Teamsters Cannery Local 670 v. National Labor Relations Board

856 F.2d 1250
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided September 1, 1988·No. Nos. 85-7413, 85-7478·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinions

ALARCON, Circuit Judge:

The question we must answer in this case is whether the record contains substantial evidence to support the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) finding that Teamsters Cannery Local No. 670 (Union) violated express provisions of a strike settlement agreement prohibiting discriminatory retaliation against financial core members when it denied those that crossed a picket line the opportunity to use facilities open to them prior to the work stoppage.

I PERTINENT FACTS

Stayton Canning Company Cooperative (Stayton) and Agripac, Inc., (Agripac) (collectively employers) own food processing plants in the state of Oregon. Each employs 700-800 regular full-time employees. Stayton and Agripac also employ approximately 2800-3200 additional persons each season. The Union represents approximately 98% of the regular and seasonal employees.

A. Pre-Strike Benefits

The Union negotiated separate but substantially similar collective bargaining agreements with Stayton and Agripac. Each agreement contains identical “union security” provisions, that require unit employees to become and remain union members “in good dues standing.” The contracts also include identical provisions concerning health and welfare benefits.

Both employers are required by the collective bargaining agreements to contribute to the Oregon Processors Employees Trust (OPET). OPET provides qualified employees with coverage under insurance [1252] plans that include, among other things, prescription drug, dental and eye care benefits. Under these plans, the employees may choose any pharmacy, dental, or eye clinic. OPET reimburses the majority of the employees’ costs. The pharmacy plan provides for 90 percent reimbursement; thus, the employees end up paying only 10 percent of the cost. The OPET dental and eye care plans reimburse the employees for all but certain minimal payments.

The Union occupies a small office building in Salem, Oregon. In addition to the Union offices, the building also houses a pharmacy, a dental clinic, and an eye clinic. The Union’s executive board and the boards of directors for the pharmacy and the clinics are identical. The climes and pharmacy operate as self-sustaining nonprofit businesses. They are open to the general public, as well as union members.

The pharmacy accepts union members’ plan-paid insurance benefits as full payment for prescriptions it fills and bills the OPET fund directly. As a result, union members are afforded the convenience of receiving prescription drugs at the pharmacy without having to pay cash and wait for reimbursement from OPET. In addition, they are spared the additional 10 percent cost they would otherwise have to bear if they went to a different pharmacy. The dental and eye clinics also bill OPET directly. Thus, union members do not have to pay cash arid await reimbursement for the insured portion of the dental and eye clinics’ services. Union members may receive dental and eye care services from clinics in the union building and pay cash only for the minimal payments not covered by the insurance. Customers other than union members pay cash for the use of the pharmacy and the clinics.

As another benefit, the Union, upon request, provides all laid-off members with work registration certificates. Pursuant to an agreement between the Union and the Employment Division of the State of Oregon, members who present such certificates may receive unemployment compensation without having to establish that they searched for a job, as is ordinarily required of claimants for unemployment compensation. This benefit is not spelled out in either of the collective bargaining agreements at issue here.

B. Post Strike Changes on Benefits

During the summer of 1982, the Union and the employers engaged in negotiations for new collective-bargaining agreements. On July 25, 1982, the Union asked the employees to cease work and strike because the contract negotiations had failed to produce new agreements. The strike against Stayton lasted 4 days. The strike against Agripac went on for almost 2 weeks.

Some of the employees did not support the strike; they either continued to work or returned to work during the work stoppage. In addition, the employers called in strike replacements. Between 600 and 700 of the employees who worked during the strike notified the Union in writing that they would pay the monies required under the contractual union security provision but, nonetheless, would not be bound by membership obligations. These employees are referred to as financial core members. See NLRB v. General Motors Corp., 373 U.S. 734, 742, 83 S.Ct. 1453, 1459, 10 L.Ed.2d 670 (1963) (“Membership” in a union as a condition of employment may require only the payment of fees and dues and is therefore “whittled down to its financial core.”). Prior to the strike, the Union had no financial core members. Only those who worked during the strike became financial core members.

The strikes ended on July 29, 1982 (Stay-ton) and August 8 or 9, 1982 (Agripac) when the parties reached a consensus on the terms of the strike settlement and new collective-bargaining agreements. The terms of the collective-bargaining and the strike settlement agreements formed part of a single package. The strike settlement agreements with Agripac and with Stayton were identical in all respects material to this case. The strike settlement agreements provided that neither the employer nor the Union would retaliate or discriminate against any employees who chose to [1253] be financial core members during the strike.

The agreements read, in pertinent part, as follows:

The parties have agreed that it is in the best interests of the company, the union, and all employees that any bad feelings or disharmony in the plant generated by the strike be eliminated as soon as possible in the interests of efficient operations; and that no employee should suffer discrimination, harassment or intimidation by virtue of choices made to support or not to support the strike; and that every employee is entitled to a working environment free from acrimony and hard feelings.
The union and the company hereby agree that no employee shall be discriminated against in any way by virtue of lawful activity engaged in during or in connection with the strike....
Neither party shall discriminate or seek any penalty from any employee, including supervisory employees, because of their choices or actions with respect to financial core status or resignation.

In December 1982, less than five months after the date of the strike settlement agreement, the Union’s executive board voted that it would no longer provide work registration certificates to financial core members. On the same day, the members of the Union’s executive board, sitting as the board of directors of the clinics and pharmacy located in the union building, voted not to provide any future services to financial core members.

II PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE NLRB

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Teamsters Cannery Local 670 v. National Labor Relations Board, 856 F.2d 1250 (9th Cir. 1988).

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