Opinion ID: 1454558
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: individual contract

Text: [3] Beaman's argument that he has an individual contract with Valley hurts, rather than helps, him. It is difficult to imagine an action more disparaging to the collective bargaining process than an employer entering into new individual employment contracts with employees during an impasse. Moreover, bypassing the Union in this fashion belies an employer's recognition of the Union's representative status. If Valley did enter into such a contract with Beaman after impasse, arguably Valley committed an unfair labor practice. This is not to say that individual contracts can never exist where a collective bargaining agreement is, or has been, in place. However, Valley was not free to enter into such contracts in this case given its ongoing obligation to the collective bargaining process. Cf. Caterpillar Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386, 96 L.Ed.2d 318, 107 S.Ct. 2425 (1987); Bullock v. Automobile Club, 432 Mich. 472, 444 N.W.2d 114 (1989); Roberts v. Automobile Club, 138 Mich. App. 488, 360 N.W.2d 224 (1984), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 889 (1986). The dissent agrees that individual contracts cannot be used to defeat the policies of the NLRA. Dissent, at 722 (citing J.I. Case Co. v. NLRB, 321 U.S. 332, 337, 88 L.Ed. 762, 64 S.Ct. 576 (1944)). However, the dissent relies on J.I. Case to argue that Beaman's contract claim cannot create a conflict with those policies. J.I. Case does not support that position. There, the employees had entered into valid individual contracts with their employer prior to the union petitioning for certification as the exclusive bargaining representative. J.I. Case, at 333. As the dissent points out, the court preserved the employees' right to recover for breaches of individual contracts unless those contracts were superseded by a collective bargaining agreement. (Italics ours.) Dissent, at 722-23. There is absolutely no evidence that Beaman had any contract with Valley prior to, or beyond the terms of, the expired collective bargaining agreement. Thus, the dissent's own reading of J.I. Case distinguishes it from the present case. [6]