Court Opinion

ID: 9466595
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:20:29.46406+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:49.293220
License: Public Domain

WEIS, Circuit Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur with the result reached by the majority, except with respect to enforcement of the bargaining order.
The Board adopted the AU’s finding that the company committed an unfair labor practice in disclosing to Nylomatic employees the decision to shut down the Del-Val facility. He conceded that the closing was brought about by economic conditions and that it was necessary to notify the landlord before June 30. Nevertheless, the ALJ believed that the company could have advised the landlord without also informing the Nylomatic employees before the July 1 *990election. At the same time, however, the ALJ concluded that the company violated its duty to bargain over the closing of the Del-Val plant.
It is inherently inconsistent for the Board to fault the company for not sooner releasing news of the planned shutdown of the Del-Val plant to the unions representing those employees and in the next breath to find that the employer was unfair in disclosing the same information to Nylomatic employees. Had the employer negotiated with the unions before closing the plant, discussions would have had to have taken place sufficiently in advance of June 30 to allow adequate time for effective action. During that period, rumors of the possible closing undoubtedly would have made their way to the Nylomatic plant. Such news travels fast and it is unrealistic to believe that it could have been kept secret, particularly since some employees worked at both plants.
Thus, if the company had complied with its duty to negotiate about Del-Val’s shutdown, the employees at Nylomatic would have known before the election that closing the plant at Del-Val was under very serious consideration. It follows, therefore, that the Board is inconsistent in concluding that the company should have withheld information about that eventuality until after the election on July 1.
Moreover, I fail to see why it was undesirable for the Nylomatic employees to be fully aware of conditions at the related plant before voting. Concealing information about the Del-Val closing would have amounted to nothing less than deception. One of the primary purposes of federal labor law is to protect “the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing . . 29 U.S.C. § 151. Interference with the dissemination of facts necessarily impinges upon an employee’s exercise of choice by denying him the opportunity to be fully informed.
Underlying the Board’s approach is a patronizing attitude toward the workers’ ability to make an intelligent decision. The Board evidently doubts that the employees are mature adults who are entitled to relevant and truthful information useful in making a considered choice. To “protect” them, the agency apparently would spoon-feed only those matters that it deems safe for them to learn. I cannot agree with that philosophy or with the Board’s finding that the failure of the company to conceal that that fact of the plant closing was an unfair labor practice.
Because I believe, however, that the voters should be given accurate information, I concur in the Board’s determination that the letter sent by the company to Nylomatic employees discussing that plant’s future was so exaggerated as to be deceptive. This “gloom and doom” report implied that the company was seriously concerned about Nylomatic’s survival. Testimony of one of the company’s vice-presidents, however, established that the Nylomatic plant was, in fact, highly profitable. Although the plastics industry had suffered a general downward trend the year before, there was no evidence suggesting that Midland-Ross was seriously considering the shutdown of Nylo-matic.
The June 23 letter insinuating that the Nylomatic operation was on the brink of financial disaster and that the employees’ decision to unionize could be crucial to survival was an unfair labor practice serious enough to require setting aside the election. In Aircraft Radio Corp. v. NLRB, 519 F.2d 590 (3d Cir. 1975), this court held that material misrepresentations should result in a new election. That ruling applies whether the misstatement is made by the union or management. In the case at bar, management should not be permitted to retain the possible benefits of its inaccurate representations.
That does not mean, however, that a bargaining order is justified. NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575, 89 S.Ct. 1918, 23 L.Ed.2d 547 (1969), held that such orders are proper in instances where the Board determines that the unfair labor practice has a “tendency to undermine majority strength and impede the election *991processes.” Id. at 614, 89 S.Ct. at 1940. The Court clearly contemplated, however, that before issuing such an order, the Board would determine whether
“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
Id. at 614-15, 89 S.Ct. at 1940.
This court has shown particular sensitivity to the drastic character of Gissel bargaining orders by requiring specific Board findings that traditional remedies would not ensure a fair rerun election. In NLRB v. Armcor Industries, Inc., 535 F.2d 239 (3d Cir. 1976), we said:
“In light of the general and highly desirable practice in industrial relations of selecting bargaining representatives through traditional election processes, a rule requiring the Board to set forth a reasoned analysis justifying a bargaining order under Gissel is salutary.”
