Caribou School Dept. vs. Teachers Assn. & MLRB, No. C-78-56, setting aside order in No. 77-34

Caribou School Dept. vs. Teachers Assn. & MLRB, No. C-78-56, 
setting aside Board order in No. 77-34.
Board decision affirmed in part, modified in part by Law Court, 402 A.2d 1279.
  
STATE OF MAINE                                            SUPERIOR COURT
AROOSTOOK, SS.                                            DOCKET NO. C 78-56



                                   
CARIBOU SCHOOL DEPARTMENT, of      )
Caribou, County of Aroostook       )
and State of Maine,                )
                      PLAINTIFF    )
                                   )
              vs                   )
                                   )
CARIBOU TEACHERS ASSOCIATION,      )
of Caribou, County of Aroostook    )
and State of Maine,                )
                    DEFENDANT      )
                                   )
              and                  )
                                   )
MAINE LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, of    )
Augusta, County of Kennebec        ) 
and State of Maine,                )
                    DEFENDANT      )
         
         
                           DECISION AND ORDER
         
          This matter is before the Court by complaint of the Plaintiff,
Caribou School Department, dated February 14, 1978, seeking review of a
decision and order of the Maine Labor Relations Board, dated February 1,
1978.  The complaint was timely filed and this Court properly has juris-
diction pursuant to T 16 M.R.S.A. 968 (F) and Rule 80B of the Maine Rules
of Civil Procedure.  Hearing was had on April 3, 1978, at which time the
Court took the matter under advisement pending its review of the entire
record and consideration of briefs of the parties which were requested
and duly filed.
         
          Having considered the record and briefs of the parties, it is
the decision of this Court that the Maine Labor Relations Board erred,
as a matter of law, in concluding that plaintiff, Caribou Board or Educa-
tion, committed an act prohibited by T 26 M.R.S.A. 964 (1), by refusing

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to bargain in good faith as required by T 26 M.R.S.A. 965.  The Court
takes no issue with the findings of fact of the Maine Labor Relations
Board, and it recognizes that in similar situations bad faith bargaining
could in fact take place.  However, having carefully reviewed the entire 
record in this matter, the Court finds it to be totally void of any in-
dication of bad faith bargaining on behalf of plaintiff, Caribou Board
of Education.  Accordingly, it is the opinion of the Court that the
decision and order of the Maine Labor Relations Board amounted to a
finding of a per se violation and not a substantive act of bad faith on
behalf of the plaintiff.  It is with such application of a per se rule
that this Court takes issue, in concluding that the Labor Relations Board
made an error of law.
         
          By reason of the foregoing the order of the Maine Labor Re-
Lations Board in the within matter is hereby set aside, specifically in-
cluding that part of its order given retroactive effect to the contract
between parties executed February 18, 1977 to August 1, 1976.  Having
found a violation of T 26 M.R.S.A. 964 (1)(E), the Maine Labor Relations
Board found the appropriate remedy to be to bind the Caribou Board of
Education to a contract effective on the date had the violation not
occurred.  This Court having found that such a violation did not occur,
it would be inappropriate to allow the substitution of the August 1, 1976
date to stand, and orders that the effective date of the contract of
December 31, 1976, as negotiated and executed by the parties on February 18,
1977, to be the effective date of the contract with no retroactive
application.                                      

August 3, 1978                       /s/____________[Unknown]_______________
                                                Justice Presiding
         
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Maine.gov
