NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner,
v.
KOENIG IRON WORKS, INC.; Master Iron Craft Corp.; Roman Iron
Works, Inc.; Mohawk Steel Fabricators, Inc.; Melto Metal
Products Co., Inc.; Greenpoint Ornamental and Structural
Iron Works, Inc.; Paxton Metalcraft Corp.; and Long Island
Steel Products Co., Respondents.
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner,
v.
ZAFFINO & SONS, INC.; Mohawk Steel Fabricators, Inc.; Roman
Iron Works, Inc.; Achilles Construction Co., Inc.;
Master Iron Craft Corp., and the Peelle
Company, Respondents,
Shopmen's Local Union No. 455, of the International
Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental
Iron Workers, AFL-CIO, Intervenor.
Nos. 794, 953, Dockets 81-4204, 81-4206.
United States Court of Appeals,
Second Circuit.
Argued April 8, 1982.
Decided June 7, 1982.
Standau E. Weinbrecht, N. L. R. B., Washington, D. C. (William A. Lubbers, Gen. Counsel, John E. Higgins, Jr., Deputy Gen. Counsel, Robert E. Allen, Acting Associate Gen. Counsel, and Elliott Moore, Deputy Associate Gen. Counsel, N. L. R. B., Washington, D. C.), for petitioner.
Stanley Israel, New York City (Kliegman, Goldstein, Israel & Cooper, New York City), for respondents with the exception of Greenpoint Ornamental and Structural Iron Works, Inc., Paxton Metalcraft Corp., and Long Island Steel Products Co.
Belle Harper, Sipser, Weinstock, Harper, Dorn & Leibowitz, New York City, for intervenor.
Before LUMBARD, FRIENDLY and NEWMAN, Circuit Judges.
FRIENDLY, Circuit Judge:
These proceedings deal with a 1975 labor dispute concerning a number of small employers in the steel construction and fabricating industry in metropolitan New York. Doubtless to their everlasting regret and certainly to ours, these employers formed a multi-employer bargaining group, the Independent Association of Steel Fabricators, Inc. (the Association), primarily for the purpose of prevailing upon Shopmen's Local Union No. 455, International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers, AFL-CIO (Local 455), to accept, on behalf of its members, the same terms and conditions of employment that the union granted another multi-employer association, Allied Building Metal Industries, Inc. The employers sought to extricate themselves from the Association when it became evident that its purpose would not be achieved, although Local 455 never advanced any reason why it should not be. In an opinion by the late Judge Gurfein, N.L.R.B. v. Independent Association of Steel Fabricators, Inc.,
We would normally remand in this case for further development of facts based on this opinion. Since so much time has now elapsed, however, we must assume that there may presently be continuing relationships of which we are unaware. We shall, accordingly, not formally remand but leave it to the parties to petition the NLRB for such evidentiary hearings, if any, that they desire under the principles outlined in this opinion.
The invitation was enthusiastically accepted, as hereafter detailed. In 1980 the Board rendered two further decisions,
I. Summary of our Previous Decision
The Board's original decision issued bargaining orders against 16 members of the Association. In light of our holding that all these employers were entitled to withdraw from multi-employer bargaining because an impasse had been reached, we divided the employers into three classes as follows,
Class I-6 employers who signed collective bargaining agreements with a rival union, Sheet Metal, Alloys and Hardware Fabricators and Warehousemen, Local 810, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Local 810), before giving Local 455 notice of their intention to withdraw from the Association.1
Class II-3 employers who signed with Local 810 after giving Local 455 notice of withdrawal from the Association.2
Class III-7 employers who gave notice of withdrawal from the Association, but signed with neither Local 455 nor Local 810.3
We adopted a different analysis for each of these classes. As to Class I, we held,
As to Class III, we held,
We later turned to portions of the Board's order which had required the reinstatement of striking employees as unfair labor practice strikers. Stating that in view of our holdings with respect to Classes II and III, "not all respondents' employees became unfair labor practice strikers",
II. The Supplemental Proceeding
On August 18, 1978, Local 455 filed with the Board a motion to reopen the hearing in the proceeding that had been the subject of our Independent Association decision for the purpose of taking evidence with respect to the imposition of bargaining orders upon the employers in Classes I and II. Four months later the General Counsel moved for the issuance of bargaining ordеrs with respect to those in Class II. Orders for a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ) were issued on February 1, and April 9, 1979. On February 22, 1980, the ALJ recommended that bargaining orders issue against all Class I employers. Turning to the three Class II employers, he concluded that, at the time when they entered into contracts with Local 810, Koenig did not have, but Cervenka and Master did have good faith doubts that Local 455 represented a majority of their employees; he recommended a bargaining order solely as to Koenig. The Board disagreed with the ALJ's ruling with respect to Master and entered a bargaining order against it,
III. The Separate Proceeding
The Separate Proceeding arises largely out of actions taken by Local 455 after our 1978 decision. In an effort to meet our holding in Independent Association that the 1976 offers to return to work were not unconditional, Local 455, on August 9, 1978, sent each of the employers a letter on behalf of the company's striking employees containing an offer to return to work. The complaint in the Separate Proceeding, in which Local 455 appeared as the charging party, alleged that the employers failed to comply with the offer and that even those striking employees who had been given positiоns had not received rates of pay and other employment benefits equal to those they had received prior to the commencement of Local 455's strike.
