Ryerson & Son v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.
| Decision Date | 07 July 2000 |
| Docket Number | I,No. 99-1327,L,AFL-CI,99-1327 |
| Citation | 216 F.3d 1146 |
| Parties | (D.C. Cir. 2000) Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, Inc.,Petitioner v. National Labor Relations Board, Respondent International Brotherhood of Teamsters,ocal 714 and United Steelworkers of America,ntervenors |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
On Petition for Review and Cross-Application for Enforcement of an Order of the National Labor Relations Board
Stephen D. Erf argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Michael F. Rosenblum, Timothy S. Bishop and Jeffrey W. Sarles.
Sonya Spielberg, Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, argued the cause for respondent. With her on the brief were Leonard R. Page, General Counsel, Linda R. Sher, Associate General Counsel, Aileen A. Armstrong, Deputy Associate General Counsel, and Peter Winkler, Supervisory Attorney.
David I. Goldman argued the cause for intervenors. With him on the brief was Susan Brannigan.
Before: Silberman and Rogers, Circuit Judges and Buckley, Senior Circuit Judge.
Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge Rogers.
Joseph T. Ryerson & Sons, Inc. petitions for review of an order of the National Labor Relations Board that the company violated 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act by refusing to bargain with the certified representative of the bargaining unit, namely with Local 714 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ("Teamsters") and the United Steelworkers of America ("Steelworkers"), which jointly petitioned to represent a bargaining unit at four of the company's plants in Chicago, Illinois. The company contends that the Board erred in failing to set aside the election for three reasons: (1) the Act does not authorize either joint election petitions or separate administration by two unions of a collective bargaining agreement; (2) there is not substantial evidence in the record to support the Board's finding that the unions did not misrepresent the intended nature of their joint representation to the bargaining unit employees during the election campaign; and (3) the hearing officer abused his discretion in denying the company's subpoena for the unions' entire joint bargaining agreement and other internal documents relating to the joint petitions for representation, thereby denying the company a full and fair hearing. Because the company failed to preserve its statutory argument for review by the court, and because we conclude that the company's other contentions are unpersuasive, we deny the petition and grant the Board's crossapplication for enforcement of its order.
Joseph T. Ryerson & Sons, Inc. operates four plants in Chicago, Illinois--the 16th Street, 83rd Street, 103rd Street, and 111th Street--known collectively as the "Chicago Complex." After a number of unsuccessful attempts by the Steelworkers--due, in part, to lack of support at the 16th and 83rd Street plants--to organize Ryerson production and maintenance employees in Chicago, the Teamsters, in 1997, began a campaign to represent production and maintenance employees at the 16th and 83rd Street plants. After the Teamsters filed a petition with the Board seeking certification as the exclusive bargaining representative of the bargaining unit at the 16th and 83rd Street plants, a struggle between the Teamsters and Steelworkers ensued, resulting in the Steelworkers' campaign to represent the employees at the 103rd and 111th Street plants. After the petitions for representation of the 800 employees were consolidated for hearing, the Steelworkers distributed a flyer at the 103rd Street and 111th Street plants stating that:
The workers at 103rd Street don't want to be represent-ed by the Teamsters and have overwhelming[ly] signed Steelworker cards ... The Teamsters are arguing for one election including 83rd and 16th Street workers....The Steelworkers are fighting to get an election for the103rd Street workers.
Employees at the 16th and 83rd Street plants, without objection from the Teamsters circulated a petition opposing the Steelworkers: (emphasis in original)
After failed attempts at mediation and on the eve of arbitration, the unions agreed to file a joint petition for certification. Following execution of a joint petition agreement, the unions distributed flyers to the employees that set out the first two paragraphs of the joint petition agreement:
At the National Relations Board hearing, the [Steelwork-ers] and the [Teamsters] agree to engage in a joint organizing/ representa[ ]tion campaign at the Chicago Complex of [the company] for a bargaining unit consist-ing of all four facilities, including 16th Street, 83rdStreet, 103rd and 111th streets. This will involve an amended representation petition to seek a joint certification, unless otherwise agreed to by the [Teamsters] and [Steelworkers].
Assuming that the campaign is successful, the union [s] will jointly negotiate for a collective bargaining agreement and will divide responsibility for administering the contract as follows:
-16th and 83rd streets -[Teamsters]-103rd and 111th Streets -[Steelworkers]
Dues and membership will follow the same lines.
No other portion of the joint petition agreement was divulged to the employees. The unions circulated separate authorization cards, and filed amended petitions to jointly petition to represent "[a]ll full-time and regular part-time production and maintenance employees" at the four Chicago Complex plants.
