JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF DAVIS ELLIOT CO.

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 1, 1993                   TAG: 9301010132
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF DAVIS ELLIOT CO.
A federal judge in Roanoke has ruled that an electrical contractor is not bound by arbitration proceedings with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
In an opinion filed this week in U.S. District Court, Judge James Turk ruled in favor of Davis H. Elliot Co.
Turk's order denies enforcement of an earlier arbitration award in the union's favor concerning a disputed hiring agreement with Elliot.
The IBEW had contended that the Elliot company breached a contract with the union when it terminated a longstanding hiring agreement in August of last year.
In October, Turk denied the IBEW an injunction to enforce the agreement, which Elliot contends is not in effect. The 125 linemen employed by the company have never voted on union representation.
Turk noted in his opinion that "the facts are not in dispute" as to the company serving proper notice in April that it intended to cancel the collective bargaining agreement.
But the IBEW argued that Elliot was bound by the agreement until it expired in August - including a clause that forces the employer to submit issues to arbitration during that time.
A key question in the breach-of-contract suit was whether the union, in letters to the company, properly stated its intention to request negotiations on a new contract.
Turk ruled it had not. "As evidenced by the letters that [IBEW] sent to [Elliot], it failed . . . to give proper and timely notice of its desire to make changes" in the agreement, Turk stated in his opinion.
Therefore, he said, the arbitration provision could not be properly invoked. "The arbitration was conducted without the defendant's consent and, as a result, is not binding," Turk wrote.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB