Local 1384, United Auto., Aerospace and Agr. Implement Workers of America, UAW v. N.L.R.B., AFL-CIO
| Decision Date | 25 February 1985 |
| Docket Number | AFL-CIO,83-3153 and 84-1170,Nos. 83-2900,s. 83-2900 |
| Citation | 756 F.2d 482 |
| Parties | 118 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2753, 53 USLW 2447, 102 Lab.Cas. P 11,381 LOCAL 1384, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AEROSPACE AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, UAW, Petitioner, v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. LOCAL 1384, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AEROSPACE AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, UAW, Respondent. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. LOCAL 826, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS,AND CLC, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Leonard Page, UAW Legal Dept., Detroit, Mich., for Local 1384, petitioner.
James G. Mauro, Jr., Assoc. Gen. Counsel, Local 826, Washington, D.C., for Local 826, respondent.
Kathleen Murray, Elliott Moore, Washington, D.C., for N.L.R.B.
Before WOOD and ESCHBACH, Circuit Judges, and SWYGERT, Senior Circuit Judge.
In these consolidated petitions 1 we are asked to decide whether a rule recently adopted by the National Labor Relations Board governing grants of superseniority to union officers is rational and consistent with the National Labor Relations Act, and also in one case (No. 83-2900), whether the rule was properly applied to the facts. The rule in question is that of Gulton Electro-Voice, Inc., 266 N.L.R.B. 406 (1983), enforced sub nom. Local 900, IUE v. NLRB, 727 F.2d 1184 (D.C.Cir.1984), declaring lawful only superseniority provisions for officials who must be on the job in order to accomplish their duties directly related to administering the collective bargaining agreement. We enforce the orders of the Board.
In April 1980 Nora Becky Smith was elected recording secretary of Local 1384 of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), the collective bargaining representative for the production and maintenance employees at the Elwood, Indiana, plant of Ex-Cell-O Corporation. Exercising a superseniority provision of the collective bargaining agreement, the union secured her transfer from the midnight shift to the day shift. 2 Because of this transfer Emma Hartley, an employee with more seniority than Smith, was transferred to the afternoon shift against her wishes. 3 Hartley filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Board, protesting her transfer.
On July 28, 1980, the Board's General Counsel issued a complaint against Local 1384, alleging that the union's maintenance and enforcement of the superseniority provision unlawfully caused the employer to discriminate against its employees on the basis of their union activity, in violation of Sec. 8(b)(1)(A) and Sec. 8(b)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act (the "Act"), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(b)(1)(A), (b)(2).
A hearing on the complaint was held before an administrative law judge ("ALJ") on February 17, 1981. On a basically undisputed factual record the ALJ found that the duties of the recording secretary 4 made it desirable that she be assigned to the day shift, in order to have ready access to the president and other collective bargaining officials who were on that shift. He found that when two officers are on different shifts, communications breakdowns can and have occurred, with results harmful to the functioning of the union. He concluded that the shift assignment provision in question bore a sufficiently direct relationship to the effective and efficient representation of the local as to render it lawful under United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Local 623, 230 N.L.R.B. 406 (1977) (Limpco Manufacturing, Inc.), petition for review denied sub nom. D'Amico v. NLRB, 582 F.2d 820 (3d Cir.1978). He accordingly dismissed the complaint.
The General Counsel filed exceptions, and on September 30, 1983, the Board rendered its decision. Local 1384, UAW, 267 N.L.R.B. 1303 (1983). Without disputing the factual findings of the ALJ, the Board pointed out that it had since overruled Limpco in Gulton Electro-Voice, Inc., 266 N.L.R.B. 406 (1983), enforced sub nom. Local 900, IUE v. NLRB, 727 F.2d 1184 (D.C.Cir.1984). Under the standard of Gulton a union officer may not be granted superseniority unless the officer's position requires an on-the-job presence at specific times in order to ensure the enforcement of the collective bargaining agreement and the prompt processing of grievances. The Board concluded that the recording secretary's functions do not meet that criterion. The Board conceded that the shift assignment provision in question would make the union's operations more efficient and effective but stated that it was not in the business of promoting such concerns at the expense of rights assured by Sec. 7 of the Act. Accordingly, the Board, reversing the ALJ, held that by maintaining and enforcing the superseniority provision for the recording secretary the union had violated Sec. 8(b)(1)(A) and Sec. 8(b)(2) of the Act.
