Opinion ID: 439255
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Effect of Unilateral Change in the Terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Text: 13 The Company asserts that the Board applied an erroneous legal standard in concluding that the Company's conduct in refusing Union representatives access to the Company's plant on December 11 and in instituting unilateral changes in the collective bargaining agreement on December 13 and 14 constituted unfair labor practices. 7 The Company argues that under Telautograph Corp., 199 N.L.R.B. 892 (1972), where a question concerning representation has been raised by the filing of a decertification petition, the employer is precluded from bargaining with the Union until the question concerning representation has been resolved by the Board. The Company contends that because the duty to refrain from making unilateral changes is an aspect of the duty to bargain, Telautograph frees the employer to make unilateral changes during the pendency of the question concerning representation. 14 As an initial matter we note that the Board prospectively overruled Telautograph in Dresser Industries, Inc., 264 N.L.R.B. 1088 (1982). However, because the instant case arose prior to Dresser, its disposition depends on Telautograph and its progeny. Of course, our analysis and that of the Board have future utility only to the extent that they are applied to cases, such as the present one, that arose before Dresser. 15 We are not persuaded by the Company's argument. While Telautograph did stand for the first proposition for which the Company cites it, we do not agree that it went so far as to permit the employer to impose unilateral changes on the collective bargaining agreement during the pendency of a question concerning representation. The issue in Telautograph was whether an employer is obligated to bargain with a union whose representative status is at issue. The Board answered that question in the negative, holding instead that in those circumstances, the imperative of employer neutrality compelled the conclusion that an employer was foreclosed from negotiating with the incumbent union. Telautograph did not undermine, however, the well settled premise that even after the parties' agreement has expired, practices that have developed under the agreement must remain unchanged unless the employer affords the employees' representative notice of any proposed change and a meaningful bargaining opportunity. See NLRB v. Katz, 369 U.S. 736, 743-45, 82 S.Ct. 1107, 1111-1112, 8 L.Ed.2d 230 (1962); Electric Machinery Co. v. NLRB, 653 F.2d 958, 962, 964 (5th Cir.1981). Because Telautograph precluded bargaining after a question concerning representation has been raised, we agree with the Board that where, as here, the expiration of the contract coincided with the filing of a decertification petition, the employer was dually bound not to bargain on the one hand, and to refrain from imposing unilateral changes on the other. 16 Our conclusion is supported, moreover, by the Board's decision in Turbodyne Corp., 226 N.L.R.B. 522 (1976), which was decided after Telautograph. There, the Board examined the employer's duty to remain neutral where a pending question concerning representation remained unresolved at the expiration of the parties' agreement. The Board held that while it would not have been improper for the parties to extend temporarily the terms of the expired agreement, a violation of Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act occurs when an employer unilaterally institutes certain basic changes in the collective bargaining agreement pending resolution of the QCR [question concerning representation]. 226 N.L.R.B. at 525. It is clear that access by the employees' representatives constitutes a mandatory bargaining subject, see, e.g., Campo Slacks, Inc., 250 N.L.R.B. 420, 429, enforced without opinion, 659 F.2d 1069 (3d Cir.1981); Boyer Bros. Inc., 217 N.L.R.B. 342, 344 (1975), and a unilateral change in the manner and degree of access afforded the employees' representative constitutes a basic change in the agreement. Thus, we think that Turbodyne mandates the Board's determination here that an employer commits an unfair labor practice by unilaterally imposing new restrictions on such access upon expiration of the contract and while a question concerning representation is pending. 17 We are aware that the Board approved unilateral changes in certain situations subsequent to Telautograph. However, we agree with the Board's conclusion here that those cases, relied upon by the Company, are inapposite to the instant circumstances. In Ellex Transportation, Inc., 217 N.L.R.B. 750 (1975), the unilateral change implemented by the employer and approved by the Board was the granting of wage and pension benefits that could otherwise not have been extended subsequent to the contract's expiration because they were explicitly tied to the contract. Id. at 757. Similarly, in Vernon Manufacturing Co., 214 N.L.R.B. 285 (1974), the approved change was an increase in wages and benefits that was justified by the employer's need to confer such benefits to stay in business. Id. at 293. In the instant case, because an incumbent union remains the employees' bargaining representative unless and until the union is decertified, the Board distinguished unilateral changes affecting the union's dealings with the employees whom it continues to represent from those relating to wages and benefits .... The Board noted that even under Vernon and Ellex, an employer is not licensed to interfere with the union's representative functions which continue during the pendency of the decertification petition. We agree with the Board that Vernon and Ellex are distinguishable on this basis, and do not support the Company's argument that its actions on December 11, 13, and 14 were proper or lawful. 8 18