Opinion ID: 508502
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: B & B's Repudiation of the Pre-Hire Agreement

Text: 30 Though the Supreme Court has not had occasion to decide whether repudiation may be effected by conduct, see Jim McNeff, Inc., 461 U.S. at 270 n. 11, 103 S.Ct. at 1759 n. 11, other federal courts have concluded that repudiation of a section 8(f) agreement is effected by conduct sufficient to put the union and the employees on notice that the agreement is terminated. New Mexico v. Jordan & Nobles Construction Co., 802 F.2d 1253, 1255-56 (10th Cir.1986), quoting Contractors, Laborers, Teamsters & Engineers Health & Welfare Plan v. Harkins Construction and Equipment Co., 733 F.2d 1321, 1326 (8th Cir.1984). See also Operating Engineers Pension Trust v. Beck Engineering and Surveying Company, 746 F.2d 557, 565-66 (9th Cir.1984) (single employee situation). 31 This circuit is no exception. In Epley, 764 F.2d at 1514, this court described an employer's conduct as a clear repudiation. The employer told the union that he was not going to use union labor at his job site. Id. at 1512. See also Trustees of the Atlanta Iron Workers Local 387 Pension Fund v. Southern Stress Wire Corp., 509 F.Supp. 1097, 1105 (N.D.Ga.1981), rev'd on other grounds, 724 F.2d 1458 (11th Cir.1983) (In order to repudiate his obligations under a pre-hire agreement, an employer must ... give notice to the union sufficient to make manifest his intent to terminate the agreement). 32 There can be no doubt that the employer's conduct in this case was sufficient to put the union and the employees on notice that the agreement was terminated. B & B closed its operations and notified the union that it was going out of business, gave notice to the association of its intent to resign from the association, and told its employees that the company could not operate union any longer and that the new company would be non-union. The union's business agent obviously understood the implications of B & B's actions, telling two employees that they could not be both union and non-union and that he would attempt to get B & B to sign a contract. B & B's conduct here was at least as sufficient to put the union on notice as was the conduct in Epley, 764 F.2d at 1512, 1514, and Haberman Const. Co., 641 F.2d at 357-58 (employer's statement of its intention to go open shop and its simultaneous repudiation of its obligation to pay employees' benefits conveyed an intention to repudiate its bargaining obligations). 5