National Labor Relations Board v. The Columbus Printing Pressmen & Assistants' Union No. 252, Subordinate to Ip& Gcu

543 F.2d 1161, 93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3055, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 5863
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedDecember 13, 1976
Docket75-3546
StatusPublished
Cited by57 cases

This text of 543 F.2d 1161 (National Labor Relations Board v. The Columbus Printing Pressmen & Assistants' Union No. 252, Subordinate to Ip& Gcu) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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. The Columbus Printing Pressmen & Assistants' Union No. 252, Subordinate to Ip& Gcu, 543 F.2d 1161, 93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3055, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 5863 (5th Cir. 1976).

Opinion

GEWIN, Circuit Judge:

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) petitions for enforcement of its order 1 directing that respondent, The Columbus Printing Pressmen & Assistants’ Union No. 252, Subordinate to IP & GCU, 2 (“the union”), bargain collectively with the R. W. Page Corporation (“the company”). The Board found that the union violated section 8(b)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, (“the Act”), 3 by insisting to impasse that the company agree to include in the parties’ new collective-bargaining agreement a provision requiring the parties to submit disputes over new contract terms to final and binding arbitration. We enforce the Board’s order.

I. The Factual and Procedural Background.

Since at least the early 1940’s the union and the company have entered into successive collective bargaining agreements, each agreement providing for resolution of disputes over the meaning of the contract by a grievance arbitration procedure and for resolution of disputes over new contract terms by a “new contract arbitration” procedure. 4 The practice of arbitrating new contract terms has prevailed in the newspaper printing industry for approximately 75 years. The parent organization of respondent has maintained a national arbitration agreement with the American Newspaper Publishers Association since 1905. The local agreement to arbitrate reflecte in substance precisely this type of contractual commitment. The last such agreement between the company and union was effective from September 1, 1970, through August 31, 1973. The contract arbitration clause in that agreement was identical with those contained in prior agreements, providing as follows:

Section 2. It is agreed between the Publisher and the Columbus Union that all disputes regarding a new Contract and scale to become effective at the expiration of this Contract, which cannot be settled by negotiation, shall be determined by arbitration as hereinafter provided in Article Sixteen hereof; and this Contract shall remain in force until all disputes are settled by negotiation or arbitration, provided that the parly requesting arbitration takes all necessary steps to have the Arbitration Board formed within thirty (30) days from the date of the request of either party in accordance with the provisions hereinafter provided.

In 1970 the union’s three-year contract with the company was scheduled to expire *1164 on August 31. The company bargained with the union beyond the expiration date, and on September 29 the only unresolved issue was the retention or deletion of the contract arbitration clause, the company insisting on its deletion. After deadlock, the union submitted the dispute to the arbitration procedure. In March, 1972, Professor Charles 0. Gregory issued an award directing that the contract arbitration clause be carried over into the parties’ new contract.

On June 27,1973, the union submitted the draft of a new contract to run from 1973 to 1976. The union proposed inclusion of a new contract arbitration clause. By October 29 three issues remained unresolved: wages, the manning schedule for the “color hump” (the color-producing process), and the contract arbitration clause. The following day the employees rejected the company’s last offer. Negotiations continued, with the company offering a further wage increase in exchange for the union’s “backing off on [requiring] the excess color man on the hump.” The union opposed the contract proposal because it lacked the contract arbitration clause, but submitted it to the employees. A few days later the union reported that the employees would accept the company’s latest proposal if the contract arbitration clause were carried forward.

During the succeeding weeks the parties exchanged letters in which they maintained their positions on the clause. The company’s last letter contended that the parties had agreed on all other issues, that contract arbitration was not a mandatory subject of bargaining, and that the union was therefore obligated to sign a contract. In February, 1974, when the union wrote to the company seeking to invoke the contract arbitration clause of the 1970-73 contract to obtain inclusion of such a clause in the new contract, the company filed an unfair labor practice charge against it. A majority of the Board (Members Fanning and Jenkins concurring, Chairman Murphy dissenting) agreed with the administrative law judge that contract arbitration is not a mandatory subject of bargaining and that the union violated section 8(b)(3) of the Act by insisting to impasse that the company agree to its inclusion in a new contract. The Board’s order requires the union to cease and desist from the unfair labor practice and to bargain with the company over “wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.”

II. Contract Arbitration as a Mandatory Subject of Bargaining.

Under section one of the Act, the policy of the United States is to protect the right of employees to designate their representatives and encourage to collective bargaining between employers and those representatives. 29 U.S.C. § 151. To this end section 8(b)(3) provides that it is an unfair labor practice for a labor organization “to refuse to bargain collectively with an employer.” Id. § 158(b)(3). Further, section 8(d) provides that

to bargain collectively is the performance of the mutual obligation of the employer and the representative of the employees to meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, or the negotiation of an agreement . . . and the execution of a written contract incorporating any agreement reached if requested by either party . . . . Id. § 158(d).

Wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment are considered mandatory subjects of collective bargaining, and either party may insist upon inclusion of a clause relating to those subjects. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. v. NLRB, 379 U.S. 203, 210, 85 S.Ct. 398, 13 L.Ed.2d 233, 238 (1964). By the same token it is unlawful to insist upon the inclusion of a clause relating to matters as to which collective bargaining is not mandatory. NLRB v. Wooster Division of Borg-Warner Corp., 356 U.S. 342, 349, 78 S.Ct. 718, 2 L.Ed.2d 823, 829 (1958); Philip Carey Manufacturing Co. v. NLRB, 331 F.2d 720, 726 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 888, 85 S.Ct. 159, 13 L.Ed.2d 92 (1964). Thus, it is incumbent upon us to determine whether the Board correctly concluded that contract arbitra *1165 tion is not a mandatory subject of bargaining.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

DiQuisto v. County of Santa Clara
181 Cal. App. 4th 236 (California Court of Appeal, 2010)
Globe Newspaper Co. v. International Ass'n of MacHinists
648 F. Supp. 2d 193 (D. Massachusetts, 2009)
IBEW v. Hope Electrical
Eighth Circuit, 2002
MS Power Company v. NLRB
Fifth Circuit, 2002
City of Fresno v. People Ex Rel. Fresno Firefighters
83 Cal. Rptr. 2d 603 (California Court of Appeal, 1999)
Amalgamated Transit Union, ATU Local 168 v. County of Lackawanna Transit System
678 A.2d 1225 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1996)
Newspaper Guild of Salem v. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc.
892 F. Supp. 22 (D. Massachusetts, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
543 F.2d 1161, 93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3055, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 5863, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-labor-relations-board-v-the-columbus-printing-pressmen-ca5-1976.