Court Opinion

ID: 9451865
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:25:42.355411+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:56.285406
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING ORDER.
On May 20, 1966, the court issued its decision enforcing that part of the Board’s remedial order that required the employer, upon request of the union, to execute a written collective bargaining contract embodying the terms orally agreed upon on May 18, 1964, and to make the employees whole for any loss of benefits resulting from the employer’s unlawful refusal to execute the collective agreement. In addition to the substantive terms agreed upon on May 18, 1964, it was understood by the parties that the new agreement would expire on April 26, 1966.
We refused, however, to enforce that part of the order which afforded the union the choice of standing on the May 18 agreement or of abrogating it and compelling the employer to negotiate a new collective agreement. In requesting a rehearing on this issue, the Board points out that the question was neither briefed nor argued to the court, and asserts, that the employer would, indeed, have been precluded from raising the issue in this court because of its failure to make the objection before the Board in the unfair labor practice proceeding. The Board also maintains that the alternative remedy is a proper exercise of its discretion in fashioning appropriate remedies.
However this may be, we conclude that a rehearing would serve no useful purpose. Because the May 18 agreement expired April 26, 1966, the employer and the union are now required in any event to engage in collective bargaining in an effort to reach a new agreement. Even if the Board’s alternative remedy were proper, a decision to that effect would be of only academic *221interest. In light of the circumstances called to our attention, should this issue arise in a future case, the court will not deem the decision in this case as precluding the point now made by the Board, but will be prepared to consider it on its merits. However, the present petition for rehearing is denied.