Cite as: 534 U. S. 438 (2002)
Stevens, J., dissenting
significance to the fact that after "a new administration took office" an agency concluded that a statutory "term should be given the same definition" as before. Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837, 857-858 (1984).
Second, it is consistent with the Court's treatment of successorship issues in other labor cases, in which we have required successors to bargain with a union certified under a predecessor, see Fall River Dyeing & Finishing Corp. v. NLRB, 482 U. S. 27, 41 (1987), to assume liability for reinstatement and backpay as a result of a predecessor's unfair labor practice, see Golden State Bottling Co. v. NLRB, 414 U. S. 168, 181-185 (1973), and to arbitrate disputes as provided in a predecessor's collective-bargaining agreement, see John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Livingston, 376 U. S. 543, 548 (1964).
Finally, we should avoid adopting an interpretation of the statute that recreates the same difficulties that beset the NBCWAs and that Congress explicitly sought to avoid. The immediate consequence of the Court's reading is that 86 retired miners will now be unassigned; therefore, their health care expenses will be borne by the remaining signatory operators and their related persons. Assuming there are other retired miners in the same category, today's decision will result in more "orphaned" miners who will draw from the combined fund. To the extent that the cost for their health benefits will be passed along to the other signatory operators, the Court's holding creates an added incentive for the reassigned to "the last active signatory operator (or its successor, if the operator is out of business) for whom the miner worked"); Letter to SSA Southeastern Program Service Center (Aug. 8, 1994), App. 110-111 ("[S]uccessors or successors in interest are treated for assignment purposes as if there had been no change of ownership"); Supplemental Coal Act Review Instructions No. 4 (July 1995), App. to Pet. for Cert. 86a ("[T]he Coal Act does permit assignments to 'successors' and 'successorsin-interest' to defunct (inactive) signatory operators").
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