Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process

 Refusals to respond to proposals, or vague responses to detailed proposals.

 Unwillingness to provide reasons for positions. 63

 Going through motions of bargaining without an interest in reaching agreement - “surface bargaining.” 64  Imposition of unreasonable conditions, such as conditioning further negotiations on agreement to certain issues. 65

 Refusal to supply relevant, available information. 66

 Knowingly providing inaccurate information regarding the agency’s financial resources. 67  Dilatory tactics, such as delays in scheduling meetings, not appearing at scheduled meetings. 68  Failing to give negotiating representatives sufficient authority to carry on meaningful bargaining. 69

Withdrawal of prior agreements. 70

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 Violations of negotiated ground rules. 71

Regressive bargaining. 72

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 Proposing to hold a particular mandatory subject of bargaining for discussion after a new contract is agreed upon and subsequently refusing to bargain about the proposal. 73

 Insistence to impasse on permissive (non-mandatory) subjects of bargaining. 74

 Making proposals that expire within a set time (i.e., “exploding offers”) without adequately explaining a legitimate basis for doing so. 75

iii. Checklist: Bad Faith Bargaining The following holdings from decisions also provide guidance regarding conduct in the bargaining process which may demonstrate evidence of bad faith:

1. Unilateral Action without Bargaining; Clear and Unmistakable Waiver

 A unilateral change by the employer of a matter within the scope of representation without first giving the union notice and an opportunity to bargain is, in and of itself, an unfair practice, absent the union’s “clear and unmistakable waiver.” 76  An exclusive representative is free to negotiate a waiver of its right to bargain over certain mandatory subjects of bargaining for a specified contractual period. The waiver must be clear and unmistakable and cover all aspects of the particular matter in question. Such a waiver may authorize the employer to make unilateral changes in that otherwise mandatory subject of bargaining. 77

Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 14