NLRB Refuses to Extend Deadline For Briefs on Neutrality, Card Checks
A request to extend the time parties could submit briefs in the National Labor Relations Board's contentious review of neutrality agreements and card-check procedures was rejected July 2 by a divided board, which refused to extend the July 15 filing deadline (Dana Corp., N.L.R.B., No. 8-RD-1976, order 7/2/04).
In a 3-2 vote that mirrored the June decision to take on the neutrality agreements and card-check procedures, Chairman Robert J. Battista and Members Peter C. Schaumber and Ronald Meisburg--all Republican appointees on the board--voted to deny the general counsel's request for an extension of time to file briefs. Wilma B. Liebman and Dennis P. Walsh--who hold the two Democratic seats on the board--opposed the board's initial decision to consider the issues, but backed an extension of time for parties to file briefs.
The general counsel had asked for an extension so that parties interested in filing briefs would have an additional month. The board solicited amicus briefs on June 14, giving parties a month to file.
NLRB said in the current order that the general counsel pursued the extension on behalf of amicus curiae, as well as the employers, AFL-CIO, the United Auto Workers, and lawyers for the employees.
In refusing to extend the time, the board majority said it was aware of the "nature of the issue and the potential significance of same" when it set the deadline, and that if there had been a concern that issues would be given "short shrift," it would have set a broader deadline initially.
Dissenters Liebman and Walsh, however, argued that this was not a "normal case" and that review contemplates "possible sea changes in the law" and therefore the briefs should not be hastily produced, thus a 30-day extension was appropriate.
Briefs were invited following the board's 3-2 decision June 7 granting review of regional directors' dismissals of two decertification petitions filed a few weeks after automotive parts suppliers Dana Corp. and Metaldyne Corp. recognized the United Auto Workers pursuant to a neutrality agreement and card-check procedure (341 N.L.R.B. No. 150, 174 LRRM 1521).
The regional directors applied the recognition bar doctrine, which bars decertification petitions and petitions by rival unions for a reasonable period of time following an employer's voluntary recognition of a union based on a demonstration that it has the support of a majority of employees in the unit. In granting review of the dismissals, the board majority said the two cases "raise substantial issues regarding whether the Employers' voluntary recognition of the Union bars a decertification petition for a reasonable period of time under the circumstances of these cases.
- - - - - John Lacny http://www.johnlacny.com
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