Collective Bargaining Agreements

THIS CASEBOOK contains a selection of U. S. Court of Appeals decisions that analyze and discuss issues surrounding collective bargaining agreements. Volume 2 of the casebook covers the Sixth through the Eleventh Court of Appeals. * * * Under Section 8(a)(5) of the [National Labor Relations Act], an employer commits an unfair labor practice by "refus[ing] to bargain collectively with the representatives of his employees." 29 U. S. C. § 158(a)(5); see also id. § 158(a)(1) (making it unlawful for an employer to "to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of" their rights under the Act). The obligation to "bargain collectively" requires an employer to "confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment ...." Id. § 158(d). An employer thus violates Section 8(a)(5) if it unilaterally changes existing terms or conditions of employment prior to bargaining to impasse. United Paperworkers Int'l Union v. NLRB, 981 F.2d 861, 866 (6th Cir. 1992). After the parties have bargained to impasse, however, an employer may lawfully make unilateral changes "that are reasonably comprehended within [its] pre-impasse proposals," United Paperworkers, 981 F.2d at 866 (emphasis omitted; citations omitted), "and are consistent with the offers the Union has rejected." NLRB v. Plainville Ready Mix Concrete Co., 44 F.3d 1320, 1326 (6th Cir. 1995) (citation omitted). However, "the employer may not implement changes which are substantially different from ... any which the employer has proposed during its negotiations" Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Thus, selectively implementing proposals that are "inextricably linked" with unimplemented proposals violates the Act. See Plainville Ready Mix Concrete Co., 309 NLRB 581, 588 (1992), enforced, 44 F.3d 1320 (6th Cir. 1995). FirstEnergy Generation, LLC v. NLRB, 929 F. 3d 321 (6th Cir. 2019)