Opinion ID: 57554
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Contract and Cost Information

Text: Finally, the Board contends that substantial evidence supports its decision that the Company is obligated under the Act to turn over the remaining information requested by the Union, specifically its contract with Worldwide (paragraph five) and the costs associated with that contract (paragraph three). Without that information, the Board argues, the Union is unable to effectively police the CBA, decide whether to pursue and arbitrate potential grievances, and decide whether to bargain over subcontracting work. The Company asserts that not only did the Union fail to articulate a purpose for why it was seeking this information, but also that the Board erroneously concluded that the Company's contracting cost and contract with Worldwide is relevant to the underlying dispute. According to the Company, the underlying grievance it has with the Union involves whether the practice of backhauling violates the CBA, and the Company's contracting cost and contract with Worldwide are irrelevant to that ultimate determination. Section 8(a)(5) of the Act makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer to refuse to bargain collectively with the representatives of his employees. . . . . 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(5). An employer is obligated to furnish, upon request, information that is relevant and necessary to the Union's performance of its duties as the employees' bargaining representative, including information concerning contract administration, negotiations, and grievance processing. NLRB v. Acme Indus. Co., 385 U.S. 432, 435-37, 87 S.Ct. 565, 17 L.Ed.2d 495 (1967) (the duty to bargain unquestionably extends beyond the period of contract negotiations and applies to labor-management relations during the terms of an agreement); Detroit Edison Co. v. NLRB, 440 U.S. 301, 304, 99 S.Ct. 1123, 59 L.Ed.2d 333 (1979). The key question in determining whether information must be produced is one of relevance. Emeryville Research Ctr. v. NLRB, 441 F.2d 880, 883 (9th Cir.1971). While a union's request for bargaining unit data, such as wage and benefit information, is considered presumptively relevant, when a union requests non-bargaining unit data, such as subcontracting costs, that information is not considered presumptively relevant. NLRB v. Leonard B. Hebert, Jr. & Co., 696 F.2d 1120, 1124 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 817, 104 S.Ct. 76, 78 L.Ed.2d 88 (1983). Rather, the union has the initial burden of establishing relevancy before the employer must comply with the information request. Id. The Supreme Court has adopted a liberal, discovery-type standard by which relevancy of requested information is to be judged. Id. (citing Acme Indus. Co., 385 U.S. at 438 & n. 6, 87 S.Ct. 565). In Acme, the Court explained the Union need only be acting upon the probability that the desired information was relevant and that it would be of use to the union in carrying out its statutory duties and responsibilities. 385 U.S. at 437, 87 S.Ct. 565. Case law also explains that in order for a union to prove that an employer has violated Sections 8(a)(5) and (1) the union is required to make two showings before the ALJ. First, the union must show, at the time of the information request, that it articulated a legitimate purpose for seeking the information. S&W Motor Lines, Inc. v. NLRB, 621 F.2d 598, 602 (4th Cir.1980). Second, the union has to show that the information it requested bears a logical relationship to a legitimate union purpose. See Selkirk Metalbestos, 116 F.3d at 789. Because the Union failed to make either showing, we reject the position advocated by the Board. First, the Union failed, at the time it made its information request, to articulate a purpose for seeking the company's contracting costs and contract with Worldwide. Since the information being requested is not bargaining unit data, the Union's failure to, articulate nothing more than a bare assertion of relevancy falls short. See Detroit Edison Co., 440 U.S. at 314, 99 S.Ct. 1123 (A union's bare assertion that it needs information to process a grievance does not automatically oblige the employer to supply all the information in the manner requested.). The Board counters by highlighting its decision in Brazos Elec. Power Coop., 241 N.L.R.B. 1016, 1019 (1979), enforced, 615 F.2d 1100 (5th Cir.1980), where it held that if the circumstances surrounding the union's information requests are reasonably calculated to put the employer on notice of the union's relevant purpose, the employer is obligated to provide the information even if the Union has not explicitly stated its relevance. See also Island Creek Coal Co., 292 N.L.R.B. 480, 490 & n. 19 (1989), enforced, 899 F.2d 1222 (6th Cir.1990). However, even assuming arguendo that the circumstances surrounding the information request should have put the Company on notice that the Union's information request was related to the practice of backhauling generally, the Union never articulated a reason why the Company's contract and contracting costs with Worldwide were specifically relevant. We also agree with the Company that the ALJ's attempt to manufacture a post hoc theory of relevance violates well-established precedent. See NLRB v. A.S. Abell Co., 624 F.2d 506, 513 n. 5 (4th Cir.1980) (explaining that the NLRB cannot point out ways in which the information may have been relevant, when those reasons were not brought to the employer's attention contemporaneously); Calmat Co., 283 N.L.R.B. 1103, 1106 (1987) (explaining that a union cannot rely on a reason proffered for the first time at the administrative hearing). Second, the Board never demonstrated how the Company's contracting costs and contract with Worldwide are logically connected to any legitimate union purpose. A union may legitimately request information if the information is necessary to either (1) negotiate a new CBA or (2) to administer/police an existing CBA. General Electric Co. v. NLRB, 916 F.2d 1163, 1168 (7th Cir.1990). The Union's CBA was not set to expire for another two years, and there was no evidence presented which suggested that contract negotiations were likely to occur in the near future. See San Diego Newspaper Guild v. NLRB, 548 F.2d 863, 868-69 (9th Cir.1977) (rejecting a union's claim for information when the CBA was not up for renewal for two years and there was no evidence of contract negotiations). To the extent that the Union contends that it needed the information in order to police its CBA with the Company, it failed to demonstrate before the ALJ why it needed information regarding the contract and contracting costs between the Company and Worldwide in order to do so. In Western Massachusetts Electric Co. v. NLRB, 573 F.2d 101, 105 (1st Cir.1978), the court explained that a union is required to make a showing that the requested information is specially relevant, to the bargaining taking place. No such showing was made by the Union here. The issue underlying the Union's grievance is whether backhauling violates the CBA; information regarding the contract or contracting cost are irrelevant to that ultimate determination. Either the CBA allows backhauling or it does not. Additionally, the Union's argument that it needs this information to police its CBA is undercut by the fact that the practice of London drivers backhauling product from Owensboro had occurred for years. Further, we acknowledge the generally-recognized rule that contracting costs are only relevant if the union can show that the employer justified its contracting to the Union on the basis of cost. See Western Mass., 573 F.2d 101 (1st Cir. 1978); see also Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co., 317 N.L.R.B. 1266 (1995). There is no evidence in the record that either Murray or Ballard ever testified that Baird told them that the company decided to use Worldwide drivers to backhaul products because Worldwide provided cheaper labor. [7] In Western Mass., the First Circuit wrote that the Board, when determining whether an employer has put cost into contention, should not operate under a theory that subcontracting costs are always relevant in a collective bargaining context. Id. at 107. However, at its core, the Board's argument in support of the Union does exactly that. We agree with the Company that this case is similar to the factual situation presented to the Board in Connecticut Yankee. 317 N.L.R.B. 1266. In that case, the ALJ found that the employer, a nuclear plant operator, violated the Act when it failed to provide the union with requested information about an outside contractor. Id. at 1266. In deciding against the union, the Board explained that the union's requests for information were vague, and that the union had failed to prove that the information was relevant, as there was no evidence that union members had lost any work. Id. at 1268-69. The Board also highlighted the fact that the company had been contracting with the outside contractor for years, and the union had previously never complained. Id. at 1269. Similarly, in this case, the Union failed to present the ALJ with sufficient evidence to prove that either the information regarding the Company's contract and contracting costs with Worldwide was relevant or that the Company had done anything to put cost into contention.