Ohio Edison Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, No. 15-1929 (6th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseFirstEnergy established an employee-recognition program in 1973. By 2012 the value of the awards amounted to about five to seven dollars per year of service. The company and the unions representing its employees have never bargained about the recognition program or mentioned the program in a collective-bargaining agreement. In 2012, FirstEnergy implemented various cost-cutting measures, announcing that it would reduce its cap for 401(k) matching payments by 33%, reduce its retiree life insurance benefit by 60%, and cap its educational-reimbursement benefit; employees would receive a service award every 10 years rather than every five. An unfair labor-practices asserted that FirstEnergy had violated its duty to bargain in good faith with the union, 29 U.S.C.158(a), “by making unilateral changes in 401(k) savings, future retiree benefits, educational reimbursement, and employee service awards.” An ALJ found that the employee-recognition program was a mandatory subject of bargaining and that a union representative’s general complaint about the changes amounted to a request to bargain. The Board affirmed. The Sixth Circuit denied enforcement of the order, reasoning that the union representative’s comments were “ambiguous” complaints, not a clear request to bargain concerning the recognition program.
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