 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(d)(1).  Both agreements specified that they would continue from year to year after their stated expiration date unless either party, at least sixty days before the expiration date, notified the other in writing of a desire to cancel or terminate.  The Participation Agreement also required Gerber to notify the Funds in writing of his intent to stop contributing to the Funds.


6
In early June 1981, Gerber incorporated his business as Gerber Truck Service, Inc.  ("Gerber Truck").  Gerber Truck assumed Gerber's obligations to continue providing fringe benefit coverage for the three former Fat's drivers.  In September 1981, Local 50 sent Gerber Truck a written notice of its desire to revise or change the terms and conditions of the 1979-1982 Agreement. Gonzales, in July 1982, forwarded to Gerber Truck a copy of the new National Master Agreement effective in April 1982.  After several telephone conversations, Gerber orally rejected the new contract on August 15, 1982, and refused to sign another contract.  Local 50 ceased any attempt to negotiate with Gerber Truck.


7
Gerber continued to report the work history of the three Fat's drivers to the Funds.  Except for intermittent periods of delinquency lasting approximately from mid-1981 through mid-1982, Gerber continued to pay the Funds the required contributions for those three drivers until two retired--Witkus in September 1983 and Strubbe in August 1984--and the third, Roarty, withdrew from the union in April 1984.  Roarty, however, continued to work for Gerber Truck through October 1986.  Considering his