This month, we discuss Local 348-S, UFCW, AFL-CIO v. Meridian Management Corp.,1 in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court decision holding that a successor employer has an obligation to arbitrate the issue of whether, and to what extent, it is bound by the substantive terms of a predecessor’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA). In the majority’s decision, written by Judge Peter W. Hall and joined by District Judge Colleen McMahon (sitting by designation), the court expanded the circumstances in which a successor employer may be bound by the substantive terms of a pre-existing CBA.
The decision creates a split with the Third Circuit, which had concluded, on analogous facts, in AmeriSteel Corp. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters2 that a successor employer cannot be bound by the substantive provisions of its predecessor’s CBA without consent. Judge Debra Ann Livingston dissented in a separate opinion, noting that, under the majority’s decision, “all successor employers who hire the bulk of a predecessor’s employees [will] have a duty not only to bargain with and recognize a union but also to arbitrate with it the extent to which it is bound by the previous CBA.”3
Procedural History
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
