Opinion ID: 754581
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Declared Impasse and Refusal to Bargain

Text: 8 The Act neither compels an agreement between employees and employers nor does the Act regulate the substantive terms governing wages, hours, and working conditions which are incorporated in an agreement. NLRB v. American Nat. Ins. Co., 343 U.S. 395, 401-02, 72 S.Ct. 824, 828, 96 L.Ed. 1027 (1952). The theory of the Act is that the making of voluntary labor agreements is encouraged by protecting employees' rights to organize for collective bargaining and by imposing on labor and management the mutual obligation to bargain collectively. Id. at 402, 72 S.Ct. at 828. Moreover, the Act does not encourage a party to engage in fruitless marathon discussions and the Board may not, either directly or indirectly, compel concessions or otherwise sit in judgment upon the substantive terms of collective bargaining agreements. Id. When a legally cognizable impasse occurs the employer is free to implement changes in employment terms unilaterally so long as the changes have been previously offered to the union during bargaining. See P.R.C. Recording Co. v. NLRB, 836 F.2d 289, 292-93 (7th Cir.1987). The touchstone for determining whether a genuine impasse or deadlock existed at the time the employer instituted unilateral changes is the absence of any realistic possibility that continuation of the negotiations would have been fruitful. ConAgra, Inc. v. NLRB, 117 F.3d 1435, 1444 (D.C.Cir.1997). 9 The parties had met nineteen times between August 8, 1994, and July 14, 1995, when Beverly Farm declared an impasse and refused to continue bargaining. The Board found that Beverly Farm declared an impasse prematurely and wrongfully refused to bargain in violation of Sections 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act. Beverly Farm argues that the Board erred in finding it improperly declared an impasse because the parties were at loggerheads; the parties had met for over a year and were still so far apart on certain key economic and noneconomic issues that continued bargaining appeared fruitless. Both the ALJ and the Board disagreed. 10 In its Order, the Board states that although the parties had met on nineteen previous occasions there was not an impasse because sixteen of those bargaining sessions had been exclusively devoted to noneconomic issues. The Board reasoned that in light of the limited negotiations on economic issues and the Union's continued flexible bargaining posture, reflected by its assurance to management that a strike was unlikely, Beverly Farm's declaration of an impasse was premature. The history of the negotiations supports the Board's findings that Beverly Farm declared a premature impasse in the negotiations and then wrongfully refused to bargain with the Union. 11 The Union proposed its first wage proposal on May 25, 1995. Beverly Farm did not present its economic counter-proposal until June 21, 1995. Shortly thereafter, the Union responded with an amended economic proposal on July 6, 1995. On July 14, 1995, just one week later, Beverly Farm responded to the Union's amended proposal by delivering its last, best, and final offer. When the employees voted to reject the final offer on July 27, 1995, Beverly Farm unilaterally implemented some of the terms and conditions in its final offer. 12 On August 4, 1995, the Union sent a letter to Beverly Farm indicating that it had new proposals to submit and requesting further negotiations. In response, Beverly Farm requested that the Union submit its new proposals in writing. The Union refused on the grounds that Beverly Farm was attempting to impose the illegitimate requirement that the Union negotiate by mail. 13 The crux of Beverly Farm's argument with respect to its declared impasse is that the Board did not give sufficient weight to the duration and number of bargaining sessions between the parties. It argues that the Board minimized the fact that it had negotiated in good faith for over a year and that during that period nineteen individual bargaining sessions with the Union had failed to resolve significant differences between the parties with respect to both economic and noneconomic issues. We find that, contrary to Beverly Farm's assertion, the Board carefully considered the fact that Beverly Farm and the Union had been in negotiations for over one year. Specifically, in its order the Board states: [t]ypically, if negotiations do not produce an agreement after that length of time, one might conclude that the parties are at an impasse for 'the duty to bargain does not require a party to engage in fruitless marathon discussions.'  323 NLRB No. 147, 1997 WL 294690 (citing NLRB v. American National Insurance Co., 343 U.S. 395, 72 S.Ct. 824, 96 L.Ed. 1027 (1952)). However, the Board found that under the circumstances presented here, there were insufficient grounds to declare an impasse. Although a finding of a bargaining impasse might have been reasonable under these facts, we cannot say that the Board's findings, regarding the viability of continued negotiations, were not supported by substantial evidence or that the Board's conclusion, that Beverly Farm had declared a premature impasse, was an unreasonable interpretation of Sections 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act. Section 8(a)(5) makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer to refuse to bargain collectively with the representatives of [its] employees. 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(5). It was reasonable for the Board to conclude that Beverly Farm's unilateral implementation of parts of its final offer, in the absence of a valid impasse, constituted a violation of the Act. 14 The Board also found that Beverly Farm violated Sections 8(a)(5) and (1) when it twice refused to resume bargaining with the Union despite the Union's request to resume bargaining and its submission of new proposals. In support, the Board stated that even if a genuine impasse existed on July 27, 1995, when the employees rejected Beverly Farm's final offer, the Union's August 4 letter obligated Beverly Farm to resume direct negotiation with the Union. See NLRB v. U.S. Cold Storage Corp., 203 F.2d 924 (5th Cir.1953) (holding that an employer who insists on negotiating by mail or that a union submit its proposals in writing has unlawfully refused to bargain). The Board's finding that Beverly Farm wrongfully refused to bargain was supported by substantial evidence.