Earlier, on July 13, 1978, in another effort to meet our holding in Independent Association, Local 455 made written requests for separate bargaining to four Class III employers-Zaffino, Achilles, Kuno and Peelle. Local 455's complaint in the Separate Proceeding set forth these requests and alleged that the employers had unlawfully refused to bargain.
The ALJ recommended that the complaint against Kuno should be dismissed. He found that when Local 455 made its request for bargaining on July 13, 1978, Kuno had only one employee-Ogey Eretzian-and that Kuno had reasonable grounds to believe that he did not wish Local 455 to represent him. He found also that Eretzian and the only other employee at the time of the commencement of the strike, Vogt, had received, since their return to work, the same or greater pay than that they had been receiving under Kuno's 1975 contract with Local 455.
With respect to the three other Class III employers named in the complaint, the ALJ found that in July 1978, Achilles and Peelle entertained rational, good faith doubts concerning Local 455's majority status; he found otherwise with respect to Zaffino and recommended that a bargaining order be entered against it.
The ALJ also concluded that Zaffino and two Clаss I employers named in the complaint, Mohawk and Roman, had violated §§ 8(a)(1) and (3) in refusing to reinstate employees who had made an unconditional offer to return to work on August 9, 1978, and directed their reinstatement to their former or equivalent positions and backpay to compensate them for any losses.5 He also held the three employers liable for backpay to strikers returning before August 9, 1978; he left to the compliance phases of these proceedings determination of the amount of backpay, which is to be calculated based upon the difference, if any, between compensation that strikers received upon their return to work and that which they received prior to Local 455's strike.
Exceptions having been filed by respondents, the General Counsel and the charging party, the Board modified the ALJ's decision in a number of respects, see also note 5, supra. It rejected his conclusion that Achilles had not unlawfully refused to bargain in July, 1978. Accordingly, it subjected Achilles to a bargaining order, as well as to one for the reinstatement of strikers and payment of backpay for the period after Local 455's August 9, 1978, offers for strikers to return to work.6 The Board also reversed the ALJ's conclusion that in July, 1978, Peelle had a good faith doubt as to Local 455's continued majority status and subjected it to a bargaining order. However, it held that Peelle had not violаted §§ 8(a)(1) and (3) by refusing to reinstate employees in August, 1978, since, subsequent to the commencement of the strike, Peelle transferred its fabricating operations to Toronto, Canada, reinstated striking employees who offered to return, and hired permanent replacements for the remaining positions available in the warehousing and distribution work left in New York. As to economic strikers who had returned prior to Local 455's August 9, 1978, offer, the Board found Peelle liable for backpay for any differences in compensation between the employees' new jobs and those they held at the commencement of Local 455's strike. The Board reached similar conclusions as to employees who returned to work at Achilles, Master, Roman, Zaffino and Mohawk prior to August 9, 1978. The calculation of the exact amount of the employers' liability was left to the compliance phases of these proceedings.
The Board sustained the ALJ's recommendation that the complaint against Kuno be dismissed but upon a different ground. This was that "(t)he Board had long held that it will not certify a union as representative for a one-person unit, and will not find that an employer unlawfully refused to bargain in suсh a unit."
