Retail Store Employees Union, Local 400 v. National Labor Relations Board
Opinion of the Court
Local 400, Retail Store Employees Union, petitions us to review and set aside a Board ordér dismissing a complaint against Atlantic Mills Servicing Corporation of Wisconsin, a subsidiary of Atlantic Thrift, Inc., and the Central States Joint Board, a subordinate body of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. The Company and Amalgamated were charged with conspiring in violation, respectively, of Section 8(a) (1) and (2) and 8(b) (1) (A) of the Act in connection with organizing employees of the Company at its store in Alexandria, Virginia. Two members of Amalgamated, one an employee at another of Atlantic Thrift’s subsidiaries located at Knoxville, Tennessee, and President of the Amalgamated local there, were transferred to the Alexandria store at the instance of the parent Company. These two employees succeeded in signing up a majority of the employees at the Alexandria store, some 123 out of a total of 150, within two days, followed shortly'by Company recognition of Amalgamated and the execution of a collective bargaining contract, thus bringing about in short order a change in representation to accord with the situation in some 30 other stores of the parent Company, Atlantic Thrift.
The trial examiner held a very full hearing, made a careful analysis of the evidence and concluded that the Company had violated Section 8(a) (1) and (2) as charged, that is, in the words of the Board, by entering into a conspiracy with the Central States Joint Board to install the Joint Board as collective bargaining agent at Alexandria, and that pursuant thereto the Company transferred the two employees to Alexandria at its own expense for the purpose of soliciting union membership in behalf of the Joint Board.
The evidence clearly supports the trial examiner’s findings and conclusions. Yet the Board in deciding the case contrary to his recommendations merely says he erred, adding:
Contrary to the Trial Examiner, we believe the facts and circumstances on which he relies to find the unlawful purpose and design do not on the record as a whole support a finding of a conspiracy on the part of the Respondent-Company and the Joint Board to violate the Act.
Where substantial evidence on the whole record supports the findings of a trial examiner a summary approval of his findings by the Board is no doubt sufficient; and it is often sufficient where his findings are not approved, as in this case, for the Board to find the preponderance of evidence supports different findings. But here the Board has done no more than simply state its belief that the facts and circumstances relied upon by the trial examiner do not on the record as a whole support the conspiracy finding. They do indeed support the conspiracy finding. We realize, however, that the question now is not whether there is substantial evidence to support the trial examiner’s findings, as clearly is the case, but the legal adequacy of the Board’s decision which differs from his. The Board, to use its language, “adopts the finding of the Trial Examiner only to the extent consistent” with its decision. Since the trial examiner’s findings are abundantly supported by the evidence, this manner in which the Board intertwined acceptance and rejection of his findings, making none of its own as required by statute,
Our need for something more is pointed up by the analysis of the case made by our dissenting Brother; for his analysis is his own, not that of the Board We find nothing in the decision of the Board concerning preponderance of evidence, failure to sustain a burden of proof, or Board acceptance of the basic facts found by the trial examiner, with a different inference drawn therefrom. What we have is a Board statement of disbelief that the facts and circumstances relied upon by the trial examiner on the record as a whole support a conspiracy finding.
The unquestioned deference due the Board’s expertise is not a substitute for an analysis which enables the court to understand, from what the Board sets forth in findings or otherwise, the basis for its ruling. The court must not be demanding and impose a heavy burden. Yet, though a great deal is not required, too little does not suffice.
The order is set aside and the case is remanded to the Board for reconsideration in light of our conclusion that the decision now before us is inadequate to enable us to enforce the order dismissing the complaint.
It is so ordered.
. The trial examiner concluded, however, that Amalgamated itself had not committed the unfair labor practice. Section 8(b) (1) (A), ascribed to it in the complaint.
. “If upon the preponderance of the testimony taken the Board shall not be of the opinion that the person named in the complaint has engaged in or is engaging in any such unfair labor practice, then the Board shall state its findings of fact and shall issue an order dismissing the said complaint.” 61 Stat. 147, 29 U.S.C. § 160(c) (1964).
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting).
