A union's obligation to represent all people in the bargaining unit as fairly and equally as possible. This requirement applies both in the creation and interpretation of collective bargaining agreements. A union is said to have violated its Duty of Fair Representation when a union's conduct toward a member of a collective bargaining unit is arbitrary, discriminatory, or in bad faith. A union steward, for example, may not ignore a grievance which has merit, nor can that grievance be processed in a perfunctory manner. It should be noted, however, that the employee in the bargaining unit has no absolute right to have a grievance taken to arbitration. The union is obligated to give fair representation to all union members, and also to collective bargaining unit members who have not joined the union in "right-to-work" states or in public service units.
The duty of fair representation is the obligation, incumbent upon U.S. labor unions that are the exclusive bargaining representative of workers in a particular group, to represent all those employees fairly, in good faith, and without discrimination. Originally recognized by the United States Supreme Court in a series of cases in the mid-1940s involving racial discrimination by railway workers' unions covered by the Railway Labor Act, the duty of fair representation also applies to workers covered by the National Labor Relations Act and, depending on the terms of the statute, to public sector workers covered by state and local laws regulating labor relations.