Spring City Knitting Co. v. N.L.R.B.
| Decision Date | 13 July 1981 |
| Docket Number | 80-7325,Nos. 80-7239,s. 80-7239 |
| Citation | 647 F.2d 1011 |
| Parties | 107 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3125, 107 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3307, 91 Lab.Cas. P 12,830 SPRING CITY KNITTING COMPANY, Petitioner, v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent. International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, Intervenor. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Daniel F. Gruender, Shimmel, Hill, Bishop & Gruender, P. C., Phoenix, Ariz., for petitioner.
On Petition to Review an Order of the National Labor Relations Board.
Before ANDERSON, FLETCHER and FERGUSON, Circuit Judges.
Spring City Knitting Company (Spring City) petitions for review of an order of the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) directing it to bargain with the intervenor here, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (the Union), as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit consisting of all production and maintenance employees and shipping and receiving employees at Spring City's Flagstaff, Arizona plant. The Board cross-petitions for enforcement of the order. We affirm and enforce the Board's order.
Spring City Knitting Co., a subsidiary of Cluett-Peabody and Co., Inc., operates a Western Division which consists of a main plant located at Glendale, Arizona, and two smaller "satellite" plants located at Flagstaff, Arizona, and Deming, New Mexico. Spring City manufactures men's and boys' underwear. Each of the Western Division plants performs substantially similar operations. The Glendale plant employs approximately 700 workers, while Flagstaff employs approximately 150 workers. The issues raised by Spring City's petition relate only to the Glendale and Flagstaff plants.
On May 3, 1979, the Union formally petitioned the Board for certification as the exclusive bargaining representative of all production and maintenance employees at the Glendale plant. On May 9, the Union filed a petition for certification as representative of a separate unit consisting of all production and maintenance employees at Flagstaff. The petitions were consolidated and a hearing was conducted on May 18 and 23. On June 6, the Regional Director issued a decision directing elections at Glendale and Flagstaff as separate units. In finding that each plant constituted a separate appropriate bargaining unit, the Regional Director relied mainly upon evidence which indicated that the local plant managers exercised "significant autonomy" over their respective facilities, evidence which failed to indicate significant employee interchange between the two plants, and the geographical separation between the plants. Spring City petitioned for review of the Regional Director's decision, a request which the Board denied on June 27 as raising no substantial issues warranting review. Such a denial constitutes affirmance under Board regulations. 29 C.F.R. § 102.67(f).
On June 28, 1979, a representation election was held at Flagstaff in which the Union received a majority of the votes cast. Spring City filed an objection to the election based upon certain alleged misrepresentations made by the Union prior to the election, and upon certain allegedly coercive campaign tactics practiced by the Union. On August 10, the Regional Director overruled Spring City's objections and certified the Union as the Flagstaff plant bargaining representative. Spring City requested Board review of the Regional Director's certification of the Union. The Board denied review of Spring City's objections, again on the ground that the company had raised "no substantial issues warranting review."
Following certification, the Union requested Spring City to bargain collectively. Spring City refused the request, and the Union responded with the filing of an unfair labor practice charge. The Regional Director issued a complaint on January 2, 1980, alleging that Spring City had committed an unfair labor practice by refusing to bargain with the Union. In its answer, Spring City admitted that it had refused to bargain, but raised as affirmative defenses the Regional Director's allegedly erroneous bargaining unit determination, and also the Director's overruling of its election objections without a hearing. After the matter was formally transferred to a Board panel, the Board granted on May 1, 1980, the General Counsel's motion for summary judgment on the ground that both the unit determination and the election objections had been raised and rejected in earlier proceedings. Accordingly, the Board ordered Spring City to cease and desist from refusing to bargain collectively with the union as the Flagstaff representative, affirmatively ordered it to so bargain, and directed that appropriate notices be posted. Spring City's timely petition for review followed. 1
Spring City raises two issues in its petition: the appropriateness of the initial unit determination, and the Union's alleged election misconduct. Further facts will be developed in the course of the opinion.
Our review of a Board determination that a particular bargaining unit is appropriate is narrowly circumscribed. Definition of an appropriate bargaining unit is a matter committed to Board discretion, see § 9(b), National Labor Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C. § 159(b), and a bargaining unit determination should not be overturned unless the Board has abused its discretion. See e. g., N.L.R.B. v. J. C. Penney Co., Inc., Store No. 29-9, 620 F.2d 718 (9th Cir. 1980); N.L.R.B. v. Retail Clerks Local 588, 587 F.2d 984 (9th Cir. 1978). The Board is not required to select the most appropriate bargaining unit so long as the unit chosen is within the range of units appropriate under the circumstances. N.L.R.B. v. J. C. Penney Co., supra. The present case involves the question whether a unit consisting of a single plant or a multiple plant unit should be designated. In making such a determination, the list of factors which the Board ordinarily considers includes:
" functional integration of the business, centralized control of management, similarity of working conditions, collective bargaining history, local power to hire and fire, lack of employee interchange, geographical distance."
