Cite as: 522 U. S. 359 (1998)
Opinion of Breyer, J.
town was found to be a "successor" employer, the union was entitled to a rebuttable presumption of majority status. See Fall River Dyeing & Finishing Corp. v. NLRB, 482 U. S. 27, 41 (1987). Absent some extraordinary circumstance, when a union enjoys a rebuttable presumption of majority status, the employer is obligated to recognize the union unless 30% of the union's employees petition the Board for a decertification election (and the union loses), Texas Petrochemicals Corp., 296 N. L. R. B. 1057, 1062 (1989), enf'd as modified, 923 F. 2d 398 (CA5 1991); see 29 U. S. C. § 159(c)(1)(A)(ii); 29 CFR § 101.18(a) (1997), or the employer shows that "either (1) the union did not in fact enjoy majority support, or (2) the employer had a good-faith doubt, founded on a sufficient objective basis, of the union's majority support," see NLRB v. Curtin Matheson Scientific, Inc., 494 U. S. 775, 778 (1990) (emphasis deleted; internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
Allentown took the last mentioned of these options. According to the ALJ, it sought to show that it had an "objective" good-faith doubt primarily by presenting the testimony of Allentown managers, who, in turn, reported statements made to them by 14 employees. The ALJ set aside the statements of 5 of those employees as insignificant for various reasons—for example because the employees were not among the rehired 32, because their statements were equivocal, or because they made the statements at a time too long before the transition. 316 N. L. R. B., at 1206-1207. The majority does not take issue with the ALJ's reasoning with respect to these employees. The ALJ then found that statements made by six, and possibly seven, employees (22% of the 32) helped Allentown show an "objectiveî reasonable doubt. Id., at 1207. The majority does not quarrel with this conclusion. The majority does, however, take issue with the ALJ's decision not to count in Allentown's favor three further statements, made by employees Marsh, Bloch, and Mohr. Id., at 1206-1207. The majority says that these
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