Opinion ID: 466131
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Doctrine's Application to Majority Status Questions.

Text: 11 When Congress added subsection (f) to 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158, Pub.L. No. 86-257, Sec. 705(a), 73 Stat. 519, 545 (1959), it created an exception to the general policy prohibiting binding collective bargaining agreements between employers and employee bargaining units that have not received majority support. Section 8(f) permits employers and unions in the construction industry to enter into prehire agreements--agreements that allow employees in an industry characterized by constant fluctuations in the work force to acquire some of the benefits of union representation while giving an employer the option to repudiate the agreement until the minority bargaining unit with whom it negotiated attains majority status. See Jim McNeff, Inc. v. Todd, 461 U.S. 260, 265-66, 103 S.Ct. 1753, 1756, 75 L.Ed.2d 830 (1983); NLRB v. Local Union No. 103, International Association of Bridge, Structural & Ornamental Iron Workers (Higdon), 434 U.S. 335, 344-45, 98 S.Ct. 651, 657-58, 54 L.Ed.2d 586 (1978); Orange Belt District Council of Painters No. 48 v. Kashak, 774 F.2d 985, 988 (9th Cir.1985). When the union does attain majority status, the section 8(f) agreement becomes a binding collective bargaining agreement between the employer and the union. The majority status issue, then, is pivotal; it determines whether employees are entitled to the full protection of a collective bargaining agreement or whether they receive only the partial protection of a prehire agreement. 12 Because of both the agency's expertise and its mandate from Congress, the NLRB has the initial responsibility of deciding issues involving representation. See, e.g., Local No. 3-193 International Woodworkers of America v. Ketchikan Pulp Co., 611 F.2d 1295, 1298, 1301 (9th Cir.1980). Courts have jurisdiction to decide cases involving breaches of prehire or collective bargaining agreements, Labor Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act Sec. 301, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185 (1982), but they have no jurisdiction to determine the representational status of the bargaining unit. 2 This is the nub of the primary jurisdiction doctrine. Once the Board decides the issue of majority status, however, a district court (or a state court, as the case may be) may proceed to rule on the section 301 breach of contract claim. See, e.g., Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local No. 70 v. California Consolidators, Inc., 693 F.2d 81, 83 (9th Cir.1982), cert. denied, --- U.S. ---, 105 S.Ct. 263, 83 L.Ed.2d 199 (1984). 13