The Executive Board of Pressmen's Union Local 4 requested union members Gil Fouler and Mike Tenorio to appear before it during its investigation of a barroom fight they had been in with another union member. Fouler and Tenorio considered the barroom incident nonunion business and visited Executive Board member Paul Trimble at work to inform him that they would not be appearing. Fouler asked Trimble to "walk outside to talk." Trimble refused and later told his supervisors that he had a "threatening confrontation" with the two employees.
Because of this report by Trimble, Fouler and Tenorio were discharged from their jobs at the S.F. Newspaper Printing Company. Upon hearing of the discharge, the union president filed a grievance. However, he also immediately prepared "travel cards" that would allow the two men to obtain union jobs in locations other than northern California. The union's investigation of the alleged confrontation focused on Trimble. The union did not ask Fouler and Tenorio for their version of the incident. A grievance committee ruled to uphold the discharges, and the union accepted this ruling, deciding not to pursue the grievance to arbitration.
Fouler and Tenorio alleged before the NLRB that the union breached its duty of fair representation in violation of Section 8(b)(1)(A) by making no effort to obtain their side of the story. The union claimed that it handled the grievance properly under the Act.
What factors must the Board consider in deciding this case? Has the union breached its duty of fair representation? Decide. [Tenorio v. NLRB, 110 LRRM 2939 (9th Cir.)]