## Facts

- Local Union No. 12 was the exclusive bargaining representative for production and maintenance employees at Goodyear’s East Gadsden, Alabama plant.
- Although the collective-bargaining agreement appeared to provide plantwide seniority regardless of race or sex, the plant in practice maintained separate seniority lists by race and gender, affecting promotions, transfers, layoffs, and recalls.
- Eight Black employees were laid off in 1960 and later recalled; they asserted that less-senior white employees were retained and that new workers were hired contrary to seniority rules.
- The employees sought union processing of grievances requesting reinstatement-related relief (including back pay), contract-based transfer privileges, and desegregation of plant facilities.
- Local 12’s grievance committee rejected the demands; the employees pursued internal union appeals, and the International President directed Local 12 to process the grievances.
- In March 1962, Local 12 and Goodyear agreed to end the discriminatory seniority system, but Local 12 continued to refuse to pursue grievances for back pay and for segregated facilities.
- The employees filed charges with the NLRB alleging that the union’s refusal to process their grievances was racially discriminatory.
- The NLRB found the union’s conduct violated NLRA §§ 8(b)(1)(A), 8(b)(2), and 8(b)(3), and ordered the union to cease discriminatory conduct and to process the grievances through the contractual procedure.

## Issues

1. Whether a union’s racially discriminatory refusal to process employee grievances, as a breach of the duty of fair representation, constitutes an unfair labor practice under the NLRA that the NLRB may remedy.
2. Whether substantial evidence supported the NLRB’s finding that Local 12 discriminatorily administered the grievance process on the basis of race.
3. Whether the Board’s remedial order requiring the union to process the grievances (including back pay and desegregation-related claims) was within the NLRB’s authority.

## Decision

- The court denied Local 12’s petition for review and granted enforcement of the NLRB’s order.
- The court held that Local 12’s racially discriminatory breach of the duty of fair representation constituted an unfair labor practice, at minimum under NLRA § 8(b)(1)(A).
- The court upheld the Board’s authority to order affirmative relief aimed at ending discriminatory representation and requiring use of the grievance machinery for the affected employees’ claims.

## Legal Principles

- As exclusive bargaining representative, a union has a statutory duty to represent all employees in the bargaining unit without hostile or invidious discrimination.
- A union’s racially discriminatory refusal to process grievances can “restrain or coerce” employees in the exercise of § 7 rights and therefore violate NLRA § 8(b)(1)(A).
- Where a union’s discriminatory conduct affects the administration of contractual rights and access to the grievance procedure, the NLRB may order cease-and-desist relief and affirmative measures, including requiring the union to process grievances.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit enforced the NLRB’s order on the ground that a union’s racially discriminatory refusal to process grievances is a breach of the duty of fair representation that constitutes an unfair labor practice under the NLRA, warranting Board-ordered corrective action.


Local Union No. 12, United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum & Plastic Workers of Am. v. NLRB, 368 F.2d 12 (5th Cir. 1966)