At the request of the National Labor Relations Board, a U.S. District Court has ordered an Illinois gas hauling company to recognize and bargain with the union representing its drivers, even though the original company closed and its operations were transferred to a non-union entity owned and managed by the same people.

The injunction, issued July 11 by District Court Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr., also compels the company to restore the union pay and benefits that the drivers lost in the transfer, pending final resolution of the case before the Board.

A key question in the case is whether the company owner improperly closed A.D. Conner Inc., where employees were represented by unions, and transferred its operations to a non-union firm he also owned, without bargaining with the unions.

In his decision, Judge Dow wrote that “there is copious evidence from which the Board could conclude that (the owner) decided to shut down Conner in order to avoid the collective bargaining and other labor-related obligations that it had to Conner’s employees.”