Sometimes employers can make critical mistakes that create serious problems on their own. It appears this supermarket employer has done so. In collective bargaining, an employer creates a huge, unnecessary problem for itself when it claims it cannot afford to meet a union's economic demands. When the employer does rely upon economic justifications to reject union economic demands, the union is entitled to examine the employers books and other financial data in order to bargain effectively. When the company refuses to provide the financials, the NLRB will issue a complaint, and in the linked article, it appears the NLRB has sought immediate federal court injunctive relief. Had the employer rejected the union's demands, and maintained that the demands were not in the best interests of the company (as opposed to the position taken - that it could not afford the proposals), it would not have exposed its financial data to union scrutiny.