Opinion ID: 457900
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dismissal of Certain Alleged Violations

Text: 21 The Union contends that the evidence establishes that Tate agreed in substance to an entire contract when he submitted his last and final offer on December 15 and that a complete package was accepted and ratified by the employees a day or two later. The Union argues that the parties contemplated only language revision in the future. The Union asserts that it is significant that no further negotiations were scheduled at the conclusion of the December 15 meeting. The Union views the subsequent correspondence as Tate's attempt to renege on items previously agreed to. The Union also takes the position that ratification by the Union constituted acceptance of a complete agreement. 22 The Board dismissed the portion of the complaint alleging that the Employer violated the Act by refusing to execute a fully agreed-upon collective bargaining agreement. The Board determined that the requisite meeting of the minds as to all substantive issues had not occurred and that the parties did not reach final agreement on December 15. The Board contends that the record establishes that there were four substantive areas (wage increases, health insurance, holiday pay, and time off for union activities) in which the parties had not reached a meeting of the minds, regardless of each party's mistaken belief that the other party had acceded to its proposals. 23 The ALJ in his decision relied in part on the absence of agreement on certain language as a basis for concluding that the parties never reached final agreement. The Board stated in a footnote to its order that to the extent the ALJ's discussion implies that a writing is a prerequisite to a final agreement, the panel did not accept it. The duty to bargain includes the obligation to assist in reducing an oral agreement to writing. Georgia Kraft Co., 258 N.L.R.B. 908, 912 (1981), 696 F.2d 931 (11th Cir.1983). But that obligation arises only after a meeting of the minds has occurred in terms of the expression of agreement by both parties as to all the substantive issues. Liberty Pavilion Nursing Home, 259 N.L.R.B. 1249, 1251 (1982). The Board has no authority to order a party to execute a contract to which it has not assented. H.K. Porter Co. v. NLRB, 397 U.S. 99, 108, 90 S.Ct. 821, 826, 25 L.Ed.2d 146 (1970). 24 The existence or nonexistence of agreement is a question of fact for the Board to determine. NLRB v. IBEW, Local No. 22, 748 F.2d 348, 350 (8th Cir.1984). Here the Board found that the parties' disagreement went beyond a language dispute. Rather it involved the substance of certain contract terms. Thus the Board found that the requisite assent did not occur. 25 The Board modified the recommended order of the ALJ to include a narrow cease-and-desist order to conform to the law and the violations found. We believe the substantial evidence on the record as a whole supports the Board's findings and its cease-and-desist order. 26 We now consider whether the Board abused its discretion in selecting the remedy.