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2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150a - Labor Relations › Section 5a - Agricultural Workers; Representatives

Section 5A. In the case of a person engaged in agriculture, as hereinafter defined, and having a permanent hired work force of more than four agricultural workers who are not members of his family, the provisions of section five shall apply; provided that only the employer unit shall be deemed appropriate for collective bargaining purposes; and provided further that nothing in this section nor in said section five shall be construed as constituting authority for any action or proceeding to nullify, amend or otherwise modify any contract or agreement, or any provision thereof, which is reached by any such person for the seasonal employment of agricultural workers with the official sanction either of the government of any territorial possession of the United States or of the United States department of labor. As used in this section, the term ''agriculture'' includes horticulture, floriculture and any other commercial enterprise involving the production of food or fiber.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150a - Labor Relations › Section 6a - Denial of Admission To, and Suspension or Expulsion From, a Labor Organization; Proceedings for Relief; Voting Rights of Non-Participants in Insurance Plans and of Local Organizations in Conventions

Section 6A. Any employee who is required as a condition of employment to be a member in good standing of a labor organization may file with the commission a charge alleging (1) that, although eligible to membership, he has been unfairly denied admission to, or unfairly suspended or expelled from membership in, such organization for reasons other than malfeasance in office or non-payment of regular initiation fees, dues, or assessments and (2) that such labor organization has requested, or is about to request, his employer to discharge or otherwise discriminate against him because of his failure to maintain membership in good standing in such organization; provided, that such charge shall be filed not more than fifteen days after notice of such request has been given the employee by the labor organization. Upon filing of such charge, the commission shall have power to issue and cause to be served upon the labor organization a complaint stating the charge in that respect and containing a notice of hearing. The notice shall be given and the subsequent proceedings shall be conducted in the manner provided in section six. If upon all the evidence the commission shall determine that the employee was unfairly denied admission to membership in such organization, or that such discipline—
(1) Was imposed by the labor organization in violation of its constitution and by-laws; or
(2) Was imposed without a fair trial, including an adequate hearing and opportunity to defend; or
(3) Was not warranted by the offense, if any, committed by the employee against the labor organization; or
(4) Is not consistent with the established public policy of the commonwealth;
then the commission shall state its determinations and shall issue and cause to be served on the labor organization an order requiring it, in its discretion, either to admit or restore the employee to membership in good standing together with full voting rights, or else to refrain from seeking to bring about any discrimination against him in his employment because he is not a member in good standing, and to return to him such union dues and assessments as may have been collected from him during the period of his suspension or expulsion from the union. If the commission shall not make such a determination after hearing, it shall enter an order dismissing the charge filed by the employee.
Nothing contained in this section or in section four shall be deemed to require a labor organization as a condition of making or enforcing a contract requiring membership therein as a condition of employment, to accord to non-participants in an insurance plan the right to vote on questions pertaining thereto or to grant local organizations voting rights in a convention proportionate to their membership.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150a - Labor Relations › Section 8 - Interference With Member or Agent of Commission

Section 8. Any person who shall wilfully resist, prevent, impede or interfere with any member of the commission or any of its agents or agencies in the performance of duties pursuant to this chapter shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150a - Labor Relations › Section 9a - Grievances or Disputes Between Health Care Facilities and Nurses

