Court Opinion

ID: 9680041
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:17:29.864347+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:24.914549
License: Public Domain

*276DIES, Chief Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. None of the cases cited in the majority opinion involve collective bargaining agreements. Generally, an employer and an employee may contract as they see fit. See 51 C.J.S. Labor Relations § 6 at 574 (1967). The law and public policy favor collective bargaining; it is the established labor policy of the United States. 51 C.J.S. Labor Relations § 149 at 879 (1967). Bargaining need not be confined to statutory subjects; but, as to matters other than wages, etc., each party is free to bargain or not to bargain. 51 C.J.S. Labor Relations § 155 at 893 (1967) and authorities cited. Collective bargaining agreements “are more than just a contract.” Line Drivers Local No. 961 of Int. Bro. of Team. v. W. J. Digby, Inc., 341 F.2d 1016, 1919 (10th Cir. 1956). See United Steel Workers v. Warrior & G. Nav. Co., 363 U.S. 574, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 4 L.Ed.2d, 1409, 1415, (1960). See also Wilburn v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas R. Co. of Texas, 268 S.W.2d 726, 732 (Tex.Civ.App., Dallas 1954, no writ).
“While the principles of law governing ordinary contracts would not bind to a contract an unconsenting successor to a contracting party, a collective bargaining agreement is not an ordinary contract. . [emphasis supplied] [It] covers the whole employment relationship. It calls into being a new common law — the common law of a particular industry or of a particular plant.” Wiley & Sons v. Livingston, 376 U.S. 543, 550, 84 S.Ct. 909, 914, 11 L.Ed.2d 898, 904-905 (1964).