Mount Pleasant Community School Dist. v. Public Employment Relations Bd.

• Decision Date: 18 January 1984
• Docket Number: AIDE,No. 83-56,SECRETARIES,PARA-PROFESSIONAL,83-56
• Citation: 343 N.W.2d 472
• Parties: 121 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2968, 15 Ed. Law Rep. 1263 MOUNT PLEASANT COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Appellee, v. PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD, Appellee, and Mount Pleasant Para- Professionals, Aides, Secretaries Organization, Appellant. Appeal of MOUNT PLEASANTORGANIZATION.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 472

343 N.W.2d 472

121 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2968, 15 Ed. Law Rep. 1263

MOUNT PLEASANT COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Appellee, v. PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD, Appellee, and Mount Pleasant Para- Professionals, Aides, Secretaries Organization, Appellant Appeal of MOUNT PLEASANT PARA-PROFESSIONALS, AIDES, SECRETARIES ORGANIZATION.

No. 83-56.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Jan. 18, 1984.

Charles E. Gribble and Gerald L. Hammond of Sayre & Gribble, Des Moines, for appellant organization.

John R. Phillips and Susan R. Flander of Rogers, Phillips & Swanger, Des Moines, and Ernest F. Pence of Hines, Pence, Day & Powers, Cedar Rapids, for appellee district.

Considered by REYNOLDSON, C.J., and UHLENHOPP, HARRIS, McCORMICK and WOLLE, JJ.

UHLENHOPP, Justice.

In this appeal we decide whether substantial evidence exists to support a holding by the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) invalidating a representation election on the basis of conduct of the employer. The appeal comes to us in the context of a contested case under the Iowa Administrative Procedure Act (IAPA), chapter 17A of the Iowa Code (1981).

In June 1981, several nonteaching employees of the Mount Pleasant Community School District (district) who were members of the Para-Professionals, Aides, Secretaries Organization (organization) petitioned PERB to conduct a representation election. On October 6, 1981, PERB conducted the election, which the organization lost by a vote of ten to twelve.

The organization challenged the result. It claimed that a notice posted on October 5, 1981, some thirty hours before the election, misrepresented material facts and threatened organization members with loss of employment if the union won the election. The notice was posted by Superintendent Richard Goodwin of the district in each of the school buildings where members of the organization were likely to see it. The notice was the only campaign statement made by the district. It read:

NOTICE

Secretaries, Aides, Para-Professionals

FACTS TO BE CONSIDERED BEFORE YOU VOTE

1. If the union wins, what happens? Many think that if the union wins the election it is an automatic contract. The law says that the School District must negotiate with the union in good faith. Good faith bargaining (includes rejecting) a demand we feel in any way would put the school district in a bad position. That's what good faith means. The only things required by law exist. Everything is "horse trading," you might gain some things that you don't presently have, but you also might lose some things that you presently have because bargaining starts with a bare table not at where you are today.

2. How about job security? Certainly, unions are in no position to talk about job security. In short, unionized employers throughout the nation, when layoffs become necessary, have been forced to take layoff action. It is quite obvious that a collective bargaining agreement cannot guarantee against staff reduction--nor, for that matter, does it protect against discharge for cause. Bringing it closer to home, anyone who knows us must agree that we do not enjoy staff reduction, but it must be recognized that it is an occasional but real fact of life in the school business when our enrollment is declining.

3. How about fringe benefits? How do your fringe benefits compare to other like job classifications in the private sector? Would they be better if you pay union dues?

4. What does it mean if I signed an authorization card? It means only that you are willing to have a union vote. It does not mean that you must vote for the employee organization.

5. How have the non-certified employees salary increases compared to the certified staff over the last several years? FACT: As a group, percentage of dollar increase has been at least as much or more every year.

6. Importance of voting! Under the Public Employment Relations Board procedures, you should vote if you are for the union or against the union representing you in collective bargaining. The winner of the election will be whichever received the majority of the votes cast, not of those eligible to vote.

REMEMBER YOUR VOTE IS A SECRET BALLOT

THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME TO READ THIS NOTICE.

