, respondent’s conduct makes the holding of a free and fair election in the future an extremely remote possibility.”
The majority, however, has held, and I agree, that the company’s postelection conduct was not an unfair labor practice. Therefore, there is no substance to the reason the Board cited as support for its belief that there could not be fair elections in the future. Moreover, as shall be demonstrated, the creation of the Hotline is insufficient justification for disenfranchising the employees.
As the majority explains, the Hotline was set up during Rudolph Koppel’s hospital stay. Employees called a designated phone number and their questions were recorded; written answers were then made available to the employees in the plant. Eight questions and answers were processed during the existence of the Hotline. The Board concluded that the bulletin containing only the questions and answers “conveyed a clear promise of improved benefits should the union be defeated.” The document does not support that characterization.
One caller asked why the company had not provided certain benefits, including better hospitalization and retirement plans. Part of the reply stated:
“Our past record speaks for itself. We have regularly improved all benefits without a union. We are comparing our benefits with our competitors, as well as with union contracts and we compare very well. I will see that you get specific information so you can see for yourself. (For example, for almost a year we have been studying various proposals and getting bids from several companies regarding significant improvements in our retirement plan).”
Another question submitted was, “If the union does not come in, are we still going to get Blue Cross and Blue Shield and free glasses and the dental care?” Koppel replied that the company intended to stay with its existing medical insurance program, and added:
“Unfortunately, during an organization drive, I am prohibited from discussing any plans we have for adding optical coverage or improving coverage for dental care or about any other changes in our overall benefit plan.
After you vote NO union on January 29,1 can speak freely. If you are not satisfied with our actions during the next year, you have the alternative to election to join a union.”
The responses accurately recited the limitations on the employer’s ability to discuss future plans during the campaign and did not contain any clear promise of benefits. In fact, the answers closely resemble those at issue in an earlier Board decision, Shop-Rite Development Co., 215 N.L.R.B. 777 (1974). In that case, the employer posted a notice entitled “Haslett Shop-Rite Hot Line” containing an employee question and the company’s response.
“QUESTION: Could you tell us again when the company could legally increase our wages and benefits if the Union is voted down again, and the same if the Union wins?
ANSWER: If the employees vote against the Union again, and if the Union did not file charges again within 5 calendar days, we could increase wages and benefits as soon as the NLRB certifies the results of the election . *948Remember, because the . . . Union has been trying to organize our store, I have not legally been able to grant a general increase in wages and benefits. . I personally don’t think this is fair to our employees, and I will be glad to get this settled so that some action can be taken.”
The Board found that the employer’s statements, viewed “within the context in which they were made,” were protected by 29 U.S.C. § 158(c)1 and thus “did not constitute objectionable conduct warranting setting aside the election.” Id. at 778.
In this case, however, the Board does not cite Shop-Rite but relies instead on Teledyne Dental Products Corp., 210 N.L.R.B. 435 (1974), where a bargaining order was issued after the employer solicited grievances, agreed to accede to all of the employees’ demands, and actually made some concessions during the campaign. That is a quite different and more egregious scenario from the one presented here.
It may be in this case that the company intended the employees to infer a promise from the language of the memorandum and perhaps the Board’s characterization of this as an unfair labor practice could be sustained.2 But the question is a close one, and only emphasizes that if the matter can be considered an unfair labor practice at all, it cannot fairly be characterized as serious and pervasive. See NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co., supra at 614, 89 S.Ct. at 1940; Teledyne Dental Products Corp., supra at 435. The finding here that the Hotline memorandum constituted an unfair labor practice is a far cry from establishing that it so polluted the election environment that a fair rerun could not be had.
The extravagance of the Board’s interpretation is apparent when the Hotline memorandum is considered in context. Leaflets analyzing wages and benefits were issued by both company and union, almost on a daily basis. Most of the flyers bombarded the employees with detailed descriptions of the company and union medical and retirement plans, as well as comparisons of wage rates paid by neighboring employers. Amidst the charges and countercharges in the almost incessant barrage of propaganda fired by both sides, to credit the isolated answers in the Hotline memorandum as so significant as to require a bargaining order borders on the ludicrous. As the Board and this court recognized in Landis Tool Co. v. NLRB, 460 F.2d 23 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 915, 93 S.Ct. 237, 34 L.Ed.2d 177 (1972), traditional remedies such as cease and desist orders coupled with a rerun election are adequate to correct an unfair labor practice of this nature. In short, the issuance of a bargaining order under these circumstances is not warranted; resort to that remedy should be had only when the degree of the unfair labor practice is severe enough to impede future elections.
