Court Opinion

ID: 9466875
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:31:21.668604+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:01.507114
License: Public Domain

*486A. LEON HIGGINBOTHAM, Jr., Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
We are asked to consider in this case the relevance of certain events which occurred almost two years prior to the six-month statute of limitations period of Section 10(b) of the National Labor Relations Act. I agree with the first part of the majority’s decision which holds that Local 170, Bartenders, Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Employee Union, AFL-CIO (the Union) continues to enjoy a presumption of majority status within the six-month period of 10(b). Although there was illegal recognition of the Union prior to the hiring of employees, Section 10(b) precludes raising after six months this unfair labor practice as a basis for eliminating the presumption of minority status. I cannot agree with the majority that the same evidence of illegal recognition (two years earlier) must be considered to help rebut that presumption once established; and that the failure of the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) to consider this evidence was contrary to Section 10(b) and reversible error. The Board’s decision is entirely consistent with the underlying purposes of Section 10(b) to further labor stability and with the Supreme Court’s decision in Local Lodge No. 1424, International Association of Machinists v. NLRB (Bryan Manufacturing Co.), 362 U.S. 411, 80 S.Ct. 822, 4 L.Ed.2d 832 (1960). While I would uphold the Board’s decision to consider such evidence under its discretion to evaluate the probative value of evidence, I would not, as the majority does, require that they do so. Without this evidence, there clearly is substantial evidence to support the Board’s conclusion that the employer lacks a good faith doubt of the Union’s majority status.
The Board’s order should be enforced.