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2 Vill. L. Rev. 151 (1957)
The Duty of Fair Representation

handle is hein.journals/vllalr2 and id is 163 raw text is: Villanova Law Review VOLUME 2 JANUARY, 1957 NUMBER 2 THE DUTY OF FAIR REPRESENTATION. ARCHIBALD COX t THE REPRESENTATIVE designated by a majority of the em- ployees in an appropriate bargaining unit has a duty to bargain fairly in behalf of all the employees, union members and nonmembers, and without hostile discrimination among them. The employees' correlative right to fair representation is one of the three important safeguards the law affords individual workers against abuse of power by a union. The other two are the limited protection accorded to the individual's interests in union membership and job opportunities. This paper discusses the origin of the duty of fair representation, its scope and beneficiaries, the standards of fairness, and the forums and remedies for violation. I. ORIGIN OF THE DUTY. The national labor policy vests great power in the bargaining representative. The National Labor Relations Act, section 9, provides: Representatives designated or selected for the purposes of collective bargaining by the majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for such purposes, shall be the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit.. ,, ' The Railway Labor Act contains similar provisions.2 A minority union may not bargain or present grievances.' Individual contracts t Professor of Law, Harvard Law School. A.B. 1934, LL.B. 1937, Harvard Uni- versity. 1. National Labor Relations Act § 9(a), 61 STAT. 143 (1947), 29 U.S.C. § 159(a) (1952). (Emphasis added). 2. Railway Labor Act § 2 (para. 4), 48 STAT. 1187 (1934), 45 U.S.C. § 152 (para. 4) (1952). 3. Majority rule carries the clear implication that employers shall not interfere with the practical application of the right of employees to bargain through chosen rep- resentatives by bargaining with individuals or minority groups in their own behalf, after representatives have been picked by the majority to represent all. S. REP. No. 573, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. 13 (1935). 4. Hughes Tool Co. v. NLRB, 147 F.2d 69 (5th Cir. 1945); Federal Tel. and Radio Co., 107 N.L.R.B. 649 (1953); see Miami Copper Co., 92 N.L.R.B. 322, 323, 334-38 (1950). Contra, Douds v. Local 1250, Retail Wholesale Dep't Store Union, CIO, 173 F.2d 764 (2d Cir. 1949), 63 HARv. L. Rv. 361. (151)

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