National Labor Relations Board v. R. J. Smith Construction Co., Inc.

545 F.2d 187, 178 U.S. App. D.C. 109, 93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2609, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 6522
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedOctober 27, 1976
Docket71-1689
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 545 F.2d 187 (National Labor Relations Board v. R. J. Smith Construction Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Labor Relations Board v. R. J. Smith Construction Co., Inc., 545 F.2d 187, 178 U.S. App. D.C. 109, 93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2609, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 6522 (D.C. Cir. 1976).

Opinions

WINTER, Circuit Judge.

The National Labor Relations Board (Board) petitions us to adjudge R. J. Smith Construction Co. (Company) in civil contempt of this court for having failed and refused, and for continuing to fail and refuse, to comply with our supplemental judgment of January 2, 1975, which we entered following our decision in Local No. 150, International Union of Op. Eng. v. NLRB, 156 U.S.App.D.C. 294, 480 F.2d 1186 (1973). Upon consideration of the Board’s petition, the Company’s response, the Board’s motion to strike the Company’s affirmative defenses, and other pleadings filed at our request, we adjudge the Company in civil contempt and enter an appropriate order.

History of the Proceedings

In Local No. 150, we held that, as a proposition of - law, the Board erroneously concluded that the Company was not guilty of an unfair labor practice under § 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(5) and (1), when it refused to bargain collectively with the union with which it had executed a pre-hire contract, valid under § 8(f) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(f), before unilaterally altering the terms of the contract. The Board’s theory was that an employer who had executed a pre-hire agreement under § 8(f) was not bound to observe it until the union had achieved majority status. We decided otherwise, and we remanded the case to the Board for entry of an appropriate order.

Pursuant to our remand, the Board issued a Supplemental Decision and Order finding that the Company had violated § 8(a)(5) and (1) by unilaterally altering the terms of its agreements and by refusing to bargain with the union as the representative of its employees. Inter alia, the Company was ordered to cease and desist from refusing to bargain collectively with Local No. 150 as the representative of the Company’s employees and from making unilateral changes in wages, rates of pay, or other terms or conditions of employment without first reaching agreement with the union concerning such changes. The Company’s [189]*189motion for reconsideration and rehearing was denied, and then, when the Company refused to comply with the Board’s order, the Company was informed that enforcement proceedings were being recommended. Without further notice to the Company, the Board filed a proposed supplemental judgment enforcing its supplemental order and embodying the latter’s terms, and we entered it on January 2, 1975. Although our records fail to show that the supplemental judgment was served on the Company, the Company admits that it had notice and actual knowledge of our supplemental judgment since at least February 7, 1975.1 The Company did not move to have it reconsidered or set aside by petition for rehearing, with or without a suggestion for rehearing in banc,2 nor did it seek further review by a petition for certiorari.

Admitted Facts

The facts alleged in the Board’s petition, admitted to be true in the Company’s response, are that on October 8, 1968, the Company and the union signed two memoranda of agreement, each containing clauses that the employer recognized the union as the sole and exclusive bargaining representative for the employees. Each memorandum adopted the terms and conditions of employment of a master agreement contained in a single document executed on June 1, 1966 by the union and the General Building Contractor’s Association of South Bend and Mishawaka, Indiana, and the union and Sewer, Tunnel and Subway Contractors of South Bend and Mishawaka, Indiana, respectively. The expiration date of the master agreement was May 31, 1970. By their terms, the memoranda were effective as of October 8, 1968, and were to remain in effect for one year, and thereafter from year to year, unless terminated by the parties. Each party had the right to amend or terminate each memorandum by notice in writing at least three calendar months prior to its expiration. By their terms, the memoranda specifically adopted any subsequent agreement entered into between the union and the employer association “unless notice of termination or amendment is given” in accordance with the provisions of the memoranda.

Although the Board alleges that subsequent master agreements have been executed between the union and the respective associations, the Company neither admits nor denies these allegations. The legal effect of this answer is to put the Board to strict proof of the facts it alleged. Such proof is not in this record, but the point is of little significance for present purposes because the Company admits that it has never honored the terms of the October 8, 1968 memoranda or of the master agreement of June 1, 1966 (which by its terms continued to May 31,1970), or of any subsequent master agreement with the union. The Company concedes that since November 1, 1968, it has repeatedly changed the wage rates of its employees without notice to or affording the union an opportunity to bargain thereon. Clearly, the Company has admitted a factual basis on which to find it in civil contempt, unless there is merit in one or more of its defenses. The wage rates fixed from time to time in any master agreements which may have been entered into from time to time to be effective after May 31, 1970, are significant only with respect to the computation of back pay. We have no doubt that, upon the Company’s request, the Board, or the union, or both, will supply data to the Company with regard to master agreements covering the [190]*190period after May 31,1970, so that the Company can compute back pay.

The Company admits the various proceedings which have been taken before the Board and in this court. It admits also that in its Supplemental Decision and Order which we enforced by supplemental judgment, the Board ordered the Company, inter alia, to cease and desist from refusing to bargain collectively and from making unilateral changes in wages, rates of pay, or other terms or conditions of employment without collective bargaining and agreement resulting therefrom, and affirmatively to recognize the union, honor its memorandum agreements, and to make whole each affected employee for any loss of pay he may have suffered as a result of illegal unilateral changes since October 23, 1968.

Finally, the Company admits that, at all times, it has wholly failed and refused to comply with our supplemental judgment.

Company Defenses

A, Alleged Duress.

The Company’s first defense is that the collective bargaining agreements that it is accused of having unilaterally altered were entered into under coercion and duress, and that therefore the agreements are unenforceable against the Company so that the Company’s failure to negotiate with the union before altering them cannot constitute a violation of § 8(a)(5) and (1).

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Bluebook (online)
545 F.2d 187, 178 U.S. App. D.C. 109, 93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2609, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 6522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-labor-relations-board-v-r-j-smith-construction-co-inc-cadc-1976.