Opinion ID: 321883
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the pressmen

Text: 30 NPC asserts that the Pressmen were obligated not to participate in a sympathy strike in 1969 by virtue of either (1) the continuing effect of two arbitration agreement, both of which expired December 31, 1967, or (2) an oral or implied agreement to continue during negotiations the terms of an arbiter's contract that terminated on September 30, 1968. 31 NPC first argues that the Pressmen were forbidden to strike because the interaction of the arbiter's contract and the International Arbitration Agreement (made applicabe by the Individual Arbitration Agreement) created an obligation to arbitrate disputes and a duty not to strike, until such time as the arbiter's contract had been renewed. The Board rejected this argument, holding that there was no contractual relationship between NPC and the Pressmen when members of that Union honored the picket line. This is a reasonable interpretation of the various agreements involved. 32 The International Agreement provided that the duty to arbitrate would continue after the Agreement's expiration only until then existing local contracts had been renewed. When the Agreement expired on December 31, 1967, the parties' last signed contract had expired September 30, 1965, and the terms of a new agreement were still in arbitration. The contract awarded in that arbitration was not in existence until June 1968. Thus, rather than being a local contract which had to be renewed before the International Agreement's arbitration obligation was extinguished, the award itself terminated that duty. In accordance with the parties' stipulation the contract awarded in arbitration terminated September 30, 1968. Its no-strike provision was limited to the life of the agreement. Accordingly, we uphold the Board's determination that the International Arbitration Agreement's no-strike guarantee was not binding on the Pressmen in August 1970 when they honored the picket line. 33 NPC's second contention is that the Pressmen had agreed to continue the terms of the arbiter's contract, including the no-strike provision, during negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. Although there is some support in the record for this position, other evidence supports the Board's view that there was no express or implied pledge against sympathy strikes. Under the substantial evidence test, therefore, we must uphold the Board. NPC's reliance on Silbaugh v. NLRB, 139 U.S.App.D.C. 82, 429 F.2d 761 (1970), is misplaced. That case merely applied the substantial evidence test to the Board's determination on conflicting evidence that a Union had agreed to extend the terms of an expired contract during negotiations for a new one. It does not provide authority for reversing the Board here. 34 The petition for review is denied and the order of the Board is enforced.