International Transportation Service, Inc. v. NLRB, 449 F.3d 160 (D.C. Cir. 2006)
A container operator at the port of Long Beach fired Deanna Tartaglia, its only payroll billing clerk, after she and two union representatives picketed to gain recognition of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union as Tartaglia?s bargaining agent. The two union representatives did not work with Tartaglia. Although Tartaglia?s position was not included within any recognized bargaining unit, unionized employees ceased work in solidarity with the picket line, such that Tartaglia?s actions caused her employer more than $90,000 in losses, several hours delay in loading and unloading containers, and a mile-long line of trucks backed up at the port. The employer refused to recognize the union and fired Tartaglia for causing the disruption to its business. The union then filed Unfair Labor Practice charges, alleging that the termination was designed to discourage Tartaglia?s participation in a labor union in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (Act). An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) agreed.
Tartaglia?s employer then filed exceptions, arguing that Tartaglia?s conduct was unprotected because the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) could not certify a single-employee bargaining unit, and that the union?s involvement in picketing the employer violated Section 8(b)(7)(C) of the Act. Section 8(b)(7)(C) prohibits employees and unions from engaging in recognitional picketing, unless they file a petition for a Board-supervised election within thirty days. After rejecting these exceptions, the Board affirmed the ALJ?s decision, and the employer appealed. In a unanimous opinion, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, finding that because Section 8(b)(7)(C) of the Act prohibits recognitional picketing for single employee bargaining units, Tartaglia?s actions were not protected by the Act. Although several Board and court decisions have found that a lone employee may engage in protected, concerted activity for ?mutual aid or protection,? the Court refused to extend the Act?s protection to demands for collective bargaining on behalf of an individual employee.
The Court?s decision rejected Teamsters Local Union No. 115 (Vila-Barr Co.), 157 NLRB 588 (1966) in which the Board held that although it cannot certify a single-person bargaining unit for purposes of collective bargaining, Section 8(b)(7)(C) does not prohibit a union from picketing for recognition of such a unit.

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