Reference no: EM131706544

Question: Lakeland Bus Lines, Inc. is a private bus company whose drivers are represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 164. The parties' collective agreement expired on January 31, 2007. In February, when negotiations on a new agreement stalled, the company gave a final offer to the union. On the same day, Lakeland's president sent a letter to the bargaining unit employees detailing the company's bargaining position and its financial difficulties. The union then requested that the company provide financial information to verify that it could not afford any contract terms that exceeded the costs of its final offer.

Company representatives refused to furnish any of the requested information. Lakeland's employees subsequently rejected the company's final offer, and the company unilaterally implemented the terms of its final offer. The union filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB, claiming that Lakeland had failed to bargain in good faith by refusing to provide financial information requested by the union and by unilaterally imposing the terms of its final offer. How should the NLRB rule on the union's complaint? Why?