Where, as the result of a reorganization, a portion of an existing unit is transferred to a gaining employer, the latter will be found to be the successor employer (thus inheriting, along with the employees, the exclusive representativeof those employees and the collective bargaining agreement that applied to those employees) if: (a) the post-transfer unit is appropriate, (b) the transferred bargaining unit employees are a majority in the post-transfer unit, (c) the gaining employer has "substantially" the same mission as the losing employer, (d) the transferred employees perform "substantially" the same duties under "substantially" similar working conditions in the gaining entity, and (e) it is not demonstrated that an election is necessary to determine representation. See Port Hueneme, 50 FLRA No. 56, discussed in Significant Cases No. 107.
In 56 FLRA No. 47, reported in Significant Cases No. 135, the Authority indicated that where there are competing claims of successorship, it would first evaluate proposed units that most fully preserve the status quo regarding the bargaining structure and the employees' relationship to its chosen exclusive representative. It also indicated that a change in chain of command, by itself, doesn't render a unit inappropriate. Compare with ACCRETION.