Court Opinion

ID: 9468997
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:29:00.643678+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:09.237941
License: Public Domain

VAN DUSEN, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
As a reading of our opinions shows, this is not the first time in recent years that this court has struggled with the difficult issues raised by the National' Labor Relations Board’s issuance of an order to bargain as an unfair labor practice remedy. See NLRB v. Permanent Label Corp., 657 F.2d 512 (3d Cir. 1981) (en banc); NLRB v. K & K Gourmet Meats, Inc., 640 F.2d 460 (3d Cir. 1981); Hedstrom Co. v. NLRB, 629 F.2d 305 (3d Cir. 1980) (en banc), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 996, 101 S.Ct. 1699, 68 L.Ed.2d 196 (1981).1 I doubt that it will be the last. These cases, which seek to develop a consistently applicable standard of review of these orders, reflect the tremendous difficulty inherent in balancing the court’s *1216limited role in reviewing administrative action with its constitutional responsibility to constrain such agencies within the broad policies established for them by Congress. As is evidenced by the abovementioned two recent en banc decisions, the development and articulation of this standard is a matter of great concern to the active judges in which I do not presume to interfere. My concern here is with the result reached on the facts of this case. While the able and articulate majority opinion clearly sets forth the standard of review and applies it to a statement of facts with which I take no substantial exception, the result is to countenance a departure from the principles of the Act and the teaching of the Supreme Court that is so fundamental that I must respectfully dissent.
I.
I agree entirely with the majority opinion when it states that “[a]s in all cases where a bargaining order is at issue, we start with the Supreme Court’s decision in NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575, 89 S.Ct. 1918, 23 L.Ed.2d 547 (1969).” See Majority at 1211. A close reading of Gissel, I believe, will crystallize the point of my disagreement with the result in this case. Before Gissel, a bargaining order could issue only “in ‘exceptional’ cases marked by ‘outrageous’ and ‘pervasive’ unfair labor practices [of] ‘such a nature that their coercive effects cannot be eliminated by the application of traditional remedies.’ ” 395 U.S. at 613-14, 89 S.Ct. at 1939-40, quoting NLRB v. Logan Packing Co., 386 F.2d 562, 570 (4th Cir. 1967). These are now called “Gissel I” orders. In Gissel itself, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, relying on its own Logan Packing decision, took the position that this was the only situation in which a bargaining order was proper. See 395 U.S. at 611-13, 89 S.Ct. at 1938-39. In reversing, the Supreme Court recognized the continuing validity of the Gissel I orders, noted that “the actual area of disagreement between our position here and that of the Fourth Circuit is not large as a practical matter,” id. at 613, 89 S.Ct. at 1939 (emphasis added), and explained:
“The only effect of our holding here is to approve the Board’s use of the bargaining order in less extraordinary cases marked by less pervasive practices which nonetheless still have the tendency to undermine majority strength and impede the election processes. The Board’s authority to issue such an order on a lesser showing of employer misconduct is appropriate, we should reemphasize, where there is also a showing that at one point the union had" a majority; in such a case, of course, effectuating ascertainable employee free choice becomes as important a goal as deterring employer misbehavior. In fashioning a remedy in the exercise of its discretion, then, the Board can properly take into consideration the extensiveness of an employer’s unfair practices in terms of their past effect on election conditions and the likelihood of their recurrence in the future. If the Board finds that the possibility of erasing the effects of past practices and of ensuring a fair election (or a fair rerun) by the use of traditional remedies, though present, is slight and that employee sentiment once expressed through cards would, on balance, be better protected by a bargaining order, then such an order should issue
Id. at 614-15, 89 S.Ct. at 1940-41. These orders, now called “Gissel II” orders, may thus be utilized by the Board, when it deems them necessary and appropriate, in less extraordinary cases than Gissel I orders. In my opinion, however, it is nothing less than a perversion of the Supreme Court’s language to suggest, as the Board does in this case (Br. at 21 n.15), that a Gissel II order is not an extraordinary remedy. To say that a situation which justifies its use is “less extraordinary” than “outrageous and pervasive” by no means implies that a Gissel II order is not an extraordinary remedy which should be used only when the chance of success with a traditional remedy is “slight.” As noted above, the Supreme Court in Gissel explicitly stated that its disagreement with the Fourth Cir*1217cuit — and thus the difference between a Gissel I and Gissel II order — “is not large as a practical matter.” 395 U.S. at 613, 89 S.Ct. at 1939.
The reason for this is quite straightforward. Although the majority opinion dismisses it as a “truism” (at 1211), I believe it is clear that a fundamental tenet of the national labor policy is that a Board-supervised, secret ballot election is “the preferred method of selecting bargaining representatives.” The relationship between this fundamental tenet and the Supreme Court’s recognition of the validity of a bargaining order in some situations was recently explained at length by Judge Rosenn in his majority opinion in NLRB v. K & K Gourmet Meats, Inc., supra, and I cannot improve on his articulation of it:
“The selection of an exclusive collective bargaining agent is not a game of chance but a matter of the highest importance to employees and employers alike. Legislation and experience indicate that an employee’s statutory right to select an exclusive bargaining agent should be determined by democratic process in a free and open election. The Board’s responsibility for holding such elections was not meant to be supplanted by the authority found to exist in Gissel. Only in exceptional circumstances, where it is obvious that the extensive machinery and power of the NLRB is inadequate to ensure a free election, should employees be denied their right to cast a secret ballot for or against an exclusive bargaining agent.4 .... The bargaining order is an extraordinary remedy and, because it operates to disenfranchise the workers in the choice of their representative, it is appropriate only when the harmful effects of that disenfranchisement are outweighed by the positive advancement of the policies underlying federal labor law.
