Labor Board Rejects Decertification

The National Labor Relations Board has dismissed a petition to remove the Teamsters union at Overnite Transportation Co.’s Macon, Ga., terminal.

In late June, some of the facility’s 28 employees — a "substantial number," according to Overnite — filed a request to have the union decertified as the workers’ official bargaining agent.

In its July 28 ruling, the board said "further proceedings are not warranted at this time" because of a settlement it reached in February with Overnite.

Teamsters officials said the board dismissed the petition "because of Overnite’s continuing practice (of) bargaining (in) bad faith."

Employees at Overnite terminals have filed 10 petitions for union decertification in the last three years. All of them have been denied. Teamsters officials have alleged that Overnite management was behind the petitions.

In a letter denying the Macon petition, Martin M. Arlook, director of NLRB’s Region 10 office in Atlanta, said that according to NLRB precedent, "where charges of bad faith bargaining are settled, bargaining must be allowed ‘for a reasonable time without a challenge to the union’s representative status.’ "

"We issued a complaint that alleged they refused to bargain in good faith, and there was a settlement reached where they agreed to bargain in good faith," said Ron Sharp, director of the board’s Region 18 office in Minneapolis, who has ruled on similar disputes between Overnite and the Teamsters. "The settlement contains a non-admission clause."

"We are disappointed by the NLRB’s decision. We would hope at some point they would allow these complaints to continue," said Overnite spokesman Ira Rosenfeld.

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