Opinion ID: 1182729
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Enforceability of the Collective Bargaining Agreement

Text: Local 71 seeks to bind the REAAs to the collective bargaining agreement entered into between Tri-Trades and the state. [4] Normally an employer must assume a preexisting collective bargaining agreement in order to be bound by it. Local 71, however, advances two theories to support its contention that the agreement binds the REAAs despite their failure to assume the agreement. First, the union argues that the REAAs are successor employers to ASOS and thus bound by the agreement entered into by ASOS. Second, the union contends that the contract remained in effect by statute despite the transfer of authority from ASOS to the REAAs. We reject both arguments and hold that the collective bargaining agreement does not bind the REAAs.
Stated briefly, the successor employer doctrine [5] provides that, when business operations and employees are transferred from one employer to another, the new employer has a duty to bargain with the union previously chosen by the transferred employees where the employing industry remains essentially the same after the transfer of ownership. NLRB v. Burns International Security Services, Inc., 406 U.S. 272, 92 S.Ct. 1571, 32 L.Ed.2d 61 (1972); NLRB v. Dent, 534 F.2d 844, 845-46 (9th Cir.1976). Factors used to determine whether the employing enterprise has remained substantially the same include continuation of the same product lines, departmental organization, job functions, and continuity of the work force. Burns, 406 U.S. at 280 n. 4, 92 S.Ct. at 1578 n. 4, 32 L.Ed.2d at 68-69 n. 4. The factor which has emerged as the most important is continuity of the work force. Howard Johnson Co. v. Detroit Local Joint Executive Board, 417 U.S. 249, 250, 94 S.Ct. 2236, 2237, 41 L.Ed.2d 46, 50 (1974); Pacific Hide and Fur Depot, Inc. v. NLRB, 553 F.2d 609, 611 (9th Cir.1977). Although the new employer may have a duty to bargain with the employees' elected bargaining representative, it is not bound by the old collective bargaining agreement except in certain limited situations. [6] In Burns, the Court first inquired whether the union was the representative selected by a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining purposes. The Court found that the original unit remained appropriate and determined majority union support by finding that the majority of the successor's work force had been employees of the predecessor. These employees had already expressed their choice of a bargaining representative in an election. Because a majority of an appropriate unit had selected a bargaining representative and the employer had a duty to bargain under the Labor Management Relations Act, [7] it was an unfair labor practice for the successor to refuse to bargain. 406 U.S. at 277-78, 92 S.Ct. at 1577, 32 L.Ed.2d at 67. To meet the Burns criteria, Local 71 must show that the former statewide ASOS unit of noncertificated employees remained the appropriate bargaining unit despite the division of the ASOS into twenty-one REAAs. It must also show that it is the chosen representative of a majority of the work force. If Local 71 meets these two criteria, it must find a statute which imposes a duty to bargain analogous to section 8(a)(5) of the Labor Management Relations Act. Because, for the reasons set forth in section III of this opinion, we hold that PERA does not apply to noncertificated employees of school districts, no such statute exists. The successorship doctrine, therefore, does not impose a duty to bargain upon the REAAs. We need not reach the further question of whether the instant case is one of the limited situations in which it would be appropriate to bind the successor to a preexisting collective bargaining agreement.
Local 71's second argument is that the legislature expressly bound the REAAs to the collective bargaining agreement. The legislature provided in the transitional provisions of the enactment creating the REAAs that [a]ll contracts or other obligations created by a law amended by this Act or by virtue of functions which may be transferred by this Act, and in effect on the effective date of this Act, remain in effect unless revoked or modified under the provisions of this Act. Ch. 124, § 40, SLA 1975 (in part). Local 71 argues that this language could include the transfer of the state's labor contract obligations. But when section 40 is read together with the remaining transitional provisions, this conclusion is not so clear. In section 41(b), the legislature specifically addressed the status of the noncertificated employees by directing that they shall be terminated by the State and shall be rehired by the respective regional school boards or by the temporary regional school board... . [8] Implicit in the termination of the employees is the intention not to bind the ASOS' successor to existing employment contracts. This interpretation conforms with section 41(a) which specifically carries teachers over to the new employer with their accumulated employee contract benefits. [9] No such provision was made for noncertificated personnel. In light of the broad grant of self-determination given the REAAs and their power to appoint, compensate and otherwise control all school employees, AS 14.08.101(4), it would be contrary to the apparent legislative intent to bind the REAAs to a prior collective bargaining agreement in the absence of specific language to that effect. We therefore hold that section 40 does not bind the REAAs to the preexisting collective bargaining agreement.