## Facts

- Collyer Insulated Wire and the union had a long-standing collective-bargaining relationship dating to 1937.
- While negotiating a 1969 collective-bargaining agreement (CBA), the employer sought a targeted wage increase for skilled maintenance employees; the union rejected the proposal, but the parties agreed to continue discussing a possible skill-based increase after executing the CBA.
- Post-execution meetings did not resolve whether any increase could be limited to skilled maintenance employees or had to be plant-wide under a job-evaluation approach.
- The employer unilaterally implemented a 20-cent-per-hour increase for the skilled maintenance group.
- The CBA included a broad grievance-arbitration clause covering “any controversy” between the parties.
- The union did not file a grievance; it instead filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge alleging the unilateral increase violated NLRA § 8(a)(5) and (1).
- A trial examiner found a violation on the merits; the employer urged the Board to require use of the grievance-arbitration procedure.

## Issues

1. Whether the NLRB should decide the merits of a § 8(a)(5) unilateral-change charge when the dispute is arguably resolvable through a broad CBA grievance-arbitration procedure and no grievance has been filed.
2. What criteria govern the Board’s decision to defer pre-arbitration to the parties’ contractual dispute-resolution process.

## Decision

- The Board set aside the trial examiner’s merits determination and declined to adjudicate the ULP at that time.
- The Board deferred the dispute to the parties’ grievance-arbitration machinery and held the ULP matter in abeyance pending the contractual process.
- The Board emphasized it retained authority to review the arbitral outcome under established deferral standards.

## Legal Principles

- The Board may, as a matter of discretion, defer pre-arbitration to contractual grievance-arbitration procedures when the dispute primarily concerns interpretation or application of the CBA.
- Common prerequisites for pre-arbitral deferral include:
  - A stable bargaining relationship.
  - A comprehensive CBA with a broad, binding grievance-arbitration clause.
  - A dispute “arguably” governed by the contract rather than conduct merely collateral to contract rights.
  - No indication the arbitral process would be unfair, biased, or inconsistent with the Act.
  - A reasonable expectation that deferral will further NLRA policies favoring agreed methods of dispute resolution.
- Deferral reflects a choice not to exercise jurisdiction immediately, not a lack of jurisdiction; the Board preserves ultimate authority to ensure any resulting award is not clearly repugnant to the NLRA.

## Conclusion

The Board established a pre-arbitral deferral policy under which it will ordinarily send contract-centered labor disputes to the parties’ grievance-arbitration process, holding related ULP charges in abeyance when arbitration is available and suitable to resolve the controversy.


Collyer Insulated Wire, 192 N.L.R.B. 837 (1971)