Section 9A. (a) In the event of the existence of a grievance or a dispute between a health care facility or a charitable home for the aged and an organization designated or selected as the exclusive representative of any nurse or nonprofessional employee of such facility or of such home for the purposes of collective bargaining in accordance with section five, and if such grievance or dispute has not been settled by collective bargaining after reasonable effort so to do by either party, and if there is no collective bargaining agreement in force between the parties, or such an agreement is in force but it contains no provision to submit the current grievance or dispute, as the case may be, to arbitration, the procedures provided by chapter one hundred and fifty C shall be available, on application of an aggrieved party, to determine the controversy as though the parties had negotiated a collective bargaining agreement containing a provision as described in section one of said chapter one hundred and fifty C to submit to arbitration and such agreement were then in force; provided, however, that the procedures provided by said chapter one hundred and fifty C shall not be available to assist or require arbitration of any grievance or dispute involving a health care facility owned and operated by the commonwealth or a political subdivision thereof; and provided, further, that in the case of a grievance or a dispute involving any health care facility not owned and operated by the commonwealth or a political subdivision thereof or involving a charitable home for the aged it shall not be a ground for refusing to grant an order for arbitration under paragraph (a) of section two of said chapter one hundred and fifty C, or for granting an application for stay of an arbitration proceeding under paragraph (b) of said section, or for vacating an award under clause (5) of paragraph (a) of section eleven of said chapter one hundred and fifty C, that there is no agreement to arbitrate.
(b) As used in this section the word ''grievance'' shall mean any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to the interpretation, application or breach of the provisions of an existing collective bargaining agreement between a health care facility or charitable home for the aged and any of its nurse or nonprofessional employees or their representatives; the word ''dispute'' shall mean all other controversies, claims or disputes between a health care facility or charitable home for the aged and any of its nurse or nonprofessional employees, or their representatives, concerning rates of pay, hours or other terms or conditions of employment in such facility or home, including, but not limited to, controversies, claims or disputes arising in the course of negotiation, fixing, maintaining, changing or arranging any such terms or conditions.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150a - Labor Relations › Section 10 - Conflict of Laws; Federal Statutes and Regulations

Section 10. (a) Wherever the application of the provisions of any other law of this commonwealth conflicts with the application of the provisions of this chapter, this chapter shall prevail.
(b) This chapter shall not be deemed applicable to any unfair labor practice involving employees who are subject to and protected by the Federal Railway Labor Act, or to any unfair labor practice governed exclusively by the national labor relations act or other federal statute or regulations issued pursuant thereto, unless the federal agency administering such act, statute or regulation has declined to assert jurisdiction thereof, or except where such federal agency has conceded to the commission jurisdiction over any such case or proceedings.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150a - Labor Relations › Section 11 - Partial Invalidity

Section 11. If any provision of this chapter, or the application of such provision to any person or circumstance, shall be held invalid, the remainder of this chapter, or the application of such provision to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid, shall not be affected thereby.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150b - Peaceful Settlement of Industrial Disputes Dangerous to Public Health and Safety › Section 1 - Findings and Public Policy

Section 1. The general court hereby finds that the distribution of food, fuel, water, electric light and power, gas, and hospital and medical services is essential to the public health and safety and that the settlement of industrial disputes which threaten substantial interruption of such distribution is therefore affected with a public interest; that the adjustment of differences concerning wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment which might lead to such disputes can best be accomplished by encouraging collective bargaining between employers and representatives freely designated or selected by their employees; but that the intervention of government is necessary to protect the public health and safety whenever an industrial dispute which has not been settled by collective bargaining threatens an immediate and substantial interruption in the production or distribution of food, fuel, water, electric light or power, gas, or hospital or medical services which would dangerously curtail their availability in any community.
It is therefore declared to be the policy of the commonwealth (a) to place primary responsibility upon the employers and representatives freely designated or selected by employees for the avoidance of any interruption in the production or distribution of food, fuel, water, electric light and power, gas, or hospital or medical services resulting from differences concerning wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment and (b) in the event that a peaceful adjustment of such differences is not accomplished by collective bargaining, to provide procedures for government intervention and the establishment of wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment without any interruption in the production or distribution of such goods or services which would dangerously curtail their availability in any community.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150b - Peaceful Settlement of Industrial Disputes Dangerous to Public Health and Safety › Section 2 - Definitions

Section 2. When used in this chapter—
''Person'' includes one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, or receivers.
''Employer'' includes any person acting in the interest of an employer, directly or indirectly, but shall not include the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, or any labor organization (other than when acting as an employer), or any one acting in the capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization.
''Employee'' shall include any employee, and shall not be limited to the employees of a particular employer, and shall include any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute, and who has not obtained any other regular and substantially equivalent employment.
''Representative of employees'' means any person or labor organization designated or selected for the purpose of collective bargaining by a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for such purposes.
''Labor dispute'' includes any controversy concerning rates of pay, wages, hours or terms, tenure or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee.
''Essential goods or services'' means food, fuel, water, electric light or power, gas, and hospital or medical services.
''Production'' includes production, manufacture, mining, handling, transporting, or in any other manner working on, and shall also include any process or occupation necessary to such production.
''Distribution'' includes distributing, transporting, handling, storing, selling at wholesale or retail, or furnishing and shall also include any process or occupation necessary to such distribution.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150b - Peaceful Settlement of Industrial Disputes Dangerous to Public Health and Safety › Section 5 - Relief Against Violations of Statutes; Injunction