N.L.R.B. v. Sunset House, 415 F.2d 545, 548 (9th Cir. 1968). There is a presumption that a single plant is an appropriate bargaining unit. N.L.R.B. v. Lerner Stores Corp., 506 F.2d 706 (9th Cir. 1974). We find in this case that the Regional Director's reliance primarily on the last three elements of this analysis was proper and that his findings were supported by substantial evidence.
The evidence presented at the unit determination hearing consisted mainly of testimony given by Spring City Western Division President Allan Riley and certain documentary evidence. Riley's testimony painted a picture of the Western Division as a centralized unit whose production and personnel "brain" is located at the Glendale plant. Production control is implemented from Glendale. Division-wide finance, data processing, and accounting records are maintained at Glendale. Riley sets the annual budget for all three plants, and also sets inventory controls for each. Local plant managers may not deviate from their respective budgets without Riley's approval. The evidence also indicated a high degree of functional integration between Glendale and Flagstaff. Riley described in some detail the production operations performed at each plant. It is clear from the evidence that few functional differences exist. The Flagstaff plant is substantially similar to Glendale in terms of production methods, employee skill requirements, and finished products, the primary difference being that Flagstaff is run on a considerably smaller scale.
The record is also clear that formulation and implementation of labor relations and personnel policies takes place mainly at Glendale under Riley's supervision. All full-time employees within the division enjoy practically identical fringe benefits, including inter alia paid vacations, health insurance, life insurance, eight paid holidays annually, and a variety of smaller amenities. Compensation for employees of various skill classifications is uniform throughout the division. Personnel decisions such as promotions, transfers, layoffs, and recalls are made by Riley personally. All payroll processing takes place at Glendale, and all employee time records are maintained there. Manpower quotas for each plant are established by Glendale. Overtime requests must be approved by Riley. None of the local plant managers may deviate from these division-wide policies without approval from someone at Glendale, usually Riley.
The local plant managers are subject to a certain degree of direct oversight from Glendale on all phases of plant operation. Riley testified that he personally travels to Flagstaff "once a month" to check on the plant, while other supervisory personnel from Glendale go to Flagstaff every two or three weeks "on the average." Various types of telecommunications also keep Flagstaff in touch with Glendale on an everyday basis. There is a "constant" exchange of production information between the plants.
It was also clear from the evidence, however, that the local plant managers are not totally bereft of discretion in personnel matters. The local managers have the authority to hire and discharge within the manpower quotas established at Glendale. Plant managers may also "effectively" recommend promotions and merit increases, although none is final without Riley's approval.
Spring City introduced an exhibit at the hearing (Exhibit $ 7) which listed by name a number of employees who had transferred from one plant to another within the division from 1973 until the date of the hearing. While Riley pointed out that the list did not include all employees who had...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Van Leer Containers, Inc. v. N.L.R.B.
...in original) (quoting Melrose-Wakefield Hospital Ass'n, Inc. v. NLRB, 615 F.2d 563, 570 (1st Cir.1980)); see Spring City Knitting Co. v. NLRB, 647 F.2d 1011, 1020 (9th Cir.1981). Van Leer's allegations of threats of economic reprisal by the Union and the Union's display of insignia in the p......
-
California Pacific Medical Center v. N.L.R.B., s. 93-71039
...applies to the California campus, making the nurses of that campus an appropriate bargaining unit. See, e.g., Spring City Knitting Co. v. NLRB, 647 F.2d 1011, 1014 (9th Cir.1981) (discussing the single facility presumption). Petitioner favors the disparity of interests test, under which the......
-
N.L.R.B. v. Cell Agricultural Mfg. Co.
...of each plant 'totally bereft of discretion in personnel matters.' " Id. at 1238, 1993 WL 288281 (quoting Spring City Knitting Co., 647 F.2d 1011, 1014 (9th Cir.1981)). We think the ALJ's focus on intermediate and immediate supervisors who are not "totally bereft of discretion" was too narr......
-
N.L.R.B. v. Carson Cable TV
...under section 9(b) of the NLRA, 29 U.S.C. 159(b), 5 is a matter committed to the Board's broad discretion. Spring City Knitting Co. v. NLRB, 647 F.2d 1011, 1013 (9th Cir.1981); NLRB v. Don Burgess Construction Corp., 596 F.2d at 386. We will not overturn the Board's unit designation unless ......