Appendix C - U.S. Federal Court Decision Data
U.S. Federal Court Decision Data
(319 Cases Decided by the NLRB on plant closings and threats of plant closings)
Time period: 1990–1995
Table C.1. By Type of Complaint
| Type of Conduct Complained ofa | Sub-categories of Conduct | Number of Charges |
| Closures | Straightforward closures | 15 (50%)b |
| Closures with later re-openings (non-union) | 15 (50%) | |
| SUBTOTAL | 30 (9%) | |
| Partial Closures | Refusal to hire/rehire union employees | 7 (9%) |
| Subcontracting out of union work | 23 (29%) | |
| Closure of unit or department, or substantial reduction in work | 49 (62%) | |
| SUBTOTAL | 79 (25%) | |
| Total and Partial Closures Combined | 109 (34%) | |
| Threats | 210 (66%) | |
| TOTAL | 319 |
a Only cases in which both a threat and an actual closure (either partial or total) occurred have been included in the "closure" category. Thus, the category "threats" includes only cases where no closure actually occurred.
b Percentage of total number of cases; percentages may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.
Table C.2. By Disposition of Complaint
| Complaint |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
Total |
|
| ULP | Upheld | 14 (70%)b | 45 (90%) | 52 (95%) | 31 (89%) | 24 (96%) | 46 (82%) | 212 (88%) |
| Rejected | 5 (25%) | 3 (6%) | 2 (4%) | 4 (11%) | 0 (0%) | 9 (16%) | 23 (10%) | |
| Remanded | 1 (5%) | 2 (4%) | 1 (2%) | 0 (3%) | 1 (4%) | 1 (2%) | 6 (2%) | |
| SUB-TOTAL | 20 | 50 | 55 | 35 | 25 | 56 | 241 (76%) | |
| Objections | Upheld | 3 (75%) | 20 (95%) | 20 (91%) | 17 (94%) | 12 (92%) | 0 (0%) | 72 (91%) |
| Rejected | 1 (25%) | 1 (5%) | 1 (5%) | 1 (6%) | 1 (8%) | 1 (100%) | 6 (7%) | |
| Remanded | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (5%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (1%) | |
| SUB-TOTAL | 4 | 21 | 22 | 18 | 13 | 1 | 79 (25%) | |
| Total Cases | Upheld | 16 (70%) | 65 (92%) | 72 (94%) | 48 (91%) | 36 (95%) | 46 (81%) | 283 (89%) |
| Rejected | 6 (26%) | 4 (6%) | 3 (4%) | 5 (9%) | 1 (3%) | 10 (18%) | 29 (9%) | |
| Remanded | 1 (4%) | 2 (3%) | 2 (3%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (3%) | 1 (2%) | 7 (2%) | |
| TOTAL | 23c | 71 | 77 | 53 | 38 | 57 | 319d | |
a The total number of cases from each year is provided in parentheses.
b Percentages are of each particular type of complaint (e.g., 70 percent of ULP complaints in 1990 were upheld); percentages may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.
c The total of 23 cases is less than the sum of ULP (20) and Objections (4) cases, as one case was included under both categories.
d The total of 319 is 1 less than the sum of the subtotals (241 + 79 = 320) because of the dual categorization mentioned in the preceding footnote.
Table C.3. By Remedy Awardeda
| Remedy |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
Total |
| Make whole | 4 (17%) | 8 (11%) | 10 (13%) | 7 (13%) | 6 (16%) | 7 (12%) | 42 (13%) |
| Reinstate employeesb | 3 (13%) | 7 (10%) | 10 (13%) | 10 (19%) | 5 (13%) | 5 (9%) | 40 (13%) |
| Reinstate department and/or subcontracted work | 0 (0%) | 5 (7%) | 1 (1%) | 3 (6%) | 0 (0%) | 5 (9%) | 14 (4%) |
| Reopen | 1 (4%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (3%) | 2 (4%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (2%) | 6 (2%) |
| Relocate | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (1%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (0%) |
| Restore status quoc | 1 (4%) | 0 (0%) | 3 (4%) | 1 (2%) | 2 (5%) | 1 (2%) | 8 (3%) |
| Bargaining order | 5 (22%) | 14 (20%) | 25 (32%) | 18 (34%) | 9 (24%) | 12 (21%) | 83 (26%) |
| New election/set aside election | 0 (0%) | 16 (23%) | 10 (13%) | 8 (15%) | 6 (16%) | 2 (4%) | 42 (13%) |
| Open and count ballots | 0 (0%) | 1 (1%) | 1 (1%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (3%) | 1 (2%) | 4 (1%) |
| Certification | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (1%) | 1 (2%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (0%) |
| Pay union costs of case | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (2%) | 1 (0%) |
a Almost every case contained a standard cease-and-desist and posting remedy.
b This includes only reinstatements where at least 10 percent of the bargaining unit had been laid off or discharged. This does not include reinstatements for individuals (or small groups) such as union organizers who had been laid off.
c In addition to express orders of status quo ante, this category includes orders to restore terms of earlier collective bargaining agreements and orders to rescind unilateral changes.
Table C.4. New Organizing v. Existing Unions
| Status of Relationship |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
Total |
| New organizing | 17 (74%) | 61 (86%) | 66 (86%) | 45 (85%) | 32 (84%) | 51 (89%) | 272 (85%) |
| Existing union | 6 (26%) | 10 (14%) | 11 (14%) | 8 (15%) | 6 (16%) | 3 (5%) | 44 (14%) |
Table C.5. Successful and Unsuccessful Complaints, by Status of Bargaining Relationship
| Status | No. Of Cases | Successful Complaints | Unsuccessful Complaintsa | Remanded Complaints |
| New organizing |
272 |
245 (90%) | 21 (8%) | 6 (2%) |
| Existing union |
44 |
37 (84%) | 7 (16%) | 0 (0%) |
| Unclear |
3 |
1 (33%) | 1 (33%) | 1 (0%) |
| Total |
319 |
283 (89%) | 29 (9%) | 7 (2%) |
a This category includes both cases that were rejected and cases that were remanded with respect to disposition.
Table C.6. By Chronological Progression of Complaint
|
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
Total |
|
23 |
71 |
77 |
53 |
38 |
57 |
319 |