Section 5. (a) No person, other than the commonwealth as provided in subsection (b) hereof and except as provided in subsection (c) of section four, shall be entitled to legal or equitable relief in any court of the commonwealth as a result of a violation of any provision of this chapter.
(b) The superior court in an action by the commonwealth shall have jurisdiction to restrain and enjoin violations of this chapter and such jurisdiction shall not be limited by the provisions concerning labor disputes contained in section twenty C of chapter one hundred and forty-nine, sections one and six of chapter two hundred and fourteen, and sections thirteen A and thirteen B of chapter two hundred and twenty; provided that such actions shall be brought by direction of the governor and not otherwise.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150b - Peaceful Settlement of Industrial Disputes Dangerous to Public Health and Safety › Section 6 - Partial Invalidity

Section 6. If any provision of this chapter or the application of such provision to any person or circumstance shall be held invalid, the remainder of this chapter, or the application of such provision to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid, shall not be affected thereby.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150b - Peaceful Settlement of Industrial Disputes Dangerous to Public Health and Safety › Section 8 - Fees, Expenses and Facilities for Moderators and Members of Commissions and Boards

Section 8. Any person appointed by the governor to serve as a moderator or as a member of a special commission or as an impartial member of an emergency board or any person selected as an impartial member of an emergency board under the provisions of this act, shall receive a per diem fee of fifty dollars plus reasonable and necessary expenses. The director of the department of labor relations is authorized and directed to arrange for any facilities required by such boards or moderators including the place for the hearing and stenographic transcripts of the hearing and the commonwealth shall pay for the same upon the certification of the director.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 1 - Legal Status of Agreements

Section 1. A written agreement or a provision in a written agreement between a labor organization or organizations, as defined in subsection (5) of section two of chapter one hundred and fifty A, and an employer or employers or association or group of employers to submit to arbitration any existing controversy or any controversy thereafter arising between parties to the agreement, including but not restricted to any controversy dealing with rates of pay, wages, hours or other terms and conditions of employment of any employee or employees, shall be valid, enforceable and irrevocable, except as otherwise provided by law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 2 - Failure to Arbitrate; Application to Superior Court; Procedure

Section 2. (a) A party aggrieved by the failure or refusal of another to proceed to arbitration under an agreement described in section one may apply to the superior court for an order directing the parties to proceed to arbitration. The court shall order arbitration unless (1) the opposing party denies the existence of the agreement to arbitrate; or (2) the claim sought to be arbitrated does not state a controversy covered by the provision for arbitration; provided, that an order for arbitration shall not be refused where a dispute concerning the interpretation or application of the arbitration provision is itself made subject to arbitration or on the ground that the claim in issue lacks merit or bona fides or because no fault or grounds for the claim have been shown. In either event the court shall proceed summarily to the determination of the issue so raised and shall, if it finds for the applicant, order arbitration; otherwise, the application shall be denied.
(b) Upon application, the superior court may stay an arbitration proceeding commenced or threatened if it finds (1) that there is no agreement to arbitrate, or (2) that the claim sought to be arbitrated does not state a controversy covered by the provision for arbitration and disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the arbitration provision are not themselves made subject to arbitration. Such an issue, when in substantial and bona fide dispute, shall be forthwith and summarily determined, and if the court finds for the applicant it shall order a stay of arbitration, otherwise the court shall order the parties to proceed to arbitration; provided that an order to stay arbitration shall not be granted on the ground that the claim in issue lacks merit or bona fides or because no fault or grounds for the claim sought to be arbitrated have been shown.
(c) If an issue referable to arbitration under the alleged agreement is involved in an action or proceeding pending in a court having jurisdiction to hear applications under paragraph (a) of this section, the application shall be made therein. Otherwise and subject to section fifteen, the application may be made in any court of competent jurisdiction.
(d) Any action or proceeding involving an issue subject to arbitration shall be stayed if an order for arbitration or an application therefor has been made under this section or, if the issue is severable, the stay may be with respect to such issue only. When the application is made in such action or proceeding, the order for arbitration shall include such stay.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 3 - Arbitrators; Method of Appointment; Appointment by Court

