Court Opinion

ID: 9472659
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:06:47.939443+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:03.751597
License: Public Domain

FAGG, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Because I do not believe that the record supports the Board’s issuance of a bargaining order, I dissent from the portion of the court’s opinion enforcing the bargaining order issued for Units A and B.
As the court recognizes, one of the prerequisites to the proper issuance of a Gissel bargaining order is majority support for the Union within a given bargaining unit. The Board determined that the Union held valid authorization cards for 7 of the 13 employees in bargaining Unit A, thus giving the Union majority support in that unit. In my view, the authorization card of employee Mary Mowatt is invalid, and consequently I reject the Board’s conclusion that the Union achieved majority support in bargaining Unit A.
Mary Mowatt did not testify before the ALJ. Rather, the only insight as to whether the language of the authorization card was “deliberately and clearly cancelled by a union adherent with words calculated to direct the signer to disregard and forget the language above his signature,” NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575, 606, 89 S.Ct. 1918, 1936, 23 L.Ed.2d 547 (1969), is provided by the testimony of Mowatt’s husband, Steve Mowatt. The authorization card signed by Mary Mowatt specifically provides that she authorizes the Union “to represent me for the purpose of collective bargaining.” As the court indicates, when Steve Mowatt, a union supporter, explained the purpose of the card to his wife, he told her she should sign it if she wanted to know more about the union. His explanation did not end there, however. Mowatt testified that he told Mary Mowatt that the card “was not for an election or a vote, or for representation, just to hear more about a Union.” The plain language of Steve Mowatt’s statement to his wife that the card was not for representation cancels the language of the authorization card to the contrary. The Board’s determination that Mary Mowatt’s authorization card is valid is not supported by substantial evidence.
I would also not enforce the Board’s issuance of a bargaining order for Unit B. Initially, I note my disagreement with the court’s upholding of the Board’s findings with respect to the discharges of Unit B employees Bryson and Stultz. In my opinion, DeQueen has proven by a preponderance of the evidence that the discharge of employee Bryson and the refusal to reinstate employee Stultz would have occurred even in the absence of their protected section 7 conduct. Bryson was discharged for attempting to involve DeQueen management personnel in her scheme dishonestly to obtain CETA funds. The refusal to reinstate Stultz, who voluntarily quit and then attempted to rescind her resignation, re-*621suited from Stultz’ driving of the ambulance on several occasions after the insurance covering her was cancelled because of a poor driving record. Following the cancellation of insurance, Stultz had been specifically informed that any future driving of the ambulance would be grounds for her dismissal. Stultz readily admits that she drove the ambulance on several occasions after the cancellation of insurance. See NLRB v. Mount Desert Island Hospital, 695 F.2d 634, 639 (1st Cir.1982) (“The Wright Line standard is equally apposite to refusal to rehire cases when competing motivations are alleged.”).
After carefully reviewing the record, I cannot conclude that “the possibility of erasing the effects of past practices and of ensuring a fair [rerun] election * * * 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” for Unit B. NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co., supra, 395 U.S. at 614-15, 89 S.Ct. at 1940. First, the Union suffered an overwhelming defeat of 94-49 in the May 7 election. Second, the greatest share of unfair labor practices committed by the hospital was directed at Unit A employees. Third, the Board failed adequately to articulate the reasons necessitating a bargaining order for this unit. Specifically, the Board failed to “undertake a detailed analysis assessing the possibilities of holding a fair election in terms of any continuing effect of employer misconduct, the likelihood of recurring misconduct, and the potential effectiveness of traditional remedies.” NLRB v. Ely’s Foods Inc., 656 F.2d 290, 294 (1981) (McManus, C.J., N.D.Ia., concurring specially) (citing Peerless of America, Inc. v. NLRB, 484 F.2d 1108, 1118 (7th Cir. 1973)).
Although I do not believe a bargaining order was properly issued for Unit B employees, I would, at the very least, remand to the Board with directions to articulate the reasons necessitating a bargaining order in this unit.