The NLRB Guards “Mixed-Guard” Units Against Withdrawn Recognition

Seyfarth Synopsis: In Loomis Armored US, Inc., 364 NLRB No. 23 (2016), the NLRB abandoned its long-established precedent from Wells Fargo Corp., 270 NLRB 787 (1984), and held that employers may not refuse to bargain with a “mixed-guard” union whom the employer has voluntarily recognized.

 

These days, employers are having a harder time relying on well-established law from the NLRB. On June 9, 2016, the Board issued its decision in Loomis Armored US, Inc., abandoning the standard it adopted more than 30 years ago in Wells Fargo Corp., regarding the withdrawal of recognition of “mixed-guard” units.

 

Loomis Armored US, Inc. (“Loomis”) had voluntary bargaining relationships with 10 “mixed-guard” units, at least one of which dated back 47 years. In 2010, Loomis refused to bargain with the union and withdrew recognition from six of these mixed-guard units. Despite the clear precedent in Wells Fargo, the NLRB took the position that “once an employer has voluntarily recognized a mixed-guard union for a unit of guards, the employer’s bargaining obligation should continue until the union is shown to have lost the majority support in the unit.” Id. slip op. at 1-2.

 

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