1655 Englehart v. UAW Heavy Truck Dept.

The International Representative refused management’s offer to return the Appendix D transferees to their home plant or adjust their seniority dates at Jacksonville based on equitable considerations, but he failed to consider the adverse impact this decision had on the seniority rights of employees already at Jacksonville. The Company’s offer to return appellant to his original plant was not tied in any way to its decision whether to transfer work to Jacksonville. In other words, the Union did not reject the Company’s proposal in order to achieve some policy objective; there is no evidence that the International Representative ever considered the Company’s proposal at all. His rejection of the offer was based on the principle that one-time transfers can never return to their home plant. He never gave any thought to the special circumstances which made that rule inapplicable in this situation. In this sense, the Department’s handling of the seniority issue at the Jacksonville CKD Unit lacked a rational basis with respect to Englehart.