Summary
The Seventh Circuit upheld the National Labor Relations Board's approval of a bargaining unit consisting only of truck drivers at a FedEx Freight terminal. The court concluded that the drivers and dockworkers did not share an overwhelming community of interest because of substantial differences in compensation, hours, working conditions, benefits, and work locations. FedEx's petition to decertify the union was denied, and the Board's cross-petition to enforce its certification order was granted.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the NLRB properly determined that a drivers-only bargaining unit was appropriate for collective bargaining under 29 U.S.C. § 159(a).
- Whether the differences in working conditions, compensation, and benefits between FedEx Freight's truck drivers and dockworkers supported excluding the dockworkers from the certified bargaining unit.
- Whether the NLRB's use of the 'overwhelming community of interest' formulation in Specialty Healthcare required setting aside the certification order.
Holdings
- The NLRB properly certified a bargaining unit consisting only of the Stockton terminal's truck drivers because the drivers and dockworkers had materially different working conditions, compensation, and benefits, and the community of interest between them was slight rather than overwhelming.
- FedEx Freight did not establish a basis for setting aside the certification based on the NLRB's use of the term 'overwhelming community of interest'; regardless of the precise force of that terminology, the relationship between the drivers and dockworkers was plainly not overwhelming and the certified unit was appropriate.
Key quotations
“The statutory criterion for whether a union can represent a unit of workers is whether the unit is “appropriate” for collective bargaining, 29 U.S.C. § 159(a), which as a practical matter requires a determination that the members of the unit have common employment concerns— a “community of interest”—different from the concerns of the company’s other employees (if there are other employees).” (839 F.3d at 637)
“Enough; whatever the precise force of “overwhelming” in Specialty Healthcare, it is evident that the community of interest between the truck drivers and the dockworkers not only is in no sense overwhelming but in fact is slight, owing to the differences in working conditions and benefits between the two types of worker and the undeniable danger of strife between the drivers and the dockworkers should they be placed in the same bargaining unit.” (839 F.3d at 639)
Factual background
FedEx Freight employed approximately 50 truck drivers and 27 dockworkers at its Stockton, California, terminal. The drivers worked full time, earned about twice as much as the part-time dockworkers, generally worked outside the terminal, and received substantially different vacation, holiday, personal-day, and other employment benefits. The NLRB determined that the drivers constituted an appropriate bargaining unit and certified the Teamsters local after the drivers voted for representation.
Procedural history
A Teamsters local petitioned to organize FedEx Freight truck drivers at the Stockton, California, terminal. The NLRB rejected FedEx Freight's argument that dockworkers had to be included because they shared a community of interest with the drivers, approved a drivers-only bargaining unit, and certified the union after the drivers voted for representation. FedEx Freight sought review and decertification, while the NLRB sought enforcement.