640 F.2d at 469-70 & n.4. I believe, as did Judge Rosenn, that
“In this case, and too often in others, the Board has looked upon a bargaining order as a convenient remedy for minor violations when traditional remedies could be equally effective and still preserve for employees their statutory right to select their exclusive bargaining agent by a democratic process in an open election.”
Id. at 468 n.3. Where, as here, the facts bear no resemblance whatever to those of Gissel itself and where it appears that the *1218Board is using a bargaining order for a purpose never intended, it is not a matter of this court substituting its judgment for the expertise of the Board or of saying that we would have decided differently in the first instance. Neither is it a question of what we will require of the Board by way of a statement of reasons or other procedural guarantees, such as concerned the court in Hedstrom and Permanent Label. Rather, it is this court drawing the line at what it believes to be the point where the factual similarity between the present case and Gissel is so tenuous, and the danger to employee free choice so strong, that applying the rule of that case is not justifiable. I would draw that line here.
II.
I must respectfully disagree with the majority’s proffered factual distinctions between this case and K & K Gourmet Meats (see majority op. at 1213). First, the majority correctly observed that the ALJ in K & K Gourmet Meats found the unfair labor practices there to be “minimal” while the ALJ here found the promotions and wage increases to be “serious.” Be that as it may, the law is not that a Gissel order is appropriate given “serious” unfair labor practices, but rather that an order may issue upon a finding that the possibility that a fair election may be had with traditional remedies is slight. It was this precise finding which the ALJ refused to make after having observed the live testimony of the employee witnesses and making a firsthand evaluation of the workplace atmosphere. Thus, whatever, the ALJ may have meant by the term “serious,” he clearly did not mean “sufficient to warrant a bargaining order.” To then use the ALJ’s subjective language to support a conclusion he himself refused to reach seems to me to be rather anomalous.
Next, the majority notes that the court upheld only two of the Board’s five unfair labor practice findings in K & K while the unfair labor practices were conceded here. This is true but, I submit, not compelling for it is not the number of unfair labor practices but their effect which is the test. To presume such effect is, in Judge Rosenn’s words, “the grossest kind of speculation.” 640 F.2d at 469.
Finally, it is also true that this case involved a post-strike unfair labor practice, while all of the misconduct in K & K Gourmet Meats took place before the strike. Although this is a potentially relevant factual distinction between the cases, I do not believe it to be of substantial significance. The majority appears to accept for purposes of argument, as I will, the employer’s argument that, as in K & K, the total success of the strike is an indication that the prestrike unfair labor practices were not sufficient to undermine the union’s majority (majority op. at 1213). They then rely on the post-strike actions here to distinguish the case. Thus, the validity of the distinction depends upon whether those unfair labor practices, either alone or when added to the pre-strike actions, were sufficient to irremediably undermine the union’s majority status. This, again, is precisely the issue which the ALJ confronted and, based upon his firsthand observation of the witnesses, answered in the negative. The ALJ found:
“The Board has acknowledged that not all ‘serious unfair labor practices ... are sufficiently egregious to warrant a bargaining order.’ Although the line between patterns of misconduct which meet the test of pervasiveness is seldom free from doubt, having considered the total circumstances in this case, on balance, I am not convinced that the unfair labor practices herein were of a degree sufficient to prevent the holding of a free and fair election in the future . ... ”
AU opinion at 22, reprinted at 37a. This conclusion is, in my view, supported by substantial evidence while the contrary conclusion of the Board, rendered on the cold record, is not.2
*1219In sum, I find the facts in K & K Gourmet Meats and the present case to be indistinguishable in any significant respect and the policy interests to be identical. Having no indication that K & K does not continue to be good law, I consider it to be controlling here.3
III.
To conclude, I would hold this court’s decision in K & K Gourmet Meats to be controlling on its facts. Beyond that, I believe the facts of this case to be so far removed from Gissel, and, in fact, from this court’s most recent divided opinion in Permanent Label, as to preclude the issuance of a bargaining order on the authority of those cases. While it is fundamental to our common law system that existing precedents be extended to new or differing factual situations, there comes a point where to go further is to do violence to the very policy underlying the early decision. In my opinion, that point has been reached in this case. The Supreme Court in Gissel simply never intended its extraordinary remedy to be expanded to the point where it becomes an equally attractive — or, in some cases, more attractive — alternative to a Board election. Nonetheless, a close reading of this case and its comparison with the facts of K & K Gourmet Meats leads me to the conclusion that current Board policy in this area has, in some cases, made it easier for a union to obtain a bargaining order than to prevail in a secret ballot election. The result of our enforcement of a bargaining order in such a case is to countenance the avoidance of an election and seeking of a bargaining order as a legitimate union campaign tactic at the expense of employee free choice. Even the dissent in K & K Gourmet Meats recognized this fact.4 To me, such a result is so far beyond a reasonable reading of the Act or the Gissel opinion that I do not believe that any standard of review, even that articulated by the majority, is so strict as to leave us powerless to disapprove it.5
*1220Accordingly, I would grant the petition for review and deny the cross-application for enforcement.