The union petitions us to set aside the Board's ruling (No. 83-2900), and the Board cross-petitions for enforcement (No. 83-3153).
From February 1980 through June 1981 David Carter, a production clerk, was the financial secretary-treasurer of Local 826 of the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, the collective bargaining representative of the production and maintenance and plant clerical workers at the Bloomington, Indiana, facility of the Otis Elevator Company. Under a superseniority provision of the collective bargaining agreement, union officers were accorded a preference for layoff and recall. 5
In the late summer of 1980, Otis reduced its work force. Linda L. Fields, a production clerk with more seniority than Carter, was transferred to a lower paying job as inventory clerk. Without the superseniority provision, Carter would have been transferred instead of Fields. 6
On September 10, 1980, Fields filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Board. The Board issued a complaint charging Local 826 with violations of Sec. 8(b)(1)(A) and Sec. 8(b)(2) of the Act. A hearing was held before an ALJ on July 8, 1981. The ALJ found that the financial secretary-treasurer, though not engaged in steward-type functions at the plant level, was nevertheless vital to the proper and efficient functioning of the union. Applying Limpco as governing law, the ALJ concluded that the union did not violate the Act and dismissed the complaint. The General Counsel filed exceptions, the union filed cross-exceptions, and on October 27, 1983, the Board rendered its decision. Local 826, IUE, 268 N.L.R.B. No. 12, 1983-84 NLRB Dec. (CCH) p 15,973 (1983). The Board found the facts to be undisputed, affirmed the ALJ's finding that the financial secretary-treasurer does not engage in steward-type functions at the plant level, and, applying Gulton, concluded that the union had indeed violated Sec. 8(b)(1)(A) and Sec. 8(b)(2) of the Act by according Carter superseniority as financial secretary-treasurer and causing Fields to be displaced rather than him.
The Board now applies to this court for enforcement of its order.
The unions claim that the Board's decisions are erroneous because the rule of Gulton is an inappropriate standard for judging the lawfulness of superseniority provisions. They contend that the rule of Limpco is appropriate and should govern these cases. In addition, the union in Ex-Cell-O contends that the Board misapplied the Gulton rule to the facts, and the union in Otis Elevator contends that it waived (and had the power to waive) the employee right that the Board seeks to vindicate.
Our review of a decision of the National Labor Relations Board is narrow. Congress has given the Board authority to develop and apply fundamental national labor policy, including the authority to formulate rules to fill the interstices of the broad provisions of the labor statutes. Beth Israel Hospital v. NLRB, 437 U.S. 483, 500-01, 98 S.Ct. 2463, 2473-74, 57 L.Ed.2d 370 (1978). Where the problem requires the balancing of legitimate conflicting interests, the function of striking that balance to effectuate national labor policy, often a difficult and delicate responsibility, has been committed by Congress primarily to the Board, subject to limited judicial review. NLRB v. Truck Drivers Local 449, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 353 U.S. 87, 96, 77 S.Ct. 643, 647, 1 L.Ed.2d 676 (1957). The rule that the Board adopts is judicially reviewable for consistency with the Act and for rationality, but if it satisfies those criteria, the Board's application of the rule, if supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole, must be enforced. Beth Israel, 437 U.S. at 501, 98 S.Ct. at 2473 (citing NLRB v. Erie Resistor Corp., 373 U.S. 221, 235-36, 83 S.Ct. 1139, 1149-50, 10 L.Ed.2d 308 (1963); Phelps Dodge Corp. v. NLRB, 313 U.S. 177, 194, 61 S.Ct. 845, 852, 85 L.Ed. 1271 (1941)).
Our analysis proceeds as follows. We first review the relevant statutes and the policies underlying them, as interpreted by the Supreme Court. We next briefly recount the history of the issue of superseniority for union officers before the Board. We proceed finally to the evaluation of the arguments put forward by the unions to persuade us to deny enforcement of the Board's orders.
Section 7 of the Act gives employees the right to participate in labor organizations and to bargain collectively, and also the right to refrain from such activity. 29 U.S.C. Sec. 157. 7 It is the policy of the Act to bar both employers and unions from restraining or coercing employees in the exercise of their Sec. 7 rights, and the Act makes such activities unfair labor practices. Sec. 8(a)(1) (employers), (b)(1)(A) (labor organizations), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(a)(1), (b)(1)(A). In further protection of the employees' Sec. 7 r...
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