Pacific Coast Association of Pulp and Paper Manufacturers v. National Labor Relations Board

Pacific Coast Association of Pulp and Paper Manufacturers (the Association) petitions for review of an order of the National Labor Relations Board (the Board). The Board counters with a petition for enforcement. (Section 10(e, f), National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S. C.A. § 160(e, f)). We conclude that the order is valid, and should be enforced. The charge is that the Association has refused to bargain collectively with two unions, the United Brotherhood of Pa-permakers and the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers (the Unions) (Section 8(a) (1) and (5), National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158 (a) (1) and (5)), on the matter of pension and retirement plans. This is a subject as to which bargaining is mandatory. (Inland Steel Company v. N. L. R. B., 7 Cir., 1948, 170 F.2d 247 , 12 A.L.R.2d 240 ).

The refusal, if refusal it was, occurred at a bargaining session between the parties in May, 1959. At that time, the Association represented a group of over twenty corporations owning some forty-six mills in Washington, Oregon and California. The Association and the Unions had been bargaining successfully since 1934. As the Trial Examiner states:

It…