[00:00:00] Speaker 00:
In case number 20-1031 et al, the American Bottling Company doing business as correct Dr. Bepper Petitioner versus National Labor Relations Board.

[00:00:09] Speaker 00:
Mr. Franklin for the petitioner, Mr. Seid for the respondent.

[00:00:14] Speaker 01:
Franklin, please proceed when you're ready.

[00:00:17] Speaker 01:
Thank you, your honor.

[00:00:18] Speaker 01:
May it please the court, my name is Corey Franklin and I represent Petitioner Cross Respondent American Bottling Company in this test of certification case.

[00:00:27] Speaker 01:
For the sake of clarity, I will refer to my client as the employer to the respondent cross petitioner as the NLRB or the board and the intervener as the union.

[00:00:37] Speaker 01:
The employer manufacturer sells and distributes beverages.

[00:00:40] Speaker 01:
This case concerns its operations in Northlake, Illinois, outside of Chicago.

[00:00:45] Speaker 01:
On June 4, 2019, the employer held a meeting with the individuals it employs as its frontline sales force who hold the job titles, account managers and sales service representatives.

[00:00:58] Speaker 01:
Sometimes these are abbreviated as AMs or SSRs as it may be.

[00:01:03] Speaker 01:
I'll try to be specific, but if I lapse into abbreviations, I apologize in advance.

[00:01:08] Speaker 01:
In this meeting, the employer stated that it would be implementing a previously announced fundamental alteration to the manner in which it conducts its sales operations in the Chicago market.

[00:01:19] Speaker 01:
This change is called a reroute, and that this reroute would occur on July 21, 2019.

[00:01:27] Speaker 01:
Additionally, consistent with a previous description of this reroute process,

[00:01:35] Speaker 01:
The employer advised that the implementation would also result in the permanent elimination of the sales service representative or SSR position on July 21, 2019.

[00:01:46] Speaker 01:
Seven of those individuals would be offered positions as account managers, but the remaining 28 sales service representative positions were eliminated.

[00:01:56] Speaker 01:
This case arose because very shortly after this meeting, the union filed a petition for a secret ballot