I disagree with my brethren on this one. The position of the Board, although succinctly stated, seems to me to be clear. The trial examiner had made findings of basic facts and had drawn from them findings of ultimate facts. Then he had reached a conclusion of fact, which was that the company had entered into a conspiracy with one of the Unions (Amalgamated) to install it as the collective bargaining agent of the employees in the Alexandria store, and had done certain ¿cts pursuant to that conspiracy.
The Board disagreed with him in this final derived conclusion. The Board’s statement was quite simple. It first pointed out that there is no direct evidence of a conspiracy. Then it said, “Contrary to the Trial Examiner, we believe the facts and circumstances on which he relies to find the unlawful purpose and design do not on the record as a whole support a finding of a conspiracy on the part of the Respondent-Company and the [Union] to violate the Act.” The Board did not disturb any of the examiner’s basic facts. It disagreed with the inference he drew from those facts.
The statute here involved puts the duty of finding the facts and making the decision on the Board.
The Board notably quoted the requirement of the statute (Sec. 10(f)), “on the record considered as a whole”. This expression means that all the evidence must be taken into account, the evidence which is pro as well as that which is con, all the conflicting elements of evidence, not just the evidence tending in one direction. Our petitioner notably relies upon a few selected facts. And the Board emphasized, by quoting, the requirement of the statute that there must be a preponderance of the evidence to support a finding of violation of the statute. The provision is in Section 10 (c).
The complaint which was heard in this proceeding alleged that the company by its officers, etc., transferred two girl employees to Alexandria “pursuant to an agreement” with officers, etc., of Amalgamated, for the purpose of causing the-girls to solicit employees of the company to sign cards designating Amalgamated as the bargaining representative of the employees of that store. The precise nub of the complaint was the phrase “pursuant to an agreement” (Par. VI (a)). This is what the complaint undertook to establish. This “agreement” was the heart of the violation. The charge rested upon collusion.
The facts showed that the company, a retail chain, bought from another chain, in April, 1963, nine stores, eight in the Philadelphia area and one in Alexandria, Virginia. Four of the Philadelphia stores had been organized by the Retail Clerks Association, the charging party in the present proceeding, and
As I see the evidence, the only support in it for the theory of a conspiracy between the company and Amalgamated is a vague feeling, or suspicion, that, because this affair at the Alexandria store proceeded so smoothly and so quickly, it must have been “rigged”. But that idea fails to recognize the many facts which made for a minimum of difficulty and controversy. There clearly was no preponderance of the evidence on the record as a whole showing an agreement between the Union and the company. The Board thought there was no preponderance in that direction, and I agree.
Our petitioner says in its brief that “the Board contented itself with the statement that there was no direct evidence of a conspiracy.” This, of course, is not true; the Board did not so content itself. Again petitioner says that the “cryptic reversal * * * was apparently based upon the absence of direct evidence of a conspiracy.” Of course it was not apparently so based.
. Compare Cheney California Lumber Company v. NLRB, 319 F.2d 375, 377 (9th Cir. 1963).
. Sec. 10(c), 61 Stat. 147 (1947), 29 U.S.C § 160(c) (1958).
. Warehousemen & Mail Order Emp., Local No. 743, etc. v. NLRB, 112 U.S. App.D.C. 280, 281, 284, 302 F.2d 865, 866, 869 (1962); International Woodworkers of America, APL-CIO v. NLRB, 104 U.S.App.D.C. 344, 262 F.2d 233 (1958).
. See. 10(f), 61 Stat. 148 (1947), amended, Sec. 13(c), 72 Stat. 946 (1958), 29 U.S.C. § 160(f) (1958).
. Supra note 2.
. NLRB v. Council Manufacturing Corporation, 334 F.2d 161, 163 (8th Cir. 1964); NLRB v. International Bro. of Elec. Wkrs. Local U. 340, 301 F.2d 824, 827 (9th Cir. 1962).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- RETAIL STORE EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL 400, Affiliated with Retail Clerks International Association, AFL-CIO v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Atlantic Mills Servicing Corporation of Wisconsin, Intervenors
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published