Court Opinion

ID: 9485962
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:34:37.652708+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:27.828399
License: Public Domain

' BOYCE F. MARTIN, Jr.,
Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the majority that Baptist Hospital did not refuse to bargain over the best way for the union to ensure that wages for unit and nonunit employees were equal. I disagree, however, with the majority’s conclusion that the hospital continued to bargain concerning how to provide the union with sufficient attendance information.
*1146The union asked for attendance information regarding unit and. non-unit employees. The hospital objected, arguing that the union’s request was too burdensome. The union countered with a proposal to relieve the burdensomeness of the request by offering to conduct the investigation itself. The hospital refused this request, and countered with an offer to provide attendance records for non-unit employees that the union suspected of being treated differently from unit employees. The union insisted on receiving all relevant information — all information regarding non-unit attendance records, not just information for a few non-unit employees — but the hospital refused to discuss ways for the union to receive all relevant information. Information regarding attendance discipline is relevant information because article 19 of the 1989-91 collective-bargaining agreement provided that Baptist’s policies would treat unit and non-unit members equally. Baptist therefore had a duty to provide the Union with sufficient information to ensure that its members were not treated differently. See NLRB v. Acme Industrial Co., 385 U.S. 432, 485-36, 87 S.Ct. 565, 567-68, 17 L.Ed.2d 495 (1967). “There can be no question of the general obligation of an employer to provide information that is needed by the bargaining representative for the proper performance of its duties.” Baptist’s offer to provide attendance information on employees who the Union suspected of being treated leniently did not ensure that Baptist was treating unit and non-unit employees equally. The fundamental purpose of allowing Unions to discover relevant information is to allow them, as exclusive bargaining representative chosen by the employees, to ensure that the employer complies with the collective-bargaining agreement. Baptist’s response that it would provide information on employees who the Union, suspected of being treated more leniently than unit employees did not provide the union with sufficient information to know that the contract was being complied with because there could have been non-unit employees who were being treated differently than unit employees but who the Union did not suspect were being treated differently. By failing to provide a response that would allow the Union to know whether Baptist was complying with the contract, Baptist’s response was insufficient under section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act and did not constitute good-faith bargaining.
-Of course, Baptist was entitled to object to the extent of the Union’s request for attendance information based upon Baptist’s belief that the Union’s request was burdensome. See Soule Glass & Glazing Co. v. NLRB, 652 F.2d 1055, 1098 (1st Cir.1981), which held that union has a right to receive relevant information, but not in the precise form and scope demanded by the union. Baptist, however, went further than merely objecting to the Union’s request: Baptist refused both to provide all relevant information and to bargain over the best method for providing the Union with • sufficient information to know that Baptist was complying with the contract. Following the Union’s offer to relieve the burdensomeness of its request by providing personnel to help compile attendance records, Baptist had a duty under section 8(a)(1) to continue to bargain in good faith by either handing over all relevant information or proposing a solution that would allow the Union to know that Baptist was complying with the contract. By refusing to turn over all relevant information and by refusing to negotiate further with the Union over how to accommodate the Union’s legitimate concerns, Baptist breached its duty under section 8(a)(1) to bargain in good faith and committed an unfair labor practice.
The purpose of allowing a union to discover relevant information is to allow the union to know that the employer is complying with the contract. The hospital’s offer to provide only partial attendance records does not fulfill this purpose because the union cannot know that the 'non-unit employees about whom it has no information are being treated the same as unit employees. Therefore, when the hospital offered to provide only a portion of relevant information and then refused to discuss the matter further, it failed to bargain with the union and committed an unfair labor practice.
This case provides a perfect demonstration of the proper method to bargain over relevant information. Regarding wage information, the hospital’s offer to guarantee, albeit through a third party, that it was not treating unit and non-unit employees differently is the consummate example of good-faith bar*1147gaining because the hospital’s offer provided a way for the union to know that the hospital was complying with the contract. On the other hand, the hospital’s offer to give only some attendance records was insufficient to constitute good-faith bargaining because it did not provide a way for the union to know that the hospital was complying with the contract. Therefore, the majority’s opinion is fundamentally flawed when it states, “In both instances the Hospital offered reasonable alternative solutions which would have allowed the Union to ascertain whether the contracts were evenly applied while protecting the confidential records of nonunit employees.” The hospital’s offer of providing only some attendance records did not allow the union to “ascertain whether the contracts were evenly applied” because the union simply does not know whether the partial attendance records it receives from the hospital are representative of all the non-unit employees. Accordingly, the hospital committed an unfair labor practice when it refused to bargain with the union concerning the best manner for the union to determine whether the hospital was complying with the contract. In my opinion, with that refusal, the hospital refused to bargain with the union and committed an unfair labor practice and I would enforce the Board’s order on this issue.