IV. The Present Proceedings in this Court
On October 23, 1981, the Board petitioned this court to enforce its orders in the Supplemental Proceeding,
Whether the decision of the Supreme Court in Bonanno Linen Service, Inc. v. NLRB (--- U.S. ----,
and is filled with argument predicated on the Bonanno decision. The Board, on April 5, 1982, filed a response to the motions. Referring to "the adequacy and effectiveness of present remedies provided by Board orders, and consideration of judicial interest in a final resolution of the issues, the Board does not support the Union's motion to reopen and set aside the Court judgment in (this case)." (footnote omitted).9
V. Respondents' Objections to the Orders in the Supplemental
and Separate Proceedings
Respondents make numerous objections to the orders in the Supplemental Proceeding and the Special Proceeding. We first discuss objections to the Board's bargaining orders and then turn to its reinstatement orders.
As indicated above, our Independent Association decision set out the general legal standards applicable to respondents' refusal to bargain on an individual basis after what we considered to be a justifiable withdrawal from multi-employers bargaining. We said that "(a)s the incumbent union(, Local 455) was entitled to a rebuttable presumption of continued majority status for a reasonable interval after the individual contracts expired on June 30."
Our adoption of the above presumption was grounded in a long line of authority, e.g., N.L.R.B. v. Cayuga Crushed Stone, Inc.,
In considering evidence of support for a union we of course look at employee attitudes before an employer's refusal to bargain occurred, e.g., N.L.R.B. v. Newspapers, Inc., supra,
Finally, we have been extremely cautious in accepting inferential proof of alleged employee rejection of their union as bargaining agent where the Board has rejected it. We have said, N.L.R.B. v. Windham Community Memorial Hospital, supra,
We first discuss the Board's treatment of the two Class II employers, Koenig and Master, against whom it entered bargaining orders. The Board concluded that both employers failed to produce еvidence sufficient to establish either an actual loss of majority status or a rational, good faith doubt and therefore held that each had violated § 8(a)(5). We uphold both determinations.
Application of the principles discussed above leaves no question that the Board properly found that Koenig violated § 8(a)(5). By way of background, throughout the period between June 30, 1975, when the company's contract with Local 455 expired, and January 30, 1976, when Koenig signed its first collective bargaining agreement with Local 810, Koenig employed nine workers in the relevant bargaining unit. By January 30, 1976, three of these employees were no longer actively working, although they had not been discharged and remained part of the relevant unit. See N.L.R.B. v. Windham Community Memorial Hospital, supra,
We first consider the argument that evidence of a decline in dues payments by Local 455 members required the Board to conclude that the union actually lost its majority status prior to Koenig's refusal to bargain. Even if we were to assume, contrary to the case law, that decreased dues payments alone can rebut the presumption of a union's majority support, the facts would not support this argument in Koenig's case. The parties agreе that five of the nine Koenig workers made no Local 455 dues payments after December of 1975; the remainder of the employees apparently continued payments for some time thereafter. As noted above, in ascertaining employee support for Local 455 we consider the situation prior to the employer's refusal to bargain. The ALJ found that "it was customary for (Local 455 members) to pay (dues) on the last day of the month in which the dues were payable,"
The ALJ also found,
The record also firmly supports the Board's determination that Koenig lacked a rational, good faith doubt as to Local 455's majority status. First, Koenig introduced virtually no evidence-even as to the alleged pre-signing decline in dues payments-of the company's knowledge of facts indicating that the union was losing its majority status, see N.L.R.B. v. Gulfmont Hotel Co., supra. In addition, one incident relied upon by Koenig merits discussion in greater detail. Although Koenig's employees did not participate in Local 455's strike, they honored the union's picket lines by reporting for work assignments at a site several blocks from Koenig's shop, suggesting at least some commitment to the union. In the evening of January 29, 1976-the day before the company signed with Local 810-Koenig's employees received phone calls at their homes instructing them, contrary to customary practice, to report directly to Koenig's shop to receive their work assignments.12 Upon their arrival at the plant the next morning the employees were met by the President and Vice-President of Koenig and two or three representatives of Local 810. The workers were told that hencеforth they would be represented by Local 810, although first they would be required to picket Koenig's shop, for "five minutes." The employees, provided with Local 810 signs by the union's representatives, complied with their instruction and picketed the plant for five or ten minutes. They then returned to the company's office and, together with the President of Koenig, signed the Local 810 collective bargaining agreement. We agree with the ALJ and the Board that this clumsily orchestrated showing of "support" for Local 810 is both inconsistent with any notion of a good faith doubt as to Local 455's majority status and is of virtually no probative value in determining employee support for Local 455. See also N.L.R.B. v. Sky Wolf Sales,
We also agree with the Board's conclusions regarding the other Class II employer-Master. On June 30, 1975, when the contract between Master and Local 455 expired, the company employed seven unit workers, five of whom were actively working. By January 28, 1976, when Master signed its first collective bargaining agreement with Local 810, only three of the employees were actively working; they apparently comprised the company's entire workforce. All seven of Master's employees remained members of Locаl 455 until after January 28, 1976: four ceased making dues payments in January of 1976, and the others ceased in September, November13 and December of 1975-all within the union's six-month grace period for delinquent dues payments. For the reasons set forth in our discussion of Koenig, we think that this decline in dues payments, which, for the most part, occurred after the January, 1976, signing with Local 810, is of little relevance to Local 455's pre-signing majority status in Master's shop.
