On March 31, 2015, in Americold Logistics LLC, a majority of the three-member panel (Board) heading the NLRB’s judicial and election functions held that the one-year time period barring petitions to oust a voluntarily-recognized union is measured from the date of the first bargaining session between the employer and the union, not from the date the recognition agreement is signed. By doing so, the NLRB clarified its earlier decision in Lamons Gasket Co. and overturned a regional director’s decision to process a company employee’s decertification petition. The Board also held that the decertification petition was barred under the multi-factor test applied in Lee Lumber and Building Material Corp. because a reasonable amount of time for bargaining had not yet elapsed. (362 N.L.R.B. slip op. 58 (Mar. 31, 2015).)

Americold Logistics operates two food storage warehouses in Illinois. In 2012, after an organizing drive at both warehouses, a majority of its warehouse employees voted to authorize a union in an election using a neutral third-party to conduct the card check. Although a recognition agreement was signed on June 18, 2012, the first negotiation session between the employer and the union was not held until October 2012. The parties negotiated sporadically over the course of the next eight months. At one point, there was a gap of over three months in negotiations due to the employer’s unavailability. The negotiations culminated in a signed agreement the employees voted to ratify on June 29, 2013. The day before the ratification vote, a company employee filed a petition to decertify the union and hold a Board-conducted election. The decertification petition was filed slightly more than a year after the recognition agreement had been signed.

In Lamons Gasket Co., the Board held that voluntary recognition of a union bars a decertification petition for a reasonable bargaining period of “no less than 6 months after the parties' first bargaining session and no more than 1 year” (357 N.L.R.B. slip op. 72 (Aug. 26, 2011)). The regional director interpreted Lamons Gasket as measuring the reasonable bargaining period from the date of the recognition agreement. Since the petition was filed slightly over a year after the recognition agreement, the regional director found that the decertification petition was not barred and should be processed. The union filed a request for review with the Board, arguing that a recognition bar remained in effect because the petition was filed less than a year from when the first bargaining session had been held, and that a reasonable time for bargaining had not elapsed as of the time the decertification petition was filed. The issue before the Board was whether the maximum one-year period under the recognition bar runs from the date of recognition or from the start of bargaining.

In seeking to clarify its earlier decision in Lamons Gasket, a majority of the Board (Chairman Pearce and Member Hirozawa) found that a reasonable period of bargaining under the recognition bar is a minimum of six months and a maximum of one year, measured from the date of the first bargaining meeting between the union and the employer. In coming to this conclusion, the Board noted that:

Member Miscimarra dissented, finding that:

The Board’s decision in Americold Logistics LLC clarifies an ambiguity from Lamons Gasket regarding when the one-year bar to decertify a voluntarily-recognized union begins to run. By holding that the one-year time period is measured from the date of the parties' first bargaining session, rather than the date the union was recognized, the recognition bar could be extended indefinitely due to any delay in the parties meeting.