4. Has the Union in this case met its fair representation obligation? Explain. On August 15, employees Billie Green, Mary Swallows, Betty Jones, and Edie Barnett lunched together in the company’s parking lot.

The discussion centered on Barnett’s pending grievance concerning her recently completed layoff.

Green, a nonunion employee, asked Barnett if she had said that Green had not been laid off because she was providing sexual favors to a supervisor.

When Barnett admitted that she had made the comment, Green asserted that Barnett’s husband engaged in sexual conduct with Swallows, a union member. Swallows then slapped Green, and Green proposed that they leave the company property to settle the matter.

Swallows slapped Green again, and then turned and walked away. Green became infuriated, followed Swallows, and kicked her in the back. The two fought for about four minutes.

Later that day, human resource manager Joe Rogalski called Green and Swallows for separate meetings to talk about the incident. Rogalski had talked with witnesses to the incident and their accounts gave conflicting reports as to who had struck the first blow. Because he could not determine who had started the incident, he had no recourse but to fire both of them. He advised them that they could file a grievance if they chose. At the end of the day, Green and Swallows met at the time clock. Green accused Swallows of lying and told her, ‘‘Sooner or later I’ll beat the hell out of you.’’

The next day, Green telephoned the plant and told the human resource department’s secretary that she was going to file a grievance. The Union Grievance Committee was meeting that morning at the plant cafeteria. Green went to the meeting and spoke with grievance committee members Jack Nolan and Joe Caldwell about filing a grievance.

Nolan told her to see union secretary Sue Cogdill. She spoke to Cogdill who told her,

‘‘We’ll take care of it . . . just go up to the cafeteria and wait for me.’’