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Successor employer must recognize and bargain with employee?s former union

Successor employer must recognize, and bargain, with employee?s former union
Dean Transportation, Inc. v National Labor Relations Board, [Grand Rapids Educational Support Personnel Association, MEA/NEA, Intervenor], USDC ? District of Columbia Circuit, Docket 07-1262 (Consolidated with 07-1313 and 07-1314), Decided January 9, 2009

When Dean Transportation, Inc. took over operations at a facility that provided bus transportation for the Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS), it refused to recognize and bargain with the Grand Rapids Educational Support Personnel Association (GRESPA), the union that had been representing employees at the facility.

Dean, instead, recognized the union that represented bus drivers at Dean?s seven other facilities, the Dean Transportation Employees Union (DTEU).

The National Labor Relations Board determined that, in so doing, Dean and DTEU violated the National Labor Relations Act.

The Board?s determination was based on the following findings:

1. Dean was a successor to GRPS as the employer of bus drivers, mechanics, and route planners at the facility it acquired by lease from GRPS;

2. A unit consisting of those employees was an appropriate bargaining unit; the bus drivers in the unit were not accreted to DTEU?s bargaining unit; and

3. GRESPA had made a proper demand for recognition and bargaining.

The Circuit denied Deans?s petition for review and granted in full NLRB?s applications for enforcement of its order.

The court noted that a ?new employer has an obligation to bargain with? the union representing its predecessor?s employees if ?the new employer is in fact a successor of the old employer and the majority of its employees were employed by its predecessor,? citing Fall River Dyeing & Finishing Corp. v. NLRB, 482 U.S. 27.

A new employer qualifies as a successor to its predecessor if there is ?substantial continuity? between the enterprises. The court commented that ?there is no dispute that Dean acquired substantial transportation assets from GRPS -- namely, all of GRPS? buses and the Union Street physical facilities -- and that it continued, without interruption, GRPS? transportation operations.?

Noting that NLRB?s Administrative Law Judge had determined that ?when viewed from the perspective of the employees, there has been very little change in their working conditions,? the Circuit Court denied Dean?s petition for review and granted the Board?s applications for enforcement of its order.

The full text of the decision is posted on the Internet at:

http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200901/07-1262-1158068.pdf

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on January 22, 2009 (boomark / email).