Section 3. If the arbitration agreement provides a method for the appointment of arbitrators, such method shall be followed. In the absence thereof, or if the agreed method fails or for any reason cannot be followed, or if an arbitrator appointed fails or is unable to act and his successor has not been duly appointed, the superior court on application of a party shall appoint the arbitrator. The court shall submit to the parties a list of five persons experienced in labor arbitration from which each party may delete two names and the appointment shall be made from the name or names remaining. An arbitrator so appointed shall have all the powers of an arbitrator specifically named in the agreement.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 5 - Notice; Effect of Appearance; Hearings

Section 5. Unless otherwise provided by the agreement:—
(a) The arbitrators shall appoint a time and place for the hearing and cause written notice to the parties to be served personally or by registered mail not less than five days before the hearing. Appearance at the hearing shall constitute waiver of such notice. The arbitrators may adjourn the hearing from time to time and may conduct a hearing and make a ruling on the arbitrability of the controversy prior to receiving evidence on the merits. On request of a party and for good cause, or upon their own motion the arbitrators may postpone the hearing to a time not later than the date fixed by the agreement for making the award unless the parties consent to a later date. The arbitrators may hear and determine the controversy upon the evidence produced, notwithstanding the failure of a party duly notified to appear. The court upon application of either party may direct the arbitrators to proceed promptly with the hearing and determination of the controversy.
(b) The parties shall have the right to be heard, to present evidence material to the controversy and to cross-examine witnesses appearing at the hearing.
(c) The hearing shall be conducted by all the arbitrators, but a majority may determine any question and render a final award. If, during the course of the hearing, an arbitrator for any reason ceases to act, the remaining arbitrator or arbitrators appointed to act as neutrals may continue with the hearing and determination of the controversy.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 7 - Award; Time; Waiver of Objections

Section 7. (a) The award shall be in writing and signed by the arbitrators concurring in the award. The arbitrators shall deliver a copy of the award to each party personally or by registered mail, or as provided in the agreement.
(b) An award shall be made within the time fixed by the agreement or, if said time is not so fixed, within such time as the court orders upon application of a party. The parties may by an agreement in writing extend the time either before or after the expiration thereof. A party shall be deemed to have waived the objection that an award was not made within the time required unless he notifies the arbitrators of his objection prior to the delivery of the award to him.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 8 - Award; Modification; Time for Application; Notice

Section 8. Upon application of a party or, if an application to the court is pending under sections ten, eleven or twelve, on submission to the arbitrators by the court under such conditions as the court may order, the arbitrators may modify or correct the award upon the grounds stated in clauses (1) and (3) of paragraph (a) of section twelve, or may clarify or correct an award which is so indefinite or incomplete that it cannot be performed. The application shall be made within ten days after delivery of the award to the applicant. Written notice thereof shall be given forthwith to the opposing party, stating that he must serve his objections thereto, if any, within ten days from the notice. The award so modified or corrected shall be subject to the provisions of sections ten, eleven and twelve.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 9 - Expenses and Fees

Section 9. Unless otherwise provided in the agreement to arbitrate, the arbitrator's expenses and fees, together with other expenses, except counsel fees, incurred in the conduct of the arbitration, shall be paid as provided in the award.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 10 - Confirmation of Award

Section 10. Upon application of a party, the superior court shall confirm an award, unless within the time limits, hereinafter imposed grounds are urged for vacating, modifying or correcting the award, in which case the court shall proceed as provided in sections eleven and twelve.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 11 - Vacation of Award; Grounds; Application; Rehearing

