05/22/2025: An Application of the Successor Bar to Decertifying a Union
One tidy little case today.
Town & Country Foods, Inc., 19-RM-364265 (Regional Election Decision)
This National Labor Relations Board Regional Director decision addresses whether Town & Country Foods' petition to decertify Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union Local 466 should be dismissed under the successor bar doctrine.
Factual Background
Town & Country Foods operates a retail grocery store in Helena, Montana. The Union previously represented bakery employees under a collective bargaining agreement with the predecessor employer, Van's Thriftway, effective from October 1, 2023, through October 3, 2026. In December 2024, Town & Country purchased the Helena store from Van's Thriftway and assumed operations by February 2025. The company hired a majority of the former bakery employees but under its own terms and conditions, not adopting the predecessor's employment terms. The parties stipulated that Town & Country is a successor employer with substantial operational continuity in the bakery department, but is not bound by the prior collective bargaining agreement.
On April 7, 2025, the Union demanded recognition and bargaining from Town & Country as the successor employer. Rather than recognize the Union, Town & Country filed an RM petition on April 22, 2025, claiming good-faith uncertainty about the Union's majority status.
Legal Analysis
The Regional Director applied the successor bar doctrine established in UGL-UNICCO Service Co. This doctrine creates a conclusive presumption of majority support for a defined period, preventing challenges to a union's representative status when a successor employer has a legal obligation to recognize an incumbent union.
Under UGL-UNICCO, the Board defined "reasonable period of bargaining" with two distinct timeframes. Where an employer expressly adopts a predecessor's terms and conditions, the period is six months from the first bargaining meeting. Where an employer does not adopt the predecessor's terms, as here, the period ranges from a minimum of six months to a maximum of one year from the first bargaining meeting.
The Regional Director found the successor bar doctrine applicable because: (1) the Union is the incumbent representative of bakery employees; (2) Town & Country is a successor employer that did not adopt Van's Thriftway's terms and conditions; and (3) no bargaining has occurred since Town & Country filed the RM petition instead of recognizing the Union.
The decision emphasized that the successor bar creates protection for unions to prove their effectiveness in negotiations without facing challenges to their majority status. Since no bargaining sessions have occurred between Town & Country and the Union, the minimum six-month to one-year period has not even begun. The Regional Director ruled that Town & Country's claim of good-faith uncertainty about the Union's majority status is irrelevant under current Board law.
The petition was dismissed, with Town & Country having until June 5, 2025, to file a request for review with the Board's Executive Secretary in Washington, D.C.
Significant Cases Cited
UGL-UNICCO Service Co., 357 NLRB No. 76 (2011): Established the successor bar doctrine creating a conclusive presumption of majority support for unions representing employees of successor employers for a reasonable bargaining period.
St. Elizabeth Manor, 329 NLRB 341 (1999): Provided foundational precedent for the successor bar doctrine that was later restored in UGL-UNICCO.
MV Transportation, 337 NLRB 770 (2002): Overruled St. Elizabeth Manor before the successor bar doctrine was restored in UGL-UNICCO.
Franks Bros. Co. v. NLRB, 321 U.S. 702 (1944): Supreme Court decision establishing the principle that a bargaining relationship once rightfully established must be permitted to exist and function for a reasonable period.