In its other findings of unfair labor practices, the Board referred to the imposition of “more stringent disciplinary procedures” on active union supporters. Adopting the ALJ’s conclusion that these workers were “singled out because of their union activities,” the Board disregarded uncontradicted, documentary evidence that similar warnings were given both during and after the campaigning to other employees who were not active in the organization drive. It was beyond dispute that, in each instance, a violation of company rules had occurred. *949The only issue was whether the reprimands should have been given orally or in writing.
The majority cites Edgewood Nursing Center, Inc. v. NLRB, 581 F.2d 363, 368 (3d Cir. 1978), for the proposition that if the choice of disciplinary methods is “partly motivated by reaction to the employee’s protected activity,” it is an unfair labor practice. That quotation, however, failed to include the next sentence: “On the other hand, if the employee would have been fired for cause irrespective of the employer’s attitude toward the union, the real reason for the discharge is nondiscriminatory.” Id. Partial motivation is not enough; the Board must find that the permissible reason offered by the employer was merely a pretext, and the real motive was anti-union animus. Gould, Inc. v. NLRB, 612 F.2d 728, 734 (3d Cir. 1979). See also Mt. Healthy City Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977); Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. NLRB, 592 F.2d 595 (1st Cir. 1979). The Board made no such finding in this case. Furthermore, there is not substantial evidence that the issuance of the few written reprimands would have had any enduring effect on future elections.
Finally, the Board ignored a significant postelection development. Neither the ALJ nor the Board discussed a petition signed by 84 of the employees requesting that the election results stand as counted. This petition originated with one of the employees, was circulated throughout the plant, and was mailed to the Board. The refusal to even acknowledge its existence in the decision of either the ALJ or the Board is some indication of the Board’s disregard of the wishes of the workers themselves. See Electrical Products Division of Midland-Ross Corp. v. NLRB, 617 F.2d 977, 990 (Weis, J., dissenting). Even though it stated in the beginning of its opinion that the primary purpose of the National Labor Relations Act is “to effectuate ascertainable free choice,” the Board ignored a clear expression of that choice in its excessive preoccupation with deterrence.
That the deterrence motivation may have resulted in a distortion of the proper remedy is suggested by another postelection development. Respondent’s brief alleges that in August 1979, four months after the Board filed its decision, the Garry Company was sold to Akzona, Inc.3 and that Rudolph and Harry Koppel are no longer employed by the company. The activities of these two men provoked most of the Board’s criticism and fueled the drive for deterrence. If, in fact, the Koppels are no longer active in the company, the bargaining order loses its raison d’etre. Because I would, for the several reasons discussed above, deny enforcement of the bargaining order, the Board would be free on remand to evaluate this change in circumstances. Hedstrom Co. v. NLRB, 558 F.2d 1137 (3d Cir. 1977); cf. NLRB v. Kostilnik, 405 F.2d 733 (3d Cir. 1969) (alleged change of ownership alone is not of itself grounds for denial of enforcement).
In Rapid Manufacturing Co. v. NLRB, 612 F.2d 144, 151 (3d Cir. 1979), we said, “[w]e would be remiss in our judicial functions if, on a record as sparse as this one, we were to enforce a bargaining order which, on every count, cannot even be regarded as colorably in compliance with Gissel.” Because that evaluation applies equally to the case at hand, I dissent from the enforcement of the bargaining order.

. 29 U.S.C. § 158(c) provides:
“The expressing of any views, argument, or opinion, or the dissemination thereof, whether in written, printed, graphic, or visual form, shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair labor practice under any of the provisions of this subchapter, if such expression contains no threat of reprisal or promise of benefit.”

. It is questionable that the Board is more competent than we to review documentary evidence, cf. Mon River Towing, Inc. v. NLRB, 421 F.2d 1 (3d Cir. 1969) (oral statement found to imply a threat). In any event, if the decision is not supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole, including evidence opposed to the Board’s view, we must set it aside. Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 488-90, 71 S.Ct. 456, 464-465, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951).

. Respondent describes Akzona, Inc. as having “thirty-six [domestic] production facilities. The employees in twenty-six of those facilities are represented under collective bargaining agreements.” Brief for Respondent at 46 n.41.