Section 11. (a) Upon application of a party, the superior court shall vacate an award if:—
(1) the award was procured by corruption, fraud or other undue means;
(2) there was evident partiality by an arbitrator appointed as a neutral, or corruption in any of the arbitrators, or misconduct prejudicing the rights of any party;
(3) the arbitrators exceeded their powers or rendered an award requiring a person to commit an act or engage in conduct prohibited by state or federal law;
(4) the arbitrators refused to postpone the hearing upon a sufficient cause being shown therefor or refused to hear evidence material to the controversy or otherwise so conducted the hearing, contrary to the provisions of section five as to prejudice substantially the rights of a party;
(5) there was no arbitration agreement and the issue was not adversely determined in proceedings under section two and the party did not participate in the arbitration hearing without raising the objection; but the fact that the award orders reinstatement of an employee with or without back pay or grants relief such that it could not grant or would not be granted by a court of law or equity shall not be ground for vacating or refusing to confirm the award.
(b) An application under this section shall be made within thirty days after delivery of a copy of the award to the applicant, provided that, if such application is based upon a claim of corruption, fraud or other undue means it shall be made within thirty days after such grounds are known or should have been known.
(c) In vacating the award on grounds other than stated in clause (5) of paragraph (a) the court may order a rehearing before new arbitrators chosen as provided in the agreement, or in the absence thereof, by the court in accordance with section three, or if the award is vacated on grounds set forth in clause (3) or (4) of paragraph (a), the court may order a rehearing before the arbitrators who made the award or their successors appointed in accordance with section three. The time within which the agreement requires the award to be made shall be applicable to the rehearing and shall commence from the date of the order.
(d) If the application to vacate an award is denied and no motion to modify or correct the award is pending, the court shall confirm the award.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 12 - Modification or Correction of Award; Grounds; Procedure

Section 12. (a) Upon application made within thirty days after delivery of a copy of the award to the applicant, the superior court shall modify or correct the award if:—
(1) There was an evident miscalculation of figures or an evident mistake in the description of any person, thing or property referred to in the award;
(2) The arbitrators have awarded upon a matter not submitted to them and the award may be corrected without affecting the merits of the decision upon the issues submitted; or
(3) The award is imperfect in a matter of form, not affecting the merits of the controversy.
(b) If the application is granted, the court shall modify and correct the award so as to effect its intent and shall confirm the award as so modified and corrected; otherwise, it shall confirm the award as made.
(c) An application to modify or correct an award may be joined in the alternative with an application to vacate the award.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 13 - Effect of Judgment or Decree

Section 13. Upon the granting of an order confirming, modifying or correcting an award, judgment or decree shall be entered in conformity therewith and shall be enforced as any other judgment or decree. Costs of the application and of the proceedings subsequent thereto, and disbursements in connection therewith may be awarded by the court.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 14 - Hearings in Superior Court; Time; Service of Notice

Section 14. Except as otherwise provided, an application to the superior court under this chapter shall be heard upon fourteen days' notice in the manner provided by law or rule of court for the hearing of motions. Unless the parties have agreed otherwise, notice of an initial application for an order shall be served in the manner provided by law for the service of an original writ of summons.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 15 - Venue; Removal of Cases

Section 15. An initial application shall be made to the superior court for a county in which two or more employees covered by the agreement described in section one have their place of employment, or to the superior court for the county of Suffolk, but if so presented to the superior court for the county of Suffolk, that court may, on motion of any party in interest, order the case removed to the superior court for a county in which a substantial portion of the employees covered by the agreement have their place of employment. All subsequent applications shall be made to the court hearing the initial application unless the court otherwise directs.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150c - Collective Bargaining Agreements to Arbitrate › Section 16 - Appeals

Section 16. An appeal may be taken from (1) an order denying an application to compel arbitration made under paragraph (a) of section two; (2) an order granting an application to stay arbitration made under paragraph (b) of section two; (3) an order confirming or denying confirmation of an award; (4) an order modifying or correcting an award; (5) an order vacating an award without directing a rehearing; or (6) a judgment or decree entered pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
Such appeal shall be taken in the manner and to the same extent as from orders or judgments in an action.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150e - Labor Relations: Public Employees › Section 2 - Collective Bargaining; Self Organization

