Dive Brief:
- Garten Trucking violated labor law in threats and treatment of workers amid a union push, a panel for the National Labor Relations Board ruled last month.
- The labor violations in 2021 involved improperly disciplining two employees, a manager interrogating two other employees, and company owners threatening to shut down the business if employees unionized, according to the ruling.
- The violations were so harmful that an election to unionize is not necessary, the ruling found. Instead, the NLRB ordered the company to bargain with the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers on request and issued a series of other steps to rectify alleged wrongs.
Dive Insight:
As part of the ruling, the NLRB granted a Gissel bargaining order, named after a 1969 Supreme Court case that allows union elections to be bypassed.
That’s because most of the company’s employees, the ruling said, “supported the Union before the Respondent engaged in unfair labor practices that had a tendency to undermine majority strength and impede the election process.”
The fight has dragged on for years and included a series of labor disputes.
Back in 2021, a card drive submitted 61 authorization cards out of 109, showing majority support, the NLRB said, but the company contested some of those cards and the outcome.
That led to an election that year in which the union lost 30-65. Subsequently, an administrative law judge found that a new election should be conducted.
In its decision last month, however, the NLRB said a repeat election is not necessary, saying the owners of the company and management used “extremely coercive unlawful threats.” That came from mandatory meetings in which Garten Trucking owners threatened job loss and total shutdown if employees unionized.
Company owners and their lawyer did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment. The company previously defended its conduct, saying no unlawful comments were made at company meetings.
While courts have acknowledged that a plant shutdown can be relayed to employees, the NLRB notes retaliatory remarks and actions are problematic.
“The Board and the courts have long emphasized that threats of job loss or shutdowns in response to unionization ‘are among the most flagrant of unfair labor practices and are likely to affect the election conditions negatively for an extended period of time,’” the ruling said.
Among other remedies, the NLRB required Garten Trucking to relay information to workers about the incident, the company’s alleged misconduct and employee rights.
The statement includes a provision saying the company won’t threaten job loss or closing the business if workers select the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers as their bargaining representative.
Brad Monroe, an area rep with the union, said truck drivers there are still interested in being a union but an appeal process could take 18 months.
