Friendly Ice Cream Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board

Friendly Ice Cream Corp. (Friendly) (defendant) owned and operated a chain of 605 restaurants in 16 states. The eastern region of the chain was headquartered in Massachusetts, where executive personnel formulated standard policies that applied to all Friendly restaurants, such as menus, pricing, décor, marketing, and accounting. The eastern region was divided into divisions, supervised by a division manager. One division, covering parts of Massachusetts, was further subdivided into nine districts, each with its own district manager. Each district comprised four to nine restaurants, and each restaurant had a store manager. Each manager reported up to the next-level manager. The store manager worked over 50 hours a week at his or her restaurant, while the district manager visited one to three times a week and the division manager visited about once a month. The 27 or so employees of one Friendly restaurant in Massachusetts (Weymouth) wanted to unionize as a single bargaining unit. The employees’ labor union (the union) (plaintiff) filed a representative petition with the National Labor Relations Board (the board). The regional director found that the petitioned-for single-store unit was appropriate and directed an election. The union was certified as the exclusive bargaining representative. Subsequently, Friendly refused to collectively bargain with the union, believing that the unit was not appropriate. The board petitioned for an enforcement order in the First Circuit.