Opinion ID: 278155
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: In the event it resumes operations, cease and desist from:

Text: 17 (c) Refusing to bargain with the labor organization representing a majority of its employees in an appropriate bargaining unit. 18 Such an order is more appropriate to a finding of refusal to bargain during the operation of a continuing business than to a finding of refusal to bargain concerning the effects of a sale. Although the refusal to bargain during the short interval prior to the decision to sell cannot be viewed as a particularly momentous unfair labor practice, it is to be observed that a hypothetical order such as this is not particularly onerous. Compare N.L.R.B. v. Aluminum Tubular Corp., 299 F.2d 595, 597-598 (2d Cir. 1962). 19 Makela objects to the finding that it violated section 8(a) (3) and (1) by refusing to rehire the 18 strikers whose employment was terminated on July 10 and by refusing to reinstate the remaining strikers on the ground that the company had committed itself to sell its assets and that this sale, rather than the strike, was the reason for rejecting the offer to return to work contained in the union letter of July 13. We hold that the finding of the Board is supported by substantial evidence. As already mentioned in our discussion of Makela's 8(a) (5) violation, serious consideration of the sale did not commence until after Kemppainen had received the letter. Hence, although the sale was no doubt the reason for the termination of the remaining Makela employees on July 22, it is difficult to regard it as the reason for Makela's rejection of the earlier offer to return to work. 20 Also with regard to these 8(a) (3) and (1) violations, Makela objects to the Board's order requiring back pay for the period of July 16 through July 26. Makela argues that the terms of sale were agreed to on July 17 and that the employees were released on July 22, so that July 17, or, in the alternative, July 22, is the proper concluding date of the back pay period. In Darlington, supra, the Supreme Court quoted with approval the following statement in N.L. R.B. v. New Madrid Mfg. Co., 215 F.2d 908, 914 (8th Cir. 1954): 21 But none of this can be taken to mean that an employer does not have the absolute right, at all times, to permanently close and go out of business    for whatever reason he may choose, whether union animosity or anything else, and without his being thereby left subject to a remedial liability under the Labor Management Relations Act for such unfair labor practices as he may have committed in the enterprise, except up to the time that such actual and permanent closing    has occurred. 22 While the facts of this case make a determination of the time of the actual and permanent closing of Makela's business rather difficult, we perceive no basis for finding that Makela's discriminatory practices persisted beyond July 22, the date upon which the employees were discharged as a result of the sale. Accordingly, the order of the Board must be modified to require back pay through July 22 rather than through July 26.