Opinion ID: 474058
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Job Referral List

Text: 27 The union operated a job referral system whereby union employers contacted the hiring hall to obtain employees when they had work available. Local 139 maintains a referral list by which it assigns jobs to workers. Unless the employer requests a particular worker the collective bargaining agreement requires the union to refer jobs according to the relative positions of the names on the list. 28 Suspecting that his referral rights had been violated, Evans requested the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the 50 individuals before him and 50 individuals after him on the referral list of each of Local 139's four district offices. Local 139 refused, claiming that to release the information would violate the other members' rights to privacy and anonymity. It also asserted that it had a longstanding policy against the release of such information. The NLRB did not find evidence to support any allegations of discriminatory referral practices by the union. Nonetheless, the NLRB found that Local 139's duty of fair representation requires it to deal fairly with a reasonable request for referral information and that it breached its duty of fair representation by refusing to comply with Evans' request. The NLRB found Evans' reasonable request for referral information involved a matter affecting employment and that the refusal to supply the list deprived Evans of the only available means to determine whether the union was violating his referral rights. 29 Local 139 contends that its policy against releasing referral information is not intentional misconduct as required to show a breach of the duty of fair representation in this Circuit. Hoffman v. Lonza, Inc., 658 F.2d 519, 522 (7th Cir.1981). It also argues that its policy against releasing the information is an internal union matter best left to the discretion of the union and its members. 30 The NLRA imposes on the bargaining representative an implied duty of fair representation. Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 177, 87 S.Ct. 903, 909-10, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967). The union's right under Sec. 9 to act as the exclusive representative of the employee unit that selected it implies a correlative duty on the union to serve the interests of all members without hostility or discrimination, to exercise its discretion with good faith and honesty and to eschew arbitrary conduct. United Independent Flight Officers v. United Airlines, 756 F.2d 1274, 1281 (7th Cir.1985); Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 177, 87 S.Ct. 903, 909-10, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967). 31 The duty of fair representation extends to both the negotiation and administration of the collective bargaining agreement, although the standards applied in the two contexts may differ. United Independent Flight Officers, 756 F.2d at 1201; Schultz v. Owens-Illinois, 696 F.2d 505, 514 (7th Cir.1982). Thus, in negotiating a contract with the employer, the union is allowed a wide range of reasonableness ... subject always to complete good faith and honesty of purpose in the exercise of its discretion. Ford Motor Co. v. Huffman, 345 U.S. 330, 338, 73 S.Ct. 681, 97 L.Ed. 1048; Schultz v. Owens-Illinois, Inc., 696 F.2d at 515. In administering a collective bargaining agreement, the duty of fair representation requires good faith by the union but the range of reasonable conduct is narrowed. Schultz v. Owens-Illinois, 696 F.2d at 515. 32 In Vaca v. Sipes, the Supreme Court indicated that arbitrary, discriminatory, or bad faith conduct by the union was a breach of the union's duty of fair representation. 386 U.S. at 190, 87 S.Ct. at 916-17. Thus, it expressly indicated that a union could breach its duty of fair representation by engaging in merely arbitrary conduct. Although it is arguable that some types of arbitrary conduct might not be intentional misconduct, this court interprets Vaca v. Sipes as requiring intentional union misconduct to show a breach of the duty of fair representation. Camacho v. Ritz-Carlton Water Tower, 786 F.2d 242, 244 (7th Cir.1986) (Union's perfunctory representation of employee at grievance hearing did not breach the duty of fair representation if the union's conduct was not motivated by wrongful intent. Careless or bone-headed conduct is not a breach of the duty of fair representation.); United Independent Flight Officers v. United Air Lines, 756 F.2d at 1282-83 (Absent substantial evidence of fraud, deceitful action or dishonest conduct, employee could not show union's breach of duty of fair representation in negotiating terms of employee benefit plan.); Dober v. Roadway Express, Inc., 707 F.2d 292, 294-95 (7th Cir.1983) (Even gross negligence in prosecuting an employee grievance is not a breach of the duty of fair representation where there is no indication that the union acted in bad faith.); Graf v. Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co., 697 F.2d 771, 779 (7th Cir.1983) (Leaving open the question of whether extreme and reckless indifference may rise to the level of intentional misconduct, we found that a union's griever's negligent failure to preserve properly an employee's union appeal rights did not breach the duty of fair representation.); Hoffman v. Lonza, 658 F.2d 519, 521 (7th Cir.1981) (Union's negligence in failing to appeal a grievance was not a breach of the duty of fair representation.). 33 In the present case, the alleged breach of the duty of fair representation involves the administration of the collective bargaining agreement. Since 1976 the NLRB has held that inherent in a union's duty of fair representation is an obligation to deal fairly with an employee's request for information as to his relative position on the out-of-work register for purposes of job referral through an exclusive hiring hall. Teamsters Local No. 519, 276 NLRB No. 94 (1985); Bartenders, Local 165, 261 NLRB No. 67 (1982); Carpenters, Local 1080, 255 NLRB No. 14 (1981), enf'd mem. 676 F.2d 699 (7th Cir.1982); Operating Engineers, Local 324, 228 NLRB 587 (1976). The NLRB rejects the argument that anonymity or privacy of union members justifies a union's refusal to provide referral list information. 34 Evans was completely dependent on the union for the protection of his job referral rights. As the NLRB found, Evans' request was not unduly burdensome. In light of Local 139's other retaliatory conduct and harassment of Evans, one could reasonably infer that its refusal to release the information to Evans was also motivated by bad faith. The NLRB found the union had no justifiable reason for refusing to provide a union member with the only available means to protect his job referral rights and that such refusal was intentional misconduct in breach of its duty to fairly represent employees in administering the collective bargaining agreement. The NLRB was correct in concluding that the union committed an unfair labor practice by engaging in such conduct. See Hall v. Printing & Graphic Arts Union, Local No. 3, 696 F.2d 494 (7th Cir.1982).