NCJ Number
97649
Journal
Labor Law Journal Volume: 36 Issue: 2 Dated: (February 1985) Pages: 81-86
Date Published
1985
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article describes section 8(f) of the Wagner Act dealing with prehire agreements, which are allowed only in the construction industry, and assesses the Jim McNeff v. Todd decision, which offers contractors a 'blueprint for the deunionizing of the construction industry.'
Abstract
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is examined; the basic employee right created in Section 7 of the NLRA is reviewed: the right of employees 'to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing.' The Wagner Act is reviewed; it gives employers in the construction industry the right to sign a collective bargaining agreement with a union without an election by employees and even before any employees have been hired. Prehire agreements are characterized, and ways in which a section 8(f) prehire agreement differ from a fully matured section 9(a) agreement are noted. Conditions under which the section 8(f) prehire agreement matures into a binding section 9(a) agreement are described: the employer must retain a permanent and stable work force for a significant period of time, and a majority of the employees comprising this work force must demonstrate their support for the union as their bargaining representative. Case law governing the repudiation of prehire agreements is reviewed, and ways in which the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the courts are acting to restrict the employer's ability to repudiate these agreements are highlighted. Finally, both the NLRB and the courts are discouraged from engaging in extensive 'presumptions' in an effort to alter the status of prehire agreements. Included are 28 references.