Master's attempts to rebut Local 455's presumption of majority status focus principally upon a single episode. In late December of 1975, Mr. Scheiner, President of Master, was approached by a representative of Local 810 who claimed that his union, and not Local 455, represented a majority of Master's employees; Scheiner says he "put off" the representative and took no action in response to the claim. In January of 1976, however, the representative returned and produced Local 810 representation cards apparently signed by the three active Master employees, although Scheiner never verified this. Shortly thereafter Master signed a collective bargaining agreement with Local 810.
We note that signed representation cards of a rival union are far better evidence of a loss of majority support than a decline in dues payments or half-hearted picketing, particularly if the employer verifies the cards' accuracy and inquires into the circumstances surrounding their signing. Representation cards-unlike declining dues payments and limited picketing-generally are unambiguous indications that employees have rejected the union itself as their bargaining agent, and not that they merely are dissatisfied with or uncommitted to certain of its policies.
Nonetheless, while we think the question is a close one, we conclude that the Board was justified in holding that Master failed to produce sufficiently "clear and convincing evidence",
As regards the existence of a rational, good faith doubt as to Local 455's majority status, we again hold that Master failed to satisfy the heavy burden that it faced. As noted above, the signed representation cards are the type of objective evidence we think generally is necessary to sustain a good faith doubt defense. Despite this, the three cards presented to Master's president failed to demonstrate a loss of majority support. As the Board concluded,
The Board also found that three of the Class III employers-Achilles, Zaffino and Peelle-had committed § 8(a)(5) violations by refusing to bargain individually with Local 455 when the union requested such bargaining after our Independent Association decision was handed down in 1978. As with the Class II employers, Achilles, Zaffino and Peelle claim that Local 455 lacked majority support among their employees or, alternatively, that they had an objective basis for doubting the union's majority status. Again, we conclude that the record contained substantial evidence supporting all the Board's findings.