Id. at 244. In a later case, the court reemphasized that “the Board is required to ‘clearly explicate its reasons for issuing a bargaining order and include findings as to why a fair election cannot be held.’ ” Hedstrom Co. v. NLRB, 558 F.2d 1137, 1150 (3d Cir. 1977), quoting NLRB v. Armcor Industries, Inc., supra at 244 (emphasis added by Hedstrom court).
The rationale behind this court’s holdings is clear: acceptance of Board “expertise” to support conclusory “boilerplate,” without a reasoned analysis, does not comport with proper judicial review. Studies have cast doubts on the existence of such expertise, see Getman and Goldberg, The Myth of Labor Board Expertise, 39 U.Chi.L.Rev. 681 (1972); Samoff, N.L.R.B. Elections: Uncertainty and Certainty, 117 U.Pa.L.Rev. 228 (1968), and, moreover, the subject matter is not so complex or ethereal that it cannot be understood by members of the third branch.
Routine issuance of bargaining orders after a review of the facts and a conclusory finding that the unfair labor practices were “egregious,” “pervasive” or “chilling” is simply unacceptable.1 Bargaining orders have been defended as a necessary sanction to deter misconduct by an overreaching employer,2 but such orders do not affect the employer alone — they also fall on employees. It is they who lose the right to vote in favor of one union or another or none at all — rights that the National Labor Relations Act guarantees to them. Moreover, the Board’s remedies should right the wrong — not act as punitive measures. Republic Steel Corp. v. NLRB, 311 U.S. 7, 61 S.Ct. 77, 85 L.Ed. 6 (1940).
In imposing bargaining orders, the Board is subordinating the employee’s right to express his choice to its forecast as to who would have won the election if the employer had maintained laboratory conditions. When that prediction is little more than a guess, however, the Board’s paternalism does not justify depriving the employees of their vote. The extreme response of a bargaining order should be the exception and not the norm — a principle recognized by this court in Armcor and Hedstrom.
The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit commented on the problem in NLRB v. Appletree Chevrolet, Inc., 608 F.2d 988 (4th Cir. 1979). The court found that the ALJ had recommended a bargaining order without considering the “ ‘residual impact’ of [the unfair labor] practices, ‘the likelihood of recurring misconduct’ on the [company’s] part, or ‘the potential effect of ordinary *992remedies,’ such as the issuance of an 8(a)(1) order.” Id. at 997, quoting Peerless of America, Inc. v. NLRB, 484 F.2d 1108, 1121 (7th Cir. 1973). Instead, the ALJ simply pronounced the “magic words ‘pervasive and egregious’ ” before issuing the bargaining order. Id. Accordingly, the court properly refused to enforce the Board’s order.
In the case at bar, the Board failed to show that the possibility of ensuring a fair rerun by the use of traditional remedies “is slight.” NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co., supra at 614, 89 S.Ct. at 1940.3 Although timing of the plant closing was said to have had a “chilling” effect on the workers, the Board did not attempt to explain why the majority in Unit A was undermined while that in Unit B survived and won the election. The same speeches were given and letters sent to both groups. Yet the employees in Unit A voted by a considerable margin4 against the Ceramic Workers union while the workers in Unit B selected the Tool Makers as their representative. If the unfair letter of the company did not defeat the Tool Makers in this election, it seems highly unlikely that its influence was so pervasive or long-lived as to prevent a fair rerun election in Unit A. The fact that the Tool_ Makers local won its election and the Ceramic Workers local did not also raises the possibility that the employees were voting against that local specifically and preferred to be represented by some other union.
The Board failed to discuss the possibility of applying other, less extreme corrective measures. The employer could have been required, for example, to send to each voter an accurate account of Nylomatic’s financial posture and future prospects prepared by a competent, disinterested party. Such a disclosure would be very effective in correcting the misinformation circulated by the company without infringing on the employees’ rights. Other remedies might be devised that would be directed to remedying the wrong and not penalizing the innocent bystanders — the employees. This is particularly true if the Board’s order rests solely on the misleading letter and not the closing of the Del-Val plant.
The record furnishes no support for the conclusion that a fair rerun election could not be held. Accordingly, I dissent from the majority’s enforcement of the bargaining order.

. Two commentators have charged that the Board has developed a chronic “knee jerk” reaction after Gissel. Without providing “any sure basis for determining when and under what circumstances a bargaining order will be granted” the Board has repeatedly and without explanation simply “played trump.” Christensen & Christensen, Gissei Packing and “Good Faith Doubt”: The Gestalt of Required Recognition of Unions Under the NLRA, 37 U.Chi.L. Rev. 411, 445-46 (1970).

. See Note, “After All, Tomorrow Is Another Day”: Should Subsequent Events Affect the Validity of Bargaining Orders?, 31 Stan.L.R. 505 (1979).

. It has been noted that many unfair labor practices that appear coercive in fact have the opposite effect — they “may rally the voters against the employer instead of frightening them into submission.” Bok, The Regulation of Campaign Tactics in Representation Elections Under the National Labor Relations Act, 78 Harv.L.Rev. 38, 41 (1964).

. The vote was 37-28 against the union.