Bargaining Relationship

Question: What does a contractor do to end an 8(f) or 9(a) Bargaining Agreement?

Answer: Under a 9(a) agreement, if an employer wishes to withdraw from a multiemployer bargaining unit, it must provide "adequate written notice given prior to the date set by the contract for modification, or to the agreed upon date to begin the multiemployer negotiations."  The employer must withdraw from the multiemployer unit in advance of multiemployer negotiations.  Failing to provide notification of withdrawal can be enough to bind an employer to the new CBA negotiated between the union and the multiemployer association that bargained the previous contract.  If the contractor is bound to a 9(a) agreement, it must continue to recognize the union after a contract expires unless at the end of the contract turn the union loses a decertification election or there is objective proof that the contractor's employees no longer desire union representation.

Under an 8(f) agreement, an employer is not automatically bound to a new CBA, nor is it obligated to negotiate with the union upon expiration of the contract.  Multiemployer negotiations will not bind an 8(f) employer to a successor contract reached through those negotiations.  If the contractor has an 8(f) agreement, federal labor law would allow him to repudiate the union and try to operate on a non-union basis.  Whether or not such repudiation is practical will depend on a wide variety of factors that will differ from each contractor.