Region 28-Phoenix Wins Employee Reinstatement, Bargaining Order to Remedy Unfair Labor Practices by Prescott, Arizona Sporting Goods Retailer During Union Organizing Campaign

Phoenix, Arizona – On July 22, 2025, in a case investigated and litigated by Region 28-Phoenix, Administrative Law Judge John Giannopoulos issued a decision and recommended Order requiring Prescott, Arizona sporting goods retailer Sportsman’s Warehouse, Inc. to reinstate an employee union supporter and recognize and bargain with United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, Local 99, to remedy unfair labor practices committed during a union organizing campaign.

Administrative Law Judge Giannopoulos found that, during a campaign by UFCW, Local 99 to organize its employees, Sportsman’s Warehouse interfered with employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act by threatening employees with store closure and other consequences for their protected activities, threatening employees that selection of a union representative would be futile, impliedly promising a wage increases to discourage employees from unionizing, soliciting employee grievances and impliedly promising to remedy them to discourage employees from unionizing, and interrogating employees about how they planned to vote in an upcoming election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. Administrative Law Judge Giannopoulos further found that Sportsman’s Warehouse discharged a lead employee organizer because of his union activity. 

Administrative Law Judge Giannopoulos determined that a bargaining order, requiring Sportsman’s Warehouse to recognize and bargain with UFCW, Local 99 as its employees’ representative, was warranted to address these unfair labor practices. Administrative Law Judge Giannopoulos determined that a bargaining order was warranted under the NLRB’s 2023 decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, 372 NLRB No. 130 (2023), because the unfair labor practices, and particularly the repeated threats of store closure, were grounds for setting aside an election conducted by the NLRB. Judge Giannopoulos also determined that a bargaining order was warranted under the long-standing Supreme Court decision in NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575 (1969), because the unfair labor practices, and particularly the repeated threats of store closure, rendered a fair rerun election unlikely, even after traditional NLRB remedies were effectuated.

Absent an extension of time, any exceptions to the decision and recommended Order must be filed within 28 days of the transfer of the case to the NLRB. Supervisory Field Attorney Lisa J. Dunn and Honors Attorney Isaí Estévez of Region 28-Phoenix litigated the matter on behalf of the NLRB’s General Counsel.

“Employees have the right to choose union representation, free of interference, restraint, or coercion by their employer,” said Regional Director Cornele A. Overstreet. “The Order recommended by Administrative Law Judge Giannopoulos vindicates those rights and protects employees’ choice regarding union representation.”

Established in 1935, the National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency that protects employees, employers, and unions from unfair labor practices and protects the right of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve wages, benefits and working conditions. The NLRB conducts hundreds of workplace elections and investigates thousands of unfair labor practice charges each year. Region 28 serves areas in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas from its Regional Office in Phoenix and its Resident Offices in Albuquerque and Las Vegas.