International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees & Moving Picture Machine Operators of United States & Canada v. National Labor Relations Board

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of United States and Canada (IATSE), District 2 and its constituent local unions (the Unions) have petitioned this court to review a decision of the National Labor Relations Board construing Title I of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 151-187 . The Board held that the burden of notifying the mediation services 1 of a dispute under Section 8(d)(3) and (4) of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. § 158 (d)(3) and (4), rested on the party initiating the bargaining process (the Unions), 2 *554 and that the failure to file such notice did not preclude the non-initiating party (United Artists Communications, Inc.) from undertaking otherwise lawful economic action. We affirm the decision of the Board and deny the petition for review.

I. Background

IATSE and its constituent local unions represent United Artists Communications’ projectionists in southern California and Phoenix, Arizona. Collective bargaining agreements covering the projectionists expired on January 31, 1982. Despite a long history of successful negotiations, the Unions and United Artists were unable to reach a further…