Massachusetts § 179C - Collective bargaining agreements; successor clauses

§ 179C. Collective bargaining agreements; successor clauses

Section 179C. Where a collective bargaining agreement between an employer and a labor organization as defined in subsection (5) of section two of chapter one hundred and fifty A, contains a successor clause, such clause shall be binding upon and enforceable against any successor employer who succeeds to the contracting employer's business until the expiration date of the agreement stated in the agreement. No such successor clause shall be binding upon or enforceable against any successor employer for more than three years from the effective date of the collective bargaining agreement between the contracting employer and the labor organization.

As used in this section, ''successor employer'' means any purchaser, assignee or transferee of a business the employees of which are subject to a collective bargaining agreement, if such purchaser, assignee, or transferee conducts or will conduct substantially the same business operation, or offer the same service and use the same physical facilities, as the contracting employer.

This section shall not apply to a receiver or trustee in bankruptcy of any contracting employer who has gone into receivership or bankruptcy, nor to any employer who acquires a business from a receiver or trustee in bankruptcy nor to any employer which is a public entity, nor to any employer who is subject to the National Labor Relations Act or the Railway Labor Act.

An employer who is a party to a collective bargaining agreement containing a successor clause has the affirmative duty to disclose the existence of such agreement and such clause to any successor employer. Such disclosure requirements shall be satisfied by including in any contract of sale, agreement to purchase, or any similar instrument of conveyance, a statement that the successor employer is bound by such clause as provided for in the collective bargaining agreement.

The provisions of this section may be enforced in a civil action in the superior court division of the trial court or by a criminal action subject to the provisions of section one hundred and eighty or by both such civil and criminal actions.