effective date of the new vacation schedule. This fact became
apparent when the parties met to put together the "agreement" shortly
after July 6.
Despite knowledge that total agreement did not actually exist,
the Union nevertheless ratified the contract on the terms most favor-
able to their members and submitted it to the City Council for its
consideration. The Council, realizing that the contract ratified
by the Union contained provisions not agreed to by the City, then
rejected the contract as ratified by the Union.
Thus, it is clear that tentative agreement on the contract was
never actually reached. Under these circumstances, I find that the
conduct of the City in rejecting the contract as ratified by the
Union did not violate Sections 10.1, 10.2(a), 10.2(e) and 10.2(f)
of the Act.—'
In summary then, I find that the City did not violate Sections
10.1, 10.2(a), 10.2(e) and 10.2(f) of the Act by refusing to ratify
the "tentative agreement", since tentative agreement was never actually
reached. I also find that the changes made by the City on June 7,
19 76, in certain wage rates and related items were not violative of
Sections 10.1, 10.2(e) and 10.2(f) of the Act, since a bona fide
10/ The Union, in its brief, would apparently urge this Board to
adopt the NLRB case law which makes it an unfair labor practice
for an employer to refuse to sign a contract on which all
subjects had been agreed and which had been ratified by the
union membership. This rationale ignores the reality of the
public sector, where the public employer always has an obli-
gation to accept or reject the tentative agreement reached
by its negotiating team, - a practice which is non-existent
in the private sector. Rule 6.4 of the Board's Rules and
Regulations states, in pertinent part:
...If a majority of those voting (in the employee
organization) ratify the proposed agreement, the
employee organization shall notify the public
employer. The public employer shall serve notice
on the employee organization of its acceptance or
rejection of the proposed agreement. (emphasis
added).
