Daimlerchrysler Corp. v. N.L.R.B., 00-1518.

• Decision Date: 07 May 2002
• Docket Number: No. 00-1518.,00-1518.
• Citation: 288 F.3d 434
• Parties: DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATION, <I>f/k/a</I> Chrysler Corporation, Petitioner, v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

288 F.3d 434

DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATION, f/k/a Chrysler Corporation, Petitioner, v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent.

No. 00-1518.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued March 5, 2002.

Decided May 7, 2002.

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On Petition for Review and Cross-Application for Enforcement of an Order of the National Labor Relations Board.

K.C. Hortop argued the cause for petitioner. On the briefs was Theodore R. Opperwall.

Christopher W. Young, Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Arthur F. Rosenfeld, General Counsel, John H. Ferguson, Associate General Counsel, Aileen A. Armstrong, Deputy Associate General Counsel, and Margaret A. Gaines, Supervisory Attorney.

Before: EDWARDS and RANDOLPH, Circuit Judges, and WILLIAMS, Senior Circuit Judge.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge EDWARDS.

HARRY T. EDWARDS, Circuit Judge:

In 1971, the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB" or "Board") rendered its seminal decision in Collyer Insulated Wire, 192 N.L.R.B. 837 (1971). Collyer holds that when the parties to certain types of disputes have provided for arbitration in their collective bargaining agreement ("CBA") the Board will not pursue unfair labor practice proceedings until arbitration has run its course. Deferment under Collyer is appropriate only when the CBA-provided arbitration offers an expeditious and fair means for resolution of the parties' dispute. See id. at 842. Under a closely related policy, the Board also defers to the results of arbitration, so long as the arbitral decision meets certain general criteria. See Hammontree v. NLRB, 925 F.2d 1486, 1491 (D.C.Cir.1991) (en banc) (discussing Board's deference policies).

Collyer is not without limits, however. Indeed, the scope of the Collyer doctrine has changed over the years as the Board has continued to shape a deferral policy that harmonizes private contractual rights emanating from CBAs and public statutory rights flowing from the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA" or "Act"). See 1 THE DEVELOPING LABOR LAW 1378-90 (Patrick Hardin & John E. Higgins, Jr. Editors-in-Chief, 4th ed.2001). And in Metropolitan Edison Co. v. NLRB, 460 U.S. 693, 103 S.Ct. 1467, 75 L.Ed.2d 387 (1983), the Supreme Court indicated that certain statutory rights are not subject to contractual abrogation unless the aggrieved party has clearly and unmistakably waived the statutory rights at issue. See also Wright v. Universal Mar. Serv. Corp., 525 U.S. 70, 79-80, 119 S.Ct. 391, 396-97, 142 L.Ed.2d 361 (1998).

An alleged refusal by an employer to furnish relevant information needed by a union for use in collective bargaining or grievance processing is a type of case that is not subject to Collyer deferment absent a clear and unmistakable waiver. Since at least 1984, the Board has consistently held that such disputes will not be deferred to arbitration. This policy is justified in part because the obligation to provide such information is derived from statutory duties independent of the labor contract, NLRB v. Acme Indus. Co., 385 U.S. 432, 437, 87 S.Ct. 565, 568, 17 L.Ed.2d 495 (1967); American Standard, Inc., 203 N.L.R.B. 1132 (1973), and in part because such information is essential to the union if it is to function effectively as the bargaining agent for unit employees, Acme, 385 U.S. at 435-36, 87 S.Ct. at 567-68. The Board has also declined to defer cases involving alleged refusals to furnish information for fear of fostering a "two-tiered arbitration process," in which parties first proceed to arbitration over information requests and then proceed to arbitration over the underlying grievances. See United Technologies Corp., 274 N.L.R.B. 504, 505 (1985) (quoting General Dynamics Corp., 268 N.L.R.B. 1432, 1432 n. 2 (1984)), supplemented on other grounds by 277 N.L.R.B. 584 (1985).