. For a general discussion of the history of bargaining order enforcement in this circuit pri- or to these most recent cases, see Comment, Enforcement of Collective Bargaining Orders in the Third Circuit: The Rise and Fall of the Armcor Standards, 25 Vill.L.Rev. 913 (1980).

“4 The dissent submits that against the concern for employers'and employees subject to bargaining orders must be weighed ‘the strong federal policy in favor of the formation of collective bargaining relationships.’ (Dissenting op., infra at 474.) On the contrary, we believe that the federal policy with respect to the formation of collective bargaining relationships is neutral. We view the thrust of federal policy as the protection ‘of the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively’ when they are so inclined. See 29 U.S.C. § 151 (1976). See also 29 U.S.C. § 157 (1976). Therefore, Congress in its declaration of national policy encouraging collective bargaining has also stated its policy in ‘protecting the exercise of workers of full freedom of association, self-organization and designation of representatives of their own choosing.’ 29 U.S.C. § 151. Freedom of association and free selection of a bargaining agent, however, may be substantially diminished by dependence on authorization cards.
“Cards have inherent uncertainties and risks attached to them. Even when the language is clear and unambiguous, the union solicitor may inform the signer that the card will be used only to obtain an election or merely to show interest in an election and that the language above the signature should be disregarded. NLRB v. Boyer Bros., Inc., 448 F.2d 555 (3d Cir. 1971). It may be accompanied by representations that it is not a final designation until there is an election. See Amalgamated Clothing Workers v. NLRB, 365 F.2d 898, 906-08 (D.C.Cir.1966). There may also be misrepresentations, e.g., that a majority of the employees have signed authorization cards when in fact they have not. See NLRB v. Savair Mfg. Co., 414 U.S. 270, 277, 94 S.Ct. 495, 498, 38 L.Ed.2d 495 (1973). The solicitations may also be attended by coercion or threats of reprisals and the employee’s signature may not be the free and informed decision made in the privacy of a voting booth. See Texaco, Inc. v. NLRB, 436 F.2d 520, 524 (7th Cir. 1971). The Court in Gissel recognized that cards are ‘admittedly inferior to the election process,’ although they may perhaps be the only way of assuring employee choice when the employer engages in conduct disruptive of the election process. 395 U.S. at 602-03, 89 S.Ct. at 1934. As we note in the text, there is nothing in the record here to indicate that the Board could not conduct a fair election at the K & K plant.”

