Opinion ID: 363559
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: failure to supply union with requested information

Text: 57 There is no question that an employer must provide information that is needed by the bargaining representative for the proper performance of its duties. NLRB v. Acme Industrial Co., 385 U.S. 432, 435-36, 87 S.Ct. 565, 568, 17 L.Ed.2d 495 (1967); NLRB v. Western Electric, Inc., 559 F.2d 1131 (8th Cir. 1977); NLRB v. Twin City Lines, Inc., 425 F.2d 164, 167 (8th Cir. 1970). This duty extends beyond the period of contract negotiations. Acme, supra. The information must be relevant and reasonably necessary to the union's role as bargaining agent during the administration of a collective bargaining agreement. Western Electric, supra; Curtiss-Wright Corp. v. NLRB, 347 F.2d 61, 68 (3d Cir. 1965). The information requested by the union relating to subcontracting, which the Administrative Law Judge ordered the company to supply, fell within this category. Without this information the union had no idea of the frequency of subcontracting, the amount and type of work involved, and the effect it might have had on the bargaining unit. The information was needed to pursue any claim that the company had a duty to bargain with the union prior to subcontracting out work. 58 The Administrative Law Judge also ordered the company to supply a handwriting analysis of an employee who was discharged for falsifying two sickness and accident claims. The union was furnished with copies of the two allegedly false claims and copies of the checks issued to the employee. The company had paid the cost of having the analysis made, and clearly felt the union should bear its own expense. 7 The company indicated a willingness to trade handwriting analysis if the union had their own. 59 Most appellate cases involve a failure to supply information which was readily accessible to the company and which might have been difficult, if not possible, for the union to obtain otherwise. General Electric Co. v. NLRB, 466 F.2d 1177 (6th Cir. 1972) (wage data); Anaconda Wire and Cable Co. v. NLRB, 444 F.2d 1028 (7th Cir. 1971) (incentive plans); NLRB v. Northwestern Publishing Co., 343 F.2d 521 (7th Cir. 1965) (wage data). Unlike Detroit Edison, supra, and NLRB v. Frontier Homes Corp., 371 F.2d 974 (8th Cir. 1967), both of which required disclosure, there was nothing particularly confidential about the material requested by the union. The result of the analysis was apparent from the fact the company decided to discharge the employee. The union was in the position of having to make a decision within ten days as to whether or not it was going to arbitrate the claim on behalf of the employee. Due to the limited time which the union had to make its decision, and the serious consequences of the charges, we conclude that the handwriting analysis was relevant and reasonably necessary to the union's decision of whether to arbitrate.