Impasse on tap

Tonight's labor law class will discuss the concept of impasse as it relates to the duty to bargain under the National Labor Relations Act. What better example of the hazards of unilateral action than the case of the Michigan beer distributers who one after another bargained with a Teamsters Union local, each one declared an impasse was reached and unilaterally imposed a new contract with what the NLRB described as "substantially lower income and reduced benefits for employees, particularly the drivers." Ultimately the distributors were found to have bargained in bad faith and were tagged with a $41 million dollar back pay award.