. While I appreciate the thoughtful comments made in the concurring opinion, I must respectfully take issue with its conclusion that I have “unjustifiably dismiss[ed]” the Board’s explicit finding on this issue. To the contrary, I have applied the standard of review articulated by our recent en banc cases and concluded that the Board’s determination that the post-strike unfair labor practices render a fair election unlikely is not supported by substantial evidence. I so conclude because of my belief that the atmosphere of the workplace, the effect of the unfair labor practices on the employees, and possibility of a fair election are, if not solely questions of fact, at the very least issues uniquely suited to determination by the ALJ, who has heard the live testimony and observed the demeanor of the witnesses. Thus, even if I believed the question to be as close as the concurring judge feels that it is, I would still defer to the “long-standing policy of the NLRB [and the courts] to attach great weight to the *1219credibility resolutions [and like questions such as mental state and workplace atmosphere] of an administrative law judge to the extent they are based on testimonial evidence of live witnesses and the hearing judge has had the opportunity to observe their demeanor.” Eastern Engineering & Elevator Co. v. N. L. R. B., 637 F.2d 191, 197 (3d Cir. 1980). Accord, ABC Trans-National Transport v. N. L. R. B., 642 F.2d 675 (3d Cir. 1981). Cf. N. L. R. B. v. Permanent Label Corp., 657 F.2d at 528 (Aldisert, J., concurring) (“the rigors of the selection procedure and the statutory protections of ALJ independence suggest to me that the federal judiciary need not look down its collective nose at ALJ decisions”). I feel much more secure resting an important decision implicating industrial democracy on a firsthand factual determination than on the nebulous concept of “Board expertise.” See Hedstrom Co. v. N. L. R. B., 629 F.2d at 324 (Rosenn, J., dissenting); Getman & Goldberg, The Myth of Labor Board Expertise, 39 U.Chi.L.Rev. 681 (1972). If Permanent Label counsels that an ALJ’s determination of the unlikelihood of a fair election is to be respected because it is based upon firsthand observation of the witnesses, should not the same respect be afforded where, as here, the ALJ reaches the opposite conclusion?

. Additionally, I do not read K & K Gourmet Meats as suggesting any hostility toward bargaining orders per se (see majority op. at 1213) and thus do not believe it to be in any way affected by the court’s recent en banc decision in Permanent Label. In K & K, such hostility was suggested by the dissent, see 640 F.2d at 470 (Gibbons, J., dissenting), and explicitly disclaimed by Judge Rosenn, see id. at 467-68 n.3.

. The dissent observed;
“We are all well aware that in recent years labor unions have been winning far fewer contested elections than heretofore. A Gissel order insulates a union from the hazards of an election, and arguably tilts the scale too far in the union’s favor. But the Supreme Court interpreted the Act in the Gissel cases to give the Board that authority, and Congress has not chosen to react. If I were a congressman requested to vote on overruling Gissel, I am not sure how I would vote.”
640 F.2d at 473 (Gibbons, J., dissenting).
In this case, the union had achieved at best a bare card majority in a relatively small bargaining unit. While the majority correctly observes that the small size of the unit may magnify the effect of employer unfair labor practices and may more quickly undermine the union’s majority, the reverse is also true. In such a small unit, the acceptance of only one or two unreliable cards may result in the certification of a union, without an election, against the wishes of the majority of employees. In this case, not only has there never been an election, but the union withdrew its petition for an election as soon as the employer committed any action upon which it could base a request for a bargaining order. This withdrawal came at the outset of the strike and before the post-strike unfair labor practice which the majority finds to be of such significance.

. I note particularly that the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Charles D. Bonanno Lin*1220en Service, Inc. v. NLRB, — U.S. —, —, 102 S.Ct. 720, 727, 70 L.Ed.2d 656, relied on by the majority, held precisely that the courts should not substitute their judgment for that of the Board “with respect to the issues that Congress intended the Board should resolve.” It distinguished the argument in the Chief Justice’s dissent by noting that the dissent “does not suggest that the Board seeks here to promote illegitimate ends.” Id. Bonanno, therefore, provides no authority for the proposition that we are powerless to act when convinced that the Board is applying Gissel beyond where the Supreme Court, and by tacit acceptance Congress, intended.