On the date its last contract with Local 455 expired-June 30, 1975-Achilles employed seven unit workers. The ALJ, who concluded that Achilles had not violated § 8(a)(5), apparently thought that four of the seven members of the bargaining unit had renounced their support for Local 455,
The Board, which reversed the ALJ, rejected his reliance upon the lapse of time between the 1975-76 strike and the employer's 1978 refusal to bargain. The Board noted that during this period Local 455 was actively involved in litigation on behalf of Achilles' employees and, in addition, conducted occasional picketing and held meetings with Achilles' workers. The Board therefore distinguished, properly we think, this case from New York Printing Pressmen and Offset Workers Union, No. 51 v. N.L.R.B.,
The Board also concluded that the ALJ had erred in apparently treating two employees who retired from Achilles to take Local 455 pensions as being replaced by workers who would not support the union. It is undisputed that, of the original seven unit employees, three have remained active and continued to pay Local 455 dues throughout these proceedings. App. at 632-35; Respondent's Brief at 18. If, therefore, one assumes that the retired workers were not replaced and that the bargaining unit was reduced to five employees, Local 455 had a three to two majority. The same conclusion is reached if one accepts the ALJ's use of a seven person unit. The Board, citing its use of the approach elsewhere, James W. Whitfield d/b/a Cutten Supermarket,
We also conclude that the Board properly found that Achilles lacked an objective basis for its asserted good faith doubt regarding Local 455's majority status. So far as we can tell from the record, only one employee-Douda-was working at Achilles in July, 1978. The record contains no evidence that Achilles had any knowledge at all-including knowledge of any decline in dues payments-regarding the sympathies of the remainder of the unit and, thus, we conclude that Achilles failed to demonstrate a rational, good faith doubt as to the union's majority status.18
We also conclude that the Board properly found that Peelle had violated § 8(a) (5). In June of 1975, when its last contract with Local 455 expired, Peelle employed approximately 37 unit workers at its New York plant. Shortly after the Local 455 strike began, Peelle ceased manufacturing in New York. It shifted these operations to its Toronto, Canada, plant and accommodated the new work by increasing productivity and hiring more workers. Picketing nonetheless continued at the New York plant for several hours eaсh week until our decision was handed down in June, 1978; thereafter it apparently was discontinued. The vast majority of Peelle's workers ceased paying dues to Local 455 in 1976 and 1977. By July, 1978, when Local 455 requested separate bargaining, only seven employees remained current in their payments; four of these were on pension. The delinquent employees seem to have been suspended from the union, although the record does not reveal when.
While the foregoing certainly throws the employees' enthusiasm for Local 455 into question, the Board reversed the ALJ's determination that Peelle had a rational, good faith doubt as to the union's majority status. The Board reasoned, as it has elsewhere, Orion Corp.,
Zaffino, the third of the Class III respondents, employed eight workers at the commencement of Local 455's strike. Four of these have maintained their membership in the union throughout these proceedings and a fifth was apparently a member when Local 455 made its July, 1978, demand for individual bargaining with Zaffino. Faced with conflicting testimony, the ALJ concluded that sporadic picketing occurred at the Zaffino shop until sometime in 1978. We reject the company's argument that limited picketing indicates a lack of employee support for the union. As noted above, dissatisfaction with a particular policy or strike alone is insufficient to establish rejection of the union. Zaffino produced no other evidence of dissatisfaction with the union, much less the clearly verifiable and unambiguous evidence of a loss of majority support which we have said, p. 138, supra, is necessary in this context. We hold that the Board's findings that evidence of light picketing and declining dues payments failed to rebut the presumption of continued majority support for Local 455 or to provide sufficient basis for a rational, good faith doubt as to the union's majority status were correct.
As noted above, in our earlier Independent Association opinion decision we instructed the Board to consider whether, "in view of the fact that the unfair labor practices did not taint election machinery, and because of the lapse of time and our lack of information concerning current labor relations ... an election rather than an order to bargain with Local 455 might be a more appropriate sanction."
The Board adopted a single rationale for all the employers. Relying on its decision in Glomac Plastics, Inc.,
In the light of all this, the Board's bargaining orders must be enforced. The Board's opinion demonstrates that it considered the developments that have intervened since the respondents' unfair labor practices occurred,
Finally we turn to the Board's treatment of the reinstatement of returning strikers. The Board held, in the Separate Proceeding,
There is little dispute regarding the general legal principles governing reinstatement. Employees who take part in an unfair labor practice strike are entitled to immediate reinstatement, even if replacements have been hired, provided that they make an unconditional offer to return to work. Mastro Plastics Corp. v. N.L.R.B.,
After our first Independent Association decision, Local 455 sent letters to each of the six employers identified above requesting that striking employees be reinstated. The letters, which were addressed to each employer individually, were mailed August 9, 1978, and contained identical language, providing, in pertinent part:
We are requesting on behalf of your striking employees that they return to work at their previous jobs or ones substantially similar.
This offer to return is unconditional and is a continuing one. (Emphasis in original.)
Counsel for the respondent employers replied by letter, saying "(w)e would appreciate you advising as to the nature of the 'unconditional' offer." The letters continued:
Specifically, we would appreciate answers to the following questions:(1) Under what wage and benefit conditions are the employees offering to return? In view of the fact that there is not and has not been a collective bargaining agreement with you covering these employees for in excess of 3 years, do you or any of the employees claim that contributiоns would be due to the various Local 455 funds in the event of re-employment.
