1 - National Labor Relations Board

50 Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the National Labor Relations Board
ployer was willing to extend, the Board found no need to hold
an election to resolve a question concerning representation.
Further, as the Board viewed the situation, the petitioner did not
seek an election to obtain the benefits of certification and the
petition was therefore dismissed.18
B. Bars to Conducting an Election
1. Contract as Bar
There are situations, however, where the Board, in the interest
of promoting the stability of labor relations, will conclude that
circumstances appropriately preclude the raising of a question
concerning representation. In this regard, the Board has adhered
to a policy of not directing an election among employees currently
covered by a valid collective-bargaining agreement, except under
certain circumstances. The question whether a present election
is barred by an outstanding contract is determined in accordance
with the Board's contract-bar rules. Generally, these rules require
that to operate as a bar a contract must be in writing,
properly executed, and binding on the parties ; that it must be
of definite duration and in effect for no more than a "reasonable
period" ; and that it must also contain substantive terms and
conditions of employment which in turn must be consistent with
the policies of the Act.
Well-established Board policy provides that a valid contract
for a fixed term constitutes a bar to an election for the contract
term not to exceed 3 years.' 9 Agreements for a longer term will
for the duration of the contract bar an election upon the petition
of either of the contracting parties, but after the first 3 years
will not bar the petition of a rival labor organization." The Board
continued to adhere to the 3-year contract-bar rule in the General
Dynamics case " where an employer with long-term defense
project commitments contended that its 5-year contract with the
incumbent union should bar a petition which was timely filed by
a rival union after the third year of the contract. The employer's
15 Chairman McCulloch and Members Brown, Jenkins, and Zagoria for the majority. Member
Fanning, dissenting, would find the petitioner entitled to an election and certification under
General Box Co., 82 NLRB 678 (1949), regardless of the employer's voluntary recognition, and
emphasized that traditionally the Board had refused to put any conditions on certification, citing
American Seating Co., 106 NLRB 250 (1953).
15
Cable Corp. 139 NLRB 1123 (1962) ; Twenty-eighth Annual Report (1963), p. 48
2° Montgomery Ward & Co., 137 NLRB 346 (1962) , Twenty-seventh Annual Report (1962),
p. 53.
"'General Dynamics Corp, Pomona Div., 175 NLRB No. 154. See also General Dynamics Corp.,
Convair Div., 175 NLRB No. 155.