National Labor Relations Board v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, No. 98
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
| Writing for the Court | GOLDBERG |
| Citation | 13 L.Ed.2d 951,85 S.Ct. 1061,380 U.S. 438 |
| Parties | NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY |
| Docket Number | No. 98 |
| Decision Date | 05 April 1965 |
v.
METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.
Page 439
Daniel M. Friedman, Washington, D.C., for petitioner.
Burton A. Zorn, New York City, for respondent.
Mr. Justice GOLDBERG delivered the opinion of the Court.
On petition of Insurance Workers International Union, AFL CIO, and over the protest of respondent, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, as to the appropriateness of the bargaining unit, the National Labor Relations Board, in a proceeding under § 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 453, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 159(c) (1958 ed.), certified the union as the bargaining representative of all debit insurance agents, including all canvassing regular and office account agents, at respondent's district office in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.1 Respondent deliberately refused to bargain with the union in order to challenge the appropriateness of the employee unit certified by the Board. See Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, 313 U.S. 146, 61 S.Ct. 908, 85 L.Ed. 1251. The union thereupon filed unfair labor practice charges with the Board. The Board, adhering to its prior unit determination, held that respondent violated §§ 8(a)(1) and (5) of the Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 452, as amended, 29 U.S.C. §§ 158(a)(1) and (5) (1958 ed.), and directed respondent to bargain with the union. 142 N.L.R.B. 491. The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit refused to enforce the order on
Page 440
the grounds that in light of the 'Board's failure to articulate specific reasons for its unit determination,' 327 F.2d 906, 909, the Board's apparently inconsistent determinations of appropriate units of respondent's employees in other cities or regions, see 138 N.L.R.B. 565 (Delaware); 138 N.L.R.B. 734 (Sioux City); 144 N.L.R.B. 149 (Chicago); 138 N.L.R.B. 512 (Cleveland),2 its failure to discuss in these cases what weight, if any, it gave to the factor of the extent of union organization, and the fact that in these cases the Board consistently certified the unit requested by the union, the Court of Appeals could 'only conclude that the * * * Board * * * has indeed * * * (regarded) the extent of union organization as controlling in violation of § 9(c)(5) of the Act.' 327 F.2d, at 911. We granted certiorari because
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of an aparent conflict between this decision and the decisions of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, 328 F.2d 820, petition for certiorari pending, No. 56 this Term (granted, 85 S.Ct. 1325), which sustained the Board's determination in the Delaware case, 138 N.L.R.B. 565, and the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, 330 F.2d 62, petition for certiorari pending, No. 229 this Term (granted, 85 S.Ct. 1326), which sustained the Board's determination in the Cleveland case, 138 N.L.R.B. 512. See also National Labor Relations Board v. Western & Southern Life Ins. Co., 328 F.2d 891 (C.A.3d Cir.), petition for certiorari pending, No. 91 this Term (granted, 85 S.Ct. 1326).
Section 9(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 453, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 159(b) (1958 ed.) provides:
'The Board shall decide in each case whether, in order to assure to employees the fullest freedom in exercising the rights guaranteed by this subchapter, the unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining shall be the employer unit, craft unit, plant unit, or subdivision thereof * * *.'
This broad delegation of authority, see Pittsburgh Glass Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, supra, was limited in 1947 by the enactment of § 9(c)(5) of the Act, 61 Stat. 144, 29 U.S.C. § 159(c)(5) (1958 ed.), which provides that '(i)n determining whether a unit is appropriate for the purposes specified in subsection (b) of this section the extent to which the employees have organized shall not be controlling.'
Although it is clear that in passing this amendment Congress intended to overrule Board decisions where the unit determined could only be supported on the basis of the extent of organization, both the language and legisla-
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tive history3 of § 9(c)(5) demonstrate that the provision was not intended to prohibit the Board from considering the extent of organization as one factor, though not the controlling factor, in its unit determination.4
The Court of Appeals here properly recognized this effect of § 9(c)(5), but held, in light of the unarticulated bases of decision, and what appeared to it to be inconsistent determinations approving units requested by the union, that the only conclusion that it could reach was that the Board has made the extent of organization the controlling factor, in violation of the congressional mandate. We agree with the Court of Appeals that the enforcing court...
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