Synopsis By: - Proceeding Author: Richard Mittenthal, Alex Elson and John A. Hogan

The classic discussion of past practice. When does a customary way of doing things become a binding contractual obligation and when may it be changed? Several answers to those questions are analyzed and evaluated. Elson points out that those who negotiate the CBA and those who adopt practices on the shop floor are not the same people. Problems of agency arise. Hogan compares Proust’s notion of the ever-present past.