Opinion ID: 602338
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Zipper Clause

Text: 21 The zipper clause has a much simpler, but less harmonious, history. On March 25, 1975, the Company proposed to add the present language of the zipper clause. The Guild strongly objected to the zipper clause, arguing that [t]his zipper clause is about as all inclusive as any thinking man could have made. What you are asking us to [do] is forfeit our rights under the law. That's very, very important to us. Transcript of Bargaining Negotiations 5 (Jan. 7, 1976). Apparently, it was very important to the Company as well, for the agreement subsequently signed on December 4, 1979 included the zipper clause. Each of the three agreements that followed also included the zipper clause. Although no changes were made to the language of the zipper clause, its effective date was changed in each contract to reflect the new effective date of the agreement as a whole. 22 The zipper clause was last discussed in 1988, when the parties made competing proposals addressing a potential merger between the Company's two newspapers. The Company's proposed addition contained a zipper clause specific to the language dealing with the potential merger. The Guild questioned the need for the self-contained zipper clause, in view of the agreement's overall zipper clause. Agreeing with the Guild, the Company withdrew the mini-zipper clause from its proposal.