[Signed] Mr. Goodwin

The organization asserted that paragraphs 1 and 2 of the notice violated rules 660-5.4(3)(b) and (g) of the Iowa Administrative Code. Those rules read as follows:

5.4(3) Objectionable conduct during election campaigns. The following types of activity, if conducted during the period beginning with the filing of an election petition with the board and ending at the conclusion of the election, and if determined by the board that such activity could have affected the results of the election, shall be considered to be objectionable conduct sufficient to invalidate the results of an election:

...

* * *

b. Misstatements of material facts by any party to the election or their representative without sufficient time for the adversely affected party to adequately respond;

...

* * *

g. Any other misconduct or other circumstance which prevents employees from freely expressing their preferences in the election.

The rules were adopted to implement section 20.15(4) of the Iowa Code. That section provides:

4. Upon written objections filed by any party to the election within ten days after notice of the results of the election, if the board finds that misconduct or other circumstances prevented the public employees eligible to vote from freely expressing their preferences, the board may invalidate the election and hold a second election for the public employees.

The organization's contentions were presented to a PERB hearing officer. In his recommended decision, the hearing officer concluded that "the statements at issue do not contain any substantial misrepresentations of fact or law...." He thus found that rule 5.4(3)(b) had not been violated. He further decided, however, that statements in paragraph 2 of the notice pertained to job security and could have affected the outcome of the election and thus violated rule 5.4(3)(g). As to this conclusion he wrote:

The record in this case clearly demonstrates no direct anti-union animus against the Organization. Aside from the District's initial disagreement with the Organization concerning the scope of the bargaining unit and the District's objection to the Organization affiliating with the same Association representing the District's teachers, the District had no other communication with the Organization during the organizational campaign. However, the testimony in this case also clearly demonstrates that the employees perceived the notice as a veiled threat that they would be laid off if they voted for the Organization.

On appeal, the full Public Employment Relations Board upheld the result reached by the hearing officer. The board, however, disregarded subjective testimony relied upon by the hearing officer and based its conclusion on "an objective evaluation of the notice." The board did not set forth the objective facts in the notice that led to its decision to set aside the election.

The district and the organization appealed to district court, pursuant to section 17A.19 of the IAPA. Each party contested that portion of the decision adverse to it.

Another part of chapter 20 of the Iowa Code provides in section 20.10(4):

4. The expressing of any views, argument or opinion, or the dissemination thereof, whether in written, printed, graphic, or visual form, shall not constitute or be evidence of any unfair labor practice under any of the provisions of this chapter, if such expression contains no threat of reprisal or force or promise of benefit.

This is a parallel provision to section 8(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(c) (1976). The district court ordered a limited remand to PERB to decide whether the statements in the notice constituted a "threat of reprisal or force or promise of benefit" under section 20.10(4). PERB decided the notice constituted a "threat of reprisal" under that section but the section was not applicable because it pertains to prohibited practices and no allegations of prohibited practices were made. The district court then affirmed PERB's conclusion under rule 5.4(3)(b) (no misrepresentations) and reversed its conclusion under rule 5.4(3)(g) (the notice was threatening and coercive). The court set aside PERB's invalidation of the election and did so on the ground that the invalidation was not supported by substantial evidence. The organization then appealed to this court. It contends in its appeal that the invalidation should be upheld under both rules 5.4(3)(b) and (g).

I. Scope of review. The district court reviewed PERB's decision pursuant to section 17A.19(8) of the IAPA. That review does not involve a de novo consideration of the evidence. Cook v. Iowa Department of Job Service, 299 N.W.2d 698, 701 (Iowa 1980). Our further review is likewise not de novo. Id. The question we decide is whether the district court correctly applied the law. "In order to make that determination, this court applies the standards of section 17A.19(8) to the agency action to determine whether this court's conclusions are the same as those of the district court. If the conclusions are the same, affirmance is in order. If they are not, reversal may be required." Jackson County Public Hospital v. PERB, 280 N.W.2d 426, 429 (Iowa 1979).

The sole provision of section 17A.19(8) raised in this appeal is clause f. Under that clause, the court may grant relief because the agency action is

f. In a contested case, unsupported by substantial evidence in the record made before the agency when that record is viewed as a whole; ...

See Cook, 299 N.W.2d at 700. The principle we have adopted for making such a determination is this:

Evidence is substantial when a reasonable mind would accept it as adequate to reach a conclusion.... The entire record must be considered in determining...