Rd. Sprinkler Fitters Local Union No. 669 v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

324 F. Supp. 3d 85
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedAugust 24, 2018
DocketCivil Action No. 17-1200 (TJK)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 324 F. Supp. 3d 85 (Rd. Sprinkler Fitters Local Union No. 669 v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rd. Sprinkler Fitters Local Union No. 669 v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd., 324 F. Supp. 3d 85 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

Opinion

TIMOTHY J. KELLY, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Road Sprinkler Fitters Local Union No. 669, U.A., AFL-CIO ("Local 669") brings this action challenging an order of Defendant National Labor Relations Board (the "Board") affirming a decision to order a union decertification election. Through that election, sprinkler fitters employed by construction company AFP Specialties Inc. ("AFP") decisively voted out Local 669 as their representative for collective-bargaining *89purposes. Although federal courts generally lack subject matter jurisdiction over Board orders emanating from representation proceedings, Local 669 argues that the Court has jurisdiction under the narrow exception announced in Leedom v. Kyne , 358 U.S. 184, 79 S.Ct. 180, 3 L.Ed.2d 210 (1958). As explained below, the Court concludes that the Leedom exception does not apply. As such, the Court does not have subject matter jurisdiction over this matter and will grant the Board's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 11). It will also deny as moot Local 669's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 13) and Corrected Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 17).

I. Background

A. Statutory Background

"The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 ('NLRA'), 29 U.S.C. §§ 151 - 169, establishes a federal regime for managing labor relations and generally authorizes the [Board] to resolve disputes between labor organizations and employers." Dist. No. 1, Pac. Coast Dist., Marine Eng'rs' Beneficial Ass'n v. Liberty Mar. Corp. , 815 F.3d 834, 839 (D.C. Cir. 2016). One of the Board's principal duties is to determine whether employees want to be represented for collective-bargaining purposes. See 29 U.S.C. § 159. A decertification election provides employees with "an opportunity to choose no longer to be represented by a union." Brooks v. NLRB , 348 U.S. 96, 100-01, 75 S.Ct. 176, 99 L.Ed. 125 (1954). Under certain circumstances, incumbent unions are protected from decertification elections for a period of time by the Board's "contract bar" rule. In this case, the question of whether the "contract bar" rule applies turns on whether the employees at issue have a relationship with Local 669 that is governed by Section 9(a) or Section 8(f) of the NLRA.

Under Section 9(a), "a union that obtains the support of 'the majority of the employees in a unit' will become the recognized representative of those employees, and the employer will be obligated to communicate and negotiate with it on the terms and conditions of employment." Colo. Fire Sprinkler, Inc. v. NLRB , 891 F.3d 1031, 1035 (D.C. Cir. 2018) (quoting 29 U.S.C. § 159(a) ). "[T]he scope of the bargaining unit is determinative of what employees the unit represents." Boise Cascade Corp. v. NLRB , 860 F.2d 471, 474 (D.C. Cir. 1988) (emphasis omitted). If a collective bargaining agreement reflects a Section 9(a) relationship between a unit of employees and a union, it triggers the three-year "contract bar." See Shepard Convention Servs., Inc. v. NLRB , 85 F.3d 671, 672 n.2 (D.C. Cir. 1996). Under the "contract bar rule," the Board "will generally refuse decertification elections, whether requested by the employer, the employees or another union," for three years from the effective date of the collective bargaining agreement, except during a brief window that opens shortly before the three years are up. NLRB v. Dominick's Finer Foods, Inc. , 28 F.3d 678, 683 (7th Cir. 1994). The "contract bar" rule "is well established in NLRB adjudications though it appears nowhere in statute and is not the result of judicial mandate." Hill v. WMATA , 309 F.Supp.2d 63, 68 (D.D.C. 2004).

Section 8(f) of the NLRA "creates a limited exception to this majority support requirement for the construction industry." Nova Plumbing, Inc. v. NLRB , 330 F.3d 531, 534 (D.C. Cir. 2003). Under Section 8(f), an employer that is a construction-industry contractor "may sign a 'pre-hire' agreement with a union regardless of how many employees authorized the union's representation." Id. (citing 29 U.S.C. § 158(f) ). These agreements "respond *90to the unique nature of the industry" because "[c]onstruction companies need to draw on a pool of skilled workers and to know their labor costs up front in order to generate accurate bids" and "union organizing campaigns are complicated by the fact that employees frequently work for multiple companies over short, sporadic periods." Id. (citing NLRB v. Local Union No. 103

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