During the election campaign, the Steelworkers distributed literature and campaigned exclusively at 103rd and 111th Streets, while the Teamsters distributed literature and campaigned exclusively at 16th and 83rd Streets. Each union held its own rallies. Organizers from both unions made statements to employees that the unions would part ways with respect to representation after the certification, dividing the four plants between them for the election campaign and thereafter for contract administration.1
On September 25, 1997, the unions won the election.2 The company filed objections to the election, noting among other things that the unions "stated [their] intention to negotiate as separate unions in separate bargaining units, and not as a joint bargaining representative" and "misrepresented how bargaining and contract administration would occur if [they] won the election." The company also served a subpoena on the unions for "[a]ll documents relating to the joint representation arrangement" between the Teamsters and the Steelworkers. The unions objected to the subpoena as seeking irrelevant documents and as vague and unduly burdensome.The hearing officer denied the subpoena except as to the first two paragraphs of the joint petition agreement that had been disclosed to the employees during the election campaign, on the ground that the unions' internal communications were irrelevant because they did not shed light on what the unions had communicated to the employees during the election campaign. Following a hearing over the course of several days, the hearing officer found "no direct evidence that the [unions] do not intend to bargain jointly," observing that the unions had "consistently maintained that they would bargain jointly, but administer the jointly-negotiated contract separately at specific locations," and that there was no evidence "that the [unions] misrepresented how bargaining and contract administration would occur if [they] won the election." The Board adopted the hearing officer's findings and recommendations in the unions' favor, and certified the unions as the exclusive bargaining representative of the bargaining unit employees.
When the company subsequently refused to bargain, the unions filed an unfair labor practice charge. The Board, in response to the company's attack on the certification because of the unions' conduct during the election campaign, ruled that the company could not relitigate issues litigated in the representation proceeding, and granted the General Counsel's motion for summary judgment on the complaint charging the company with violating 8(a)(1) and (5) of the Act. See Joseph T. Ryerson & Sons, Inc. v. NLRB, 328 NLRB No. 168 (August 6, 1999). The company petitions for review of the Board's unfair labor practice order, and the Board filed a cross-application for enforcement of its order.
In contending that the Board erred by failing to set aside the election, the company makes three challenges. We address each in turn.
A. Statutory challenge. The company contends that the National Labor Relations Act does not authorize the Board to certify more than one union as exclusive bargaining representative, or to divide a bargaining unit for purposes of contract administration.3 Specifically, the company makes two statutory contentions. First, it maintains that the Board acted contrary to the Act, which authorizes a union to become the exclusive bargaining-unit representative only if it obtains the support of a majority of the bargaining unit employees, by certifying two unions, each of which garnered only minority support, as the "exclusive representative" for the company's single Chicago Complex bargaining unit. Second, the company maintains that, even if the Act did permit joint petitioning and representation, it does not permit the unions to divide up a bargaining unit for purposes of bargaining, contract administration, and representation. As explained in its brief, in the company's view, the Board's authorization for the unions to divide up the Chicago Complex bargaining unit and administer the contract separately rests on "a false dichotomy between contract bargaining and contract administration" inasmuch as contract administration, and in particular the processing of grievances,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Veritas Health Servs., Inc. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.
...for abuse of discretion. See SSC Mystic Operating Co. v. NLRB , 801 F.3d 302, 330 (D.C. Cir. 2015) ; Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, Inc. v. NLRB , 216 F.3d 1146, 1153-54 (D.C. Cir. 2000). A party asserting that the Board impermissibly failed to enforce the party's subpoena must show prejudice fro......
-
N.L.R.B. v. Interstate Builders, Inc.
...ALJ's abuse of discretion placed a prejudicial "barrier in the way of [its] ability to present its case." Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, Inc. v. NLRB, 216 F.3d 1146, 1154 (D.C.Cir.2000); see NLRB v. Cent. Okla. Milk Producers Ass'n, 285 F.2d 495, 498 (10th Cir.1960) ("There can be no cause for re......
-
Bannum Place of Saginaw, LLC v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.
...reexamination of the decision in the representation proceeding." Pace Univ. , 514 F.3d at 23 (quoting Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, Inc. v. NLRB , 216 F.3d 1146, 1151 (D.C. Cir. 2000) ). Another exception is when "legal authority ... changed governing law." Id . (quoting Alois Box Co. v. NLRB , ......
-
Salem Hosp. Corp. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.
...is allowed if newly discovered evidence requires reexamination of the representation decision. See Joseph T. Ryerson & Sons, Inc. v. NLRB, 216 F.3d 1146, 1151 (D.C.Cir.2000) ("It is well established that in the absence of newly discovered evidence or other special circumstances requiring re......