Alaska Statebank, Appellant-Petitioner v. National Labor Relations Board, Appellee-Respondent

Alaska Statebank (employer) petitions for review of an order of the National Labor Relations Board (Board) directing the employer to bargain with the union elected by the employees at the employer’s Kenai branch bank. 250 NLRB No. 179 . The employer challenges the finding of the Board that eligible employees at the Kenai branch alone constitute an appropriate bargaining unit, contending that the only appropriate unit is one composed of employees at all of its branches and head office. The Board cross-petitions for enforcement of its order.

The employer bank has a head office in Anchorage and nine branch offices: four in Anchorage, three in Fairbanks, one in Unalaska (Dutch Harbor), and the one in Kenai involved here. Fifteen of the employer’s approximately 168 employees work at the Kenai branch. The Kenai branch is 150 miles from Anchorage, 526 miles from Fairbanks and over 850 miles from Dutch Harbor. There is little employee interchange between the various branches. Although conditions of employment such as wages, hours, and benefits are uniform throughout the bank, each branch manager independently hires, fires, promotes and disciplines branch employees, albeit subject to head…