International Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees & Moving Picture Machine Operators v. Compact Video Services, Inc.

Opinion by Judge GOODWIN; Dissent by Judge FERGUSON.

GOODWIN, Circuit Judge:

Legislation is enlisted from time to time in the chronic tension between labor and management, to the advantage of one side and to the disadvantage of the other. In this case we decide whether the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (‘WARN”), 29 U.S.C. § 2101 et seq., applies to this contest between a union and a selling corporation which tried to rid itself of the union.

The selling corporation sold its unionized business to a nonunion entity. The acquiring entity kept on nearly all of the old work force,…