Crimptex, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 11, 1975

221 N.L.R.B. 595 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

CRIMPTEX , INC. ET AL. 595
Crimptex, Inc. and its affiliates French-Tex of Puerto
Rico , Inc., Hamlet Industries , Inc. and Emtine, Inc.
and Union de Trabajadores de la Crimptex, Inc.
afiliada al Sindicato Puertorriqueno de Trabaja-
dores de la Amalgamated Meat Cutters and
Butchers Workmen of North America , AFL-CIO.
Case 24-CA-3367
November 11, 1975
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND
ORDER
BY MEMBERS FANNING, JENKINS, AND
PENELLO
On June 21, 1974, the National Labor Relations
Board issued a Decision and Order' in the above-
entitled proceeding in which it found, inter alia, that
Respondent had violated Section 8(a)(1) and (5) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, by
refusing, on May 11, June 19, and June 29, 1973, to
execute a collective-bargaining agreement previously
negotiated by Respondent and the Union.
Thereafter, on May 27, 1975, the United States
Court of Appeals for the First Circuit granted the
Board's application for enforcement of its Order.2
Thereafter, a dispute arose as to the effective date
of the collective-bargaining agreement that the
Board's Order requires the Respondent to 'execute.
On August 21, 1975, counsel for the General Counsel
filed a "Motion for Clarification of Decision and
Order," requesting that Respondent be= ordered to
execute the collective-bargaining agreement as of
March 23, 1973, the date on which the parties
concluded their negotiations for the agreement. On
August 28, 1975, Respondent filed an "Opposition to
General Counsel's Motion for Clarification of
Decision and Order." Respondent contends that the
effective date of the collective-bargaining agreement
should be the date of physical execution.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board's Decision and Order in relevant part
required ' Respondent to take the following affirma-
tive action:
Recognize and bargain with the above-named
Union as the exclusive representative of its
employees in the appropriate unit and, upon
request, execute with the above-named Union the
collective-bargaining agreement negotiated by
them and concluded on March 23, 1973.
The collective-bargaining agreement "concluded on
March 23, 1973" provides by its own terms that the
agreement "shall become effective on the date of its
execution and shall continue in effect for a period of
three (3) years starting from said date."
From the agreement of the parties, it is clear that
the parties did not intend the agreement to become
effective on March 23, 1973, and that they intended
it to become effective upon execution. However, it
does not follow that, where Respondent has delayed
execution of the agreement by its unlawful conduct,
the date of physical execution of the agreement is the
effective date of said agreement. Rather, the crucial
date here is that initial date upon which, but for
Respondent's unlawful conduct, the agreement
would have been executed. The Board has found,
with the approval of the United States Court of
Appeals for the First Circuit, that Respondent
initially on May 11, 1973, unlawfully refused to
execute the collective-bargaining agreement negotiat-
ed and concluded by the parties on March 23, 1973.
Therefore, the effective date of the agreement is May
11, 1973. To allow any later effective date of the
agreement would permit Respondent to benefit from
its unlawful conduct.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the Board's Decision and
Order in this matter be, and it hereby is, clarified to
provide in paragraph 2(a) of the Order that the
Respondent, Crimptex, Inc., and its affiliates French-
Tex of Puerto Rico, Inc., Hamlet Industries, Inc. and
Emtine, Inc., San German, Puerto Rico, its officers,
agents, successors, and assigns, shall take the
following affirmative action necessary to effectuate
the policies of the Act:
"(a) Recognize and bargain with the above-named
Union as the exclusive representative of its employ-
ees in the appropriate unit and, upon request,
execute, effective as of May 11, 1973, with the above-
named Union the collective-bargaining agreement
negotiated by them and concluded on March 23,
1973."
' 211 NLRB 855 2 517F2d501.
221 NLRB No. 54