Question: Where can I go to get information about actual collective
bargaining agreements and union grievances that other cities have dealt with?
Answer: The League has a great resource for you when these labor
disputes arise. Since December 2012, the League has provided an “Arbitration
Award Summaries” database. Currently,
there are over 150 arbitration decisions in this database.
For those of you who are new to the labor relations world,
there are two types of arbitrations: interest arbitrations and grievance
arbitrations. Interest arbitrations are used when the city and union are unable
to agree on all the terms of a collective bargaining agreement (also called a
labor contract). Grievance arbitrations are used when the union alleges
violations of a collective bargaining agreement. In both situations, arbitrators
act as judges and decide the outcome.
League staff summarize these arbitration decisions and enter
the summaries into a searchable database, which can be found here: http://www.lmc.org/arbitration.
How can you use the League’s database? Your city might want
to know what the trends are in general wage increases or benefits when
bargaining over a new collective bargaining agreement. Go to the database and search
by arbitration decision type to only show the interest arbitration decisions.
Or let’s say that the city is about to go to arbitration and
has received an arbitrator list. You can search by individual arbitrators to
see recent arbitration decisions made by that person. Adding another wrinkle,
let’s say that this is an interest arbitration (where there are still terms of
the collective bargaining agreement that need to be ironed out)—you can limit
your search in the League’s database to interest arbitration decisions by
individual arbitrators. Pretty cool,
right?
The League also provides monthly updates on arbitration
decisions on three different member forums, including the League’s HR/Personnel member forum.
Written by Irene Kao, research attorney with the
League of Minnesota Cities. Contact: ikao@lmc.org or (651) 281-1224.
This blog post conveys general information. It’s not legal advice. Please check with your city attorney before acting on this information.
This blog post conveys general information. It’s not legal advice. Please check with your city attorney before acting on this information.