Opinion ID: 2994875
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Provide Relevant Information

Text: Section 8(a)(5) of the Act imposes on the employer a duty to bargain in good faith. This duty encompasses an obligation on the employer to disclose information relevant to the bargaining process. NLRB v. Truitt Mfg. Inc., 351 U.S. 149, 152-53 (1956). Although there are exceptions, in general an employer violates section 8(a)(5) by failing to disclose relevant information upon request. NLRB v. George Koch Sons, Inc., 950 F.2d 1324, 1330-31 (7th Cir. 1991). Whether the requested information was relevant is the threshold question and the only one in dispute in our case. The information the Union wanted was about NRM’s proposal to subcontract unit work. The burden was on the Union to demonstrate the relevance of the requested information under the very liberal relevancy standard applied in these situations. See NLRB v. Acme Indus. Co., 385 U.S. 432, 437 n. 6 (1967) (applying a discovery-type relevancy standard). The Board concluded that NRM violated sections 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act by failing to give the Union the requested information about the sale of its trucks. At the July 1, 1992, negotiating session, Wehrli indicated to Custer that it was too late to negotiate a contract with NRM that covered the NRM drivers, because the trucks they had been driving had already been sold. Custer testified that he promptly asked Wehrli to provide him with documentation of the sales. On July 10, counsel for the Union sent a letter again requesting information regarding the nature and terms of the truck sales. Rather than providing the requested information, NRM’s counsel responded with a letter disputing the Union’s right to have access to the information and demanding that the Union explain how each of the documents requested is reasonably calculated to elicit information which the Union may need to properly represent its members and a citation to case authority which supports the request. The Union chose not to respond and instead filed an unfair labor practices charge. On these facts, there is again ample evidence to support the Board’s conclusion that NRM violated the Act. The Union’s request for information arose directly out of a subject the parties were discussing in connection with their collective bargaining. Under the Court’s reasoning in Truitt, 352 U.S. at 152-53, the Union was entitled to know exactly what circumstances it faced. If NRM’s truck sale claim was important enough to present in the give and take of bargaining, then the Union was entitled to some sort of proof of its accuracy. Id. NRM was aware of the relevance of this information to the Union’s ability to represent unit members, and NRM’s subsequent effort to deny its relevancy is precisely the kind of bad faith negotiating tactic that is prohibited by section 8(a)(5) of the Act.