(2) What are the names of the employees offering to return and when will they be available?
No commitment to reinstate was made.
The union's clarification explained that "(t)he blanket unconditional offers to return made by the Union on behalf of the strikers were made in accordance with the law as laid down in N.L.R.B. v. Fleetwood Trailer Co.,
The union clearly had standing to make the request for reinstatement on behalf of the employees it had represented. Newspaper Production Co. v. N.L.R.B.,
Lastly, the respondents argue that Local 455's offers were not "unconditional". More specifically, the employers argue that the offers to return were conditioned on the reinstatement of all striking employees of all the employers and on the employers making pension fund contributions on behalf of the returning employees. The letters containing Local 455's offer on behalf of its members do not support this contention. In addition to making no mention of any express conditions on the return of the striking employees, each of the letters states that the offer made is unconditional. Each of the six employers received individual letters which made no reference to the letters sent to other employers, thus leaving little basis for an inference that the union intended that the return of unfair labor practice strikers be conditioned upon the return of economic strikers. The respondents' reliance upon ambiguous language in Local 455's clarifying letter, see p. 146, supra, must be read with that letter's emphatic reiteration that the offer was a "blanket unconditional offer".22 Thus, we hold that the Board properly concluded that the offers made to the various employers in August, 1978, were unconditional.
Finally, we think there was substantial evidence in the record to support the Board's detеrmination that the respondents' reinstatement of a number of their employees, following their individual offers to return to work, at levels of benefits inferior to those received at the commencement of the Local 455 strike constituted violations of § 8(a)(5). See Laidlaw Corp.,
VI. The Effect of the Supreme Court's decision in Bonanno
We readily agree with Local 455 that, as stated in Bradley v. School Board of City of Richmond,
However, this principle alone has no practical consequences on the facts of this case. All that is before us is the Board's request to enforce its orders in the Supplemental Proceeding and the Separate Proceeding. This we are granting, for reasons tiresomely explained above. It is of no matter that Bonanno would supply an additional reason for doing this or in some instances support broader relief than the Board granted. A different case would be presented if Local 455 had petitioned for review of some of the Board's ruling, e.g., the refusal to enter a bargaining order against Cervenka because of that company's good faith doubt of the majority status of Local 455. Had that been done, we would have been obliged to apply Bonanno without any need for reopening our earlier decision. Zdanok v. Glidden Co.,
In order for Local 455 to derive any benefit from Bonanno, it would thus be necessary for us not merely to apply that decision to issues now before us, as we assuredly would, but, as sought by the union's motion of February 4, 1982, to vacate our decision of June 30, 1978, in N.L.R.B. v. Independent Ass'n of Steel Fabricators, supra,
We find abundant reason for not exercising such power in this case. For the Class III respondents which had not been found guilty of any unfair labor practice this сase terminated four years ago. As said in Collins v. City of Wichita,
Litigation must end some time, and the fact that a court may have made a mistake in the law when entering judgment, or that there may have been a judicial change in the court's view of the law after its entry, does not justify setting it aside.
Moreover, a decision on our part to reopen the Independent Association decision to take account of Bonanno would not automatically result in a conclusion that all employers who withdrew from multi-employer bargaining after the reaching of an impasse had violated § 8(a)(5) and that their striking employees thereupon became unfair labor practice strikers. As we noted,
The apparent reason for this is that while the Board has adhered, and has now been upheld in adhering, to the view taken in Hi-Way Billboards, Inc.,
The orders of the Board in the Supplemental and Separate Proceedings will be enforced. The motion of Local 455 to reopen our decision in the Independent Association case is denied.
LUMBARD, Circuit Judge, concurring and dissenting:
I agree with all of the court's opinion except the acceptance of the Board's treatment of The Peelle Co. I would not grant enforcement as to that employer.
The Peelle Co. was a "group III" employer which this court held legitimately left the multi-employer bargaining group in 1978. N.L.R.B. v. Independent Ass'n of Steel Fabricators, Inc.,
The administrative law judge found for Peelle because much time had passed since Peelle had negotiated with Local 455, because picketing had ceased and because 30 of the 37 employees allegedly represented by Local 455 had ceased paying dues and had been suspended by the Local. Of the seven active members, four were on pension.
