Court Opinion

ID: 9477298
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:19:34.365393+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:48.099820
License: Public Domain

MYRON L. GORDON, Senior District Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. I believe that the FLRA's determination that the solicitation conducted by NTEU in the public areas contiguous to HCFA’s workplaces was not of a type that HCFA could control is not supported by substantial evidence. Consequently, I believe that HCFA committed an unfair labor practice under 5 U.S.C. § 7116(a)(3) by remaining neutral and failing to exercise its control over NTEU organizers.
The relevant statutory and regulatory schemes are not neutral; they contemplate protection of the exclusive representative by an employer-agency until such time as a rival union achieves “equivalent status.”
[I]t shall be an unfair labor practice for an agency ... to sponsor, control, or otherwise assist any labor organization, other than to furnish, upon request, customary and routine services and facilities if the services and facilities are also furnished on an impartial basis to another labor organization having equivalent status.
5 U.S.C. § 7116(a)(3).
The litany of interpretative precedent set forth in the majority opinion clearly establishes that a public employer commits an unfair labor practice by providing access to its facilities, or facilities within its control, to a union without equivalent status. See Majority opinion at 950.
Moreover, 41 C.F.R. § 101-20.308(c) [section 308(c) ], which prohibits, generally, solicitation in “GSA-controlled” property, provides a specific exception for “solicitation of labor organization membership or dues authorized by occupant agencies_” Id. (emphasis added). Thus, while the public areas occupied by NTEU organizers ordinarily would be within the control of GSA, solicitation of union membership in such areas must be authorized by HCFA, the primary occupant-agency. It cannot be disputed, therefore, that at least with respect to the latter activity, otherwise GSA-controlled property is in fact occupant-agency controlled.
Based on its review of an amicus brief submitted by the GSA Office of General Counsel and the testimony of Scott Schae-fer, an NTEU organizer, the FLRA arrived at the extraordinary conclusion that ■ NTEU’s activities in the so-called public areas of the East Low Rise were merely solicitations for signatures and not solicitations for membership. The majority accepts this remarkable conclusion by dismantling the membership process into three steps and then suggesting that the solicitation of signatures, only the first *957step of the process, is “far too remote from the future solicitation of members to fit within the plain language of the § 308(c) exception.” Majority opinion at 952.
I believe that the majority’s analysis in this regard is artificial; it unnecessarily obfuscates a simple concept. As I read it, the plain language of the governing regulation does not impose a requirement of immediate result with respect to the steps involved in solicitation of membership; neither should this court.
What is plain is that NTEU’s ultimate objective was a solicitation of membership. To what other end would this rival union be expending its resources? Scott Schaefer explained the general nature of the petition that was circulated in the Baltimore complex:
[Tjhat’s the petition which we ask people to sign, and in doing do [sic], we explain to them that this is a petiion [sic] to hold a secret ballot election, at which time the employees would determine if they wanted to elect NTEU to be their union, if they wanted to retain the incumbent — in this case, the American Federation of Government Employees — or if they wanted no union.
Joint Appendix at 125.
In his testimony, Mr. Schaefer acknowledges that he and other NTEU organizers were not simply soliciting signatures; they were taking the first step towards gathering the support and membership of AFGE members and HCFA employees. That Mr. Schaefer’s testimony also includes a denial of soliciting membership per se is hardly controlling; his testimony on this point is conclusory and must be scrutinized carefully in light of his union’s obvious interest in the outcome of this matter.
In affirming the FLRA’s interpretation of section 308(c), the majority also accords the GSA’s amicus brief a “modicum of respect” and believes “its construction to be decidedly the better view.” I disagree. As the majority recognizes, the brief is an unofficial statement of the GSA Office of General Counsel. Even official GSA interpretations of its governing regulations are entitled to no judicial deference if they are ‘plainly inconsistent with the wording of the regulation[ ].” United States v. Larionoff, 431 U.S. 864, 872-73, 97 S.Ct. 2150, 2155-56, 53 L.Ed.2d 48 (1977). A fortiori, unofficial statements setting forth regulation interpretation are entitled to no deference if they are plainly inconsistent with the language of the regulation at issue. For the reasons outlined above, I construe the GSA’s unofficial interpretation to be plainly inconsistent with the wording of the regulation, and I therefore would reject it.
Having determined that HCFA had the necessary authority to grant or deny NTEU’s access to the otherwise GSA-controlled areas of the Baltimore complex, I am persuaded that HCFA was obligated by law to exercise control. The FLRA should have required HCFA to utilize its presence in the areas in question to bar NTEU’s solicitation of membership, albeit indirect or unrealized. The Federal Labor Relation Authority’s failure to arrive at this decision is reversible error.