Duty to Bargain (White &GE) Tuttle-Friendly View (White Majority/GE Dissent) Search for Bad Faith BF defined as absence of desire to reach agreement with union in writing and signed Focus on process, no obligation to make concession Generally Objective Standards Kaufman-Rives View (GE Majority/White Dissent) Search for Good Faith Meeting of minds common ground Er willingness to sign agreement not a per se indicator of good faith (Kaufman: “mutually satisfactory” accord) Generally Subjective Standards
“Surface Bargaining” Negotiation designed to frustrate or avoid mutual agreement “going through the motions” Indicators of surface bargaining Adamant insistence Delaying tactics and arbitrary scheduling Unreasonable bargaining demands (refusal to consider grievance procedure and arbitration) Withdrawal of agreed upon items Inserting new items late in negotiations Degrading statements toward union (“slim majority”) Developing Labor Law, 5th Ed., pp. 864-73.
Issues Concessions Agreement on some issues may show good faith may not definitively indicate bad faith may be used to show good faith Agreement on some issues may show good faith “Hard bargaining” not illegal Does nature of Er’s proposals nullify union as a bargaining agent? Insistence on incorporation of Er handbook bad faith
Other Indicators Dilatory tactics Lack of authority of negotiators to agree Imposing conditions