The Board reversed. It ruled that passage of time was not probative of Peelle's "good faith rational doubt" as to Local 455's majority status notwithstanding-and without mentioning-that Peelle refused to bargain:
-three years after the expiration of its last contract with Local 455;
-one year after Local 455 struck;
-six months after Peelle legitimately left the multi-employer group bargaining with 455;
-four weeks after this court suggested that the passage of time might have diminished support for Local 455. Id. at 151.
The Board nowhere deals with the administrative law judge's determination that, by suspending 30 of 37 members for non-payment of dues, Local 455 might logically be considered to have lost the allegiance of the men.1 This point seems to trouble the majority, for it spends two and a half pages suggesting reasons why men suspended for non-payment of dues might still support their union. The majority hypothesizes that the men were financially hard pressed after a long strike and withheld their dues not because they did not support the union but because they cоuld not afford the payments. But the record is silent on this point. Some employees quit paying dues before the strike, others quit during the strike, and some found employment elsewhere.
The majority hypothesizes that the employees stopped paying dues as they believed the union could do nothing for them because Peelle had moved its manufacturing operations to Canada. The majority supposes that "it is quite likely that employees, if the question were put to them, would have supported the union's continued representation of any of their interests that might be pursued against Peelle." This does not appear in the record. Indeed, when Peelle declined to bargain with Local 455 it asked the union to provide some evidence that it still had support from the men. The union failed to do so then, and the majority points to no evidence submitted by the union in these proceedings.
The majority cites one case to support its hypothetical reasoning, N.L.R.B. v. National Seal Corp.,
By enforcing the Board's order against Peelle, the majority rules that a union can suspend the vast majority of union members for non-payment of dues, yet still claim the loyalty of those members and win so long as an appellate panel can dream up reasons neither supported in the record nor enunciated by the Board as to why the workers might still support the union. I cannot agree with such a holding. Like the administrative law judge, I would deny enforcement of the Board's order against The Peelle Company.
Notes
These were Roman Iron Works, Inc. (Roman), Melto Metal Products Co., Inc. (Melto), Mohawk Steel Fabricators, Inc. (Mohawk), Greenpoint Ornamental and Structural Iron Works, Inc. (Greenpoint), Long Island Steel Products Co. (Long Island), and Paxton Metalcraft Corp. (Paxton)
These were Master Iron Craft Corp. (Master), S. Cervenka and Sons, Inc. (Cervenka), and Koenig Iron Works, Inc. (Koenig)
These were Achilles Construction Co., Inc. (Achilles), Ikenson Iron Works, Inc. (Ikenson), Kuno Steel Products Corp. (Kuno), the Peelle Company (Peelle), Spinger and Sons Structural Steel Co., Inc. (Spinger), G. Zaffino and Sons, Inc. (Zaffino), and Roma Iron Works, Inc. (Roma)
We also held,
He further concluded that Zaffino's signing a contract with Local 810 in 1976 when it should have been negotiating with Local 455 converted what had been economic strikers into unfair labor practice strikers on that date, but this conclusion was reversed by the Board
Achilles will be liable only for the "loss of earnings (that employees) may have suffered as a result of the discrimination against them" as strikers,
The same considerations apply to the economic strikers of these employers as applied to Achilles, see note 6, supra. In addition, the Board said, "(u) nder the circumstances of this case, we hold that Respondents' backpay liability to any employee who returned to work before August 9 shall run only from 6 months prior to the filing of charges herein."
Greenpoint, Paxton and Long Island were not represented in these proceedings. Apparently they have gone out of business
Reviewing the case, the Board stated in its response (p. 6):
Adherence to the "law of the case" would afford the Union substantive benefits and remedies in these proceedings. Of the 18 respondents before the court in the initial proceeding, 11 are required to bargain with Local 455 as a result of the two subsequent Board proceedings. Of the remaining seven, one is a one-man unit, two have no unit employees, one has been found to have substantiated a good faith doubt as to Local 455's majority status, two have signed individual contracts with Local 455, and one is apparently out of business. To the extent the employers are subject to bargaining orders because of unfair labor practices, their employees are entitled to reinstatement (as) unfair labor practice strikers. The employees of other of the employers are also entitled to reinstatement under Board orders based upon findings of illegal refusals to reinstate upon unconditional application.
