National Labor Relations Board v. Morse Shoe, Inc.

The National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) seeks enforcement of its order based upon findings that Morse Shoe, Inc. (“Morse”) had committed unfair labor practices in violation of Sections 8(a)(5) and 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act ( 29 U.S.C. §§ 151 et seq.) by refusing to bargain with Retail Clerks Union Local 324, Retail Clerks International Association, AFL-CIO (“Union”), by unilaterally modifying the existing collective bargaining agreement and refusing to make pension and welfare benefit payments, and by withdrawing recognition of the Union and repudiating the contract. The Board’s order, inter alia, required Morse to bargain with the Union upon request and to make its employees whole for benefits lost as a result of Morse’s unfair labor practices. Morse resists enforcement contending that its bargaining obligation was removed by a decertification proceeding of a bargaining unit of which its employees should have been found members and that its refusal to bargain was also justified by its reasonable good faith doubt of the Union’s majority status. We enforce the Board’s order.

Morse operates a leased shoe department in a store in Huntington Beach, California,…