Opinion ID: 781207
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The union's refusal to disclose the Shapiro collective bargaining agreement

Text: 48 The workers argue that the duty of fair representation requires a union to give its members access to any documents necessary for the members to assess the union's conformance with its duty, and that the workers therefore had the right to copies of any CBA entered into by the union that affected them. They argue that they had a specific right to the Shapiro CBA because the union relied on provisions of the CBA to pressure Shapiro to pull its work from Sorrento. The workers' argument attempts to meld caselaw arising under the duty of fair representation and the LMRDA, without actually asserting claims under the LMRDA. 49 In support of their position, the workers cite two duty of fair representation cases, NLRB v. IBEW Local 112, 827 F.2d 530 (9th Cir.1987) and Anderson v. United Paperworkers, 641 F.2d 574 (8th Cir.1981). IBEW Local 112 held that [a] union's duty of fair representation requires it to permit hiring hall applicants to inspect dispatch records unless such inspection is shown to be `burdensome' or the records contain `truly confidential material.' 827 F.2d at 533. Anderson held that a union may not misrepresent to union members the terms of their CBA. 641 F.2d at 577 & n. 2, 578. In both of these cases, however, the union's status as exclusive bargaining representative was implicated; in IBEW Local 112, the union gained its authority to operate a hiring hall only from a collective bargaining agreement, 827 F.2d at 532-33, and in Anderson, the union obviously was representing workers in entering into the CBA and thus had the responsibility to accurately explain its content. 641 F.2d at 576-78. 50 Neither of these cases supports the idea that union members have a right to any information from their union that may affect them, such as a CBA with a different employer, when the union is not acting as the exclusive bargaining representative of the workers. As noted above, a union can breach the DFR only if it is in fact representing the workers; here, the union was not representing the Sorrento workers when it negotiated, agreed to, enforced, or administered any portion of the Shapiro CBA. Because the refusal to provide the CBA to the Sorrento workers does not implicate the union's status as the workers' unique representative, it cannot violate the DFR. 51 The workers also cite three cases arising under LMRDA § 104, 29 U.S.C. § 414. See Dole v. Local 427, Int'l Union of Elec., Radio and Machine Workers, 760 F.Supp. 423, 428 (D.N.J.1991); Colpo v. Gen. Teamsters Local Union 326, 512 F.Supp. 1093, 1094-95 (D.Del.1981); Forline v. Helpers Local No. 42, 211 F.Supp. 315 (E.D.Pa.1962). Section 104 provides that a local union such as UNITE SW has the duty to forward a copy of each collective bargaining agreement made by such [union] with any employer to any employee who requests such a copy and whose rights as such employee are directly affected by such agreement. 29 U.S.C. § 414. The cases cited by the workers support the idea that, under § 104, members of a local union are entitled to inspect all of the CBAs entered into by that union. See Dole, 760 F.Supp. at 428; Colpo, 512 F.Supp. at 1095. They do not, however, indicate that any violation of § 104 may be enforced through the duty of fair representation. 52 In determining whether to borrow the NLRA's statute of limitations for LMRDA claims, the Ninth Circuit has held that [a] violation of section 104 by failing to give an employee a copy of the collective bargaining agreement is.... analogous to a union's violation of the duty of fair representation by failing to provide information to employees. Gardner v. Int'l Tel. Employees Local No. 9, 850 F.2d 518, 521-22 (9th Cir.1988) (footnote omitted). In Gardner, however, a union member had been unable to obtain a copy of his own collective bargaining agreement, not a CBA covering a different unit. Id. at 519. We have found no cases in which the duty of fair representation has been extended to the context here, where a union refuses to provide its members with a CBA covering a different bargaining unit. 53 Although the union may have had a legal obligation to provide the Shapiro CBA under LMRDA § 104, it had no obligation arising from its status as the workers' exclusive bargaining representative, and thus its violation of § 104, if any, would not constitute a breach of the DFR. To allow any violation of the LMRDA to be enforced through the DFR would eviscerate portions of the LMRDA itself, including the ban on employer-sponsored lawsuits discussed above. 54