In addition there are numerous instances in the record in which members of Local 455 were delinquent in dues payments and later made good their arrears. This suggests that the union was relatively lax in enforcement of its rules regarding the payment of dues, and that the delinquencies that occurred prior to the respondents' refusals to bargain have little probative weight as regards actual employee support for the union. See N.L.R.B. v. Master Touch Dental Laboratories, Inc., supra,
We discuss Koenig's reliance upon the "strike" on behalf of Local 810 below. In addition, Koenig argues, Br. at 28, that "there is no evidence to support the proposition that Local 455 represented the majority" of its employees. Even if we were to accept this, it overlooks the presumption of continuing majority status enjoyed by Local 455
The record is silent regarding who made these calls
The payment of November dues was made in March of 1976, suggesting continuing union support through at least that date
The Board included in the bargaining unit the five employees that were active at the commencement of the strike and two other workers "on layoff or leave of absence but with recall rights under the contract."
We agree with the Board that the absence of vigorous or prolonged picketing is generally insufficient independently to meet an employer's burden of demonstrating that a union no longer commands majority support. As pointed out earlier, the rejection of-or more accurately, the absence of affirmative support for-a strike is very different from rejection of the incumbent union. See also Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union v. N.L.R.B.,
We also accept, in our treatment of Zaffino and Peelle, the Board's conclusion that the lapse of time was of little probative value
The Board also suggested that the two employees who retired on Local 455 pensions may have been willing to return to work,
We also note that Local 455 had long represented respondents' employees,
Cf. N.L.R.B. v. National Seal Corp.,
The dissent disagrees with our treatment of Peelle, arguing that the opinion's conclusion as to Peelle rests on "hypothetical facts beyond the record" and "speculation". In particular, the dissent regards our reliance on the undisputed fact that Peelle relocated its operations to Canada shortly after the strike began as speculative
While the dissent nowhere mentions these principles, it must accept the well-settled rules that the employer has the burden of showing an actual loss of majority suрport or a good faith doubt, see pp. 137-138, supra, by "clear and convincing evidence", see p. 138, supra, and that the Board's determination of a question of fact to which courts should accord substantial deference, see p. 138, supra. Any absence from the record of evidence bearing directly on the question whether Peelle's employees desired Local 455's assistance as their bargaining agent must be charged to the employer-who had the burden of proof. Having failed to find any direct evidence in the record to support the claim that Peelle's employees no longer desired Local 455 as a bargaining agent, both the dissent and the employer rely on inference from other facts-principally a decline in dues payments. As discussed in text, however, the unusual facts surrounding Peelle-in particular, the relocation of its operations to Canada-seriously attenuate the inference the employer seeks to draw. In observing that the decline in dues payments gives rise to several inferences of roughly equal plausibility we engage in no more speculation than does the dissent when it "hypothesizes" that Peelle's employees no longer wanted Local 455 to attempt to advance their interests against Peelle. Given the existence of equally plausible explanations for the decline in dues payments, we fail to see how Peelle sustained its burden of showing by "clear and convincing evidence" that Local 455 had lost its majority support.
Although the dissent seems also to differ with the opinion on the question of Peelle's good faith doubt, it points to no evidence regarding what Peelle knew in August of 1978 about employee support for Local 455. As discussed in text, Peelle's knowledge of minimal picketing is insufficient to sustain a rational, good faith doubt. The importance the dissent attributes to the union's refusal to respond to a request by Peelle for evidence of continued majority status would shift the burden of proof on this issue from the employer to the union-a result at odds with the policies encouraging stable collective bargaining relationships that underlie the well-settled evidentiary rules regarding the good faith doubt defense, see p. 138, supra.
We describe the Board's treatment of reinstatement issues regarding Peelle at p. 136, supra
We accept the Board's interpretation of Colavito's testimony at the Separate Hearing regarding the nature of Local 455's offer,
The Board dismissed Peelle's arguments by referring to its determination that Achilles Construction Co., Inc., another Group III employer, failed to establish a reasonable doubt as to Local 455's continuing majority status. But as Achilles, of seven union members two had retired and only two had terminated their membership in Local 455; three of five active workers were still union members in good standing. I do not think the Board's treatment of Achilles suffices to support its order against Peelle, where 30 of 37 employees quit the union