The instant case involves DaimlerChrysler Corporation ("DC") and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, Local 412, Unit 53, AFL-CIO (the "Union"). One of the Union's stewards at DC sought relevant information from DC in connection with employee grievances. When the information sought was not furnished to the satisfaction of the Union, an unfair labor practice ("ulp") charge was filed with the NLRB. The Board found that DC's refusal to provide the requested information violated the NLRA. See DaimlerChrysler Corp., 331 N.L.R.B. No. 174, 2000 WL 1268770 (Aug. 25, 2000) ("Order"), at 1. DC requested that the Board decline to adjudicate the unfair labor practice charges and defer them to arbitration under the parties' CBA. The Board, however, adhered to its longstanding practice of refusing to defer disputes over requested information to the arbitration process. DC now asks this court to overturn the Board's policy. We decline. While the Board may in the future decide to reconsider the scope of the Collyer doctrine, this court has no authority on this record to second-guess the Board's application of well established precedent.

One of the grievances for which the Union steward sought information involved an employee who was discharged pursuant to a "last-chance" agreement into which he had entered after being discharged a year earlier. Under established practices between DC and the Union, "last chance" agreements have no precedential value with regard to the treatment of other employees. Because of this practice, DC argues that it was not required to furnish information to the Union on such agreements. The Board held that the information could still be relevant to the Union in determining whether to process a grievance to arbitration. In light of the liberal, discovery-type standard that governs information requests, the Board did not err in requiring DC to furnish the information sought. Nor did the Board err in finding that DC committed an ulp when it threatened the Union's steward with disciplinary action, including possible discharge, if he continued to request information. Accordingly, we deny DC's petition for review and grant the Board's cross-application for enforcement.

I. BACKGROUND

After reviewing the record in this case, we conclude that the Board's findings are supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole. See Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 488, 71 S.Ct. 456, 461, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951). What follows is a summary of the relevant facts found by the Board.

DC is a large automobile manufacturer employing more than 100,000 employees in the United States. In 1997, Keith Valentin was elected to be the chief steward at DC's plant in Auburn Hills, Michigan, which employs about 130 engineers represented by the Union. Order at 3-4; Br. of Petitioner at 5. This petition centers on a number of requests for information made by Mr. Valentin in his capacity as chief steward. DC furnished no information in response to the disputed requests.

Most of Mr. Valentin's requests were related to employee grievances. For example, between December 1997 and January 1998, he filed three grievances alleging that DC had violated the CBA by offering more overtime to transmission engineers than to engine engineers. He filed a request for information, seeking an alphabetical list of access badge swipes for all bargaining unit members for a period during 1997 and 1998, as well as lists of unit members on corporate shuttle flights to and from Indiana (where DC had another facility) for the same period. Order at 4-5. He also requested a list of overtime hours that were offered to the transmission engineers but not to the engine engineers, along with copies of the relevant time cards. Instead of providing the requested information, DC sent Mr. Valentin a memo requesting the relevance of the information to any active grievance, and expressing DC's "understanding" that the grievance had already been resolved. Id. at 5; Memorandum from Desirée Redenz to Keith Valentin (Apr. 20, 1998), reprinted in Joint Appendix ("J.A.") 149-51. Later, Mr. Valentin testified that the grievance had not been resolved to his satisfaction and that it was his understanding that he could appeal the grievance with information obtained through the information requests. See Transcript of Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") Hearing ("Tr.") at 121, reprinted in J.A. 62. Mr. Valentin also filed information requests in connection with an engineer named Kareem Schkoor claiming discrimination in promotion. He also filed other requests related to other grievances. Order at 4-7 (detailing requests).

Many of Mr. Valentin's memoranda contained language that DC managers found objectionable. For instance, in May, Mr. Valentin sent a memorandum to DC's diversity manager regarding an ulp charge he had filed. Memorandum from Keith Valentin to Monica Emerson (May 6, 1998), reprinted in J.A. 169. He wrote: "As a matter of professional courtesy, I strongly recommend that you seek private legal counsel to protect your individual rights in the event that Corporate and individual agent (yourself) interests diverge." Id. Mr. Valentin also included the following sign-off, which is found at the end of many of his memoranda to DC management: "If you have any questions or concerns ... contact me at your earliest convenience rather than feign confusion and ignorance at a later date." Id.

Particularly relevant to this appeal is a request Mr. Valentin made regarding so-called "last chance" data. In 1998, engineer Arthur Sibert was discharged for being absent from work. The Union filed a grievance in protest, which was denied at the initial steps of the grievance procedure. Mr. Sibert had been discharged by DC once before, in 1996, and had returned to work on a "last chance" basis. Order at 5-6. The Union and DC had agreed generally that matters resolved on a last chance basis could not be used in connection with...