Section 2. Employees shall have the right of self-organization and the right to form, join, or assist any employee organization for the purpose of bargaining collectively through representatives of their own choosing on questions of wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, and to engage in lawful, concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, free from interference, restraint, or coercion. An employee shall have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities, except to the extent of making such payment of service fees to an exclusive representative as provided in section twelve.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150e - Labor Relations: Public Employees › Section 3 - Bargaining Units; Rules and Regulations; Procedures; Officers Excepted

Section 3. The commission shall prescribe rules and regulations and establish procedures for the determination of appropriate bargaining units which shall be consistent with the purposes of providing for stable and continuing labor relations, giving due regard to such criteria as community of interest, efficiency of operations and effective dealings, and to safeguarding the rights of employees to effective representation. No unit shall include both professional and nonprofessional employees unless a majority of such professional employees votes for inclusion in such unit; provided, however, that in any fire department, or any department in whole or in part engaging in, or having the responsibility of, fire fighting, no uniformed member of the department subordinate to a fire commission, fire commissioner, public safety director, board of engineers or chief of department shall be classified as a professional, confidential, executive, administrative or other managerial employee for the purpose of this chapter.
No elected or appointed official, member of any board or commission, representative of a public employer, including the administrative officer, director or chief of a department or agency of the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, or clerk, temporary clerk or assistant clerk of any court, or chief probation officer or acting chief probation officer of any court or region, including, without limitation within the term, any division or department of the trial court or any other managerial or confidential employee shall be included in an appropriate bargaining unit or entitled to coverage under this chapter.
The appropriate bargaining unit in the case of the uniformed members of the state police shall be all such uniformed members in titles below the rank of lieutenant. The appropriate bargaining units for judicial employees within the provisions of this chapter shall be a public safety professional unit composed of all probation officers and court officers, and a unit composed of all nonmanagerial or nonconfidential staff and clerical personnel employed by the judiciary; provided that court officers in the superior court department for Suffolk and Middlesex counties shall be represented by such other bargaining units as they may elect.
The appropriate bargaining unit in the case of employees of the state lottery commission shall be all employees below the rank of assistant director.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150e - Labor Relations: Public Employees › Section 5 - Exclusive Representative; Powers and Duties; Payment of Cost and Fees by Non-Member; Grievances

Section 5. The exclusive representative shall have the right to act for and negotiate agreements covering all employees in the unit and shall be responsible for representing the interests of all such employees without discrimination and without regard to employee organization membership.
The exclusive representative may require a non-member to pay for the reasonable costs and fees, including arbitrator fees and related attorney fees, for grieving or arbitrating a matter arising under an agreement negotiated pursuant to this section and brought at the non-member's request. The exclusive representative may require a non-member to pay any anticipated proportional costs and fees prior to a grievance or arbitration hearing. Failure to pay costs and fees shall relieve the exclusive representative of further responsibility to the non-member regarding the matter.
An exclusive representative's duty of fair representation to a public employee who is in the bargaining unit shall be limited to the negotiation and enforcement of the terms of agreements with the public employer. The laws of the commonwealth shall not prohibit an employee organization from providing only to its members legal, economic or job-related services or benefits outside of the collective bargaining agreement.
An employee may present a grievance to his employer and have such grievance heard without intervention by the exclusive representative of the employee organization representing said employee, provided that the exclusive representative is afforded the opportunity to be present at such conferences and that any adjustment made shall not be inconsistent with the terms of an agreement then in effect between the employer and the exclusive representative.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150e - Labor Relations: Public Employees › Section 6 - Negotiations; Meetings

Section 6. The employer and the exclusive representative shall meet at reasonable times, including meetings in advance of the employer's budget-making process and shall negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, standards or productivity and performance, and any other terms and conditions of employment, including without limitation, in the case of teaching personnel employed by a school committee, class size and workload, but such obligation shall not compel either party to agree to a proposal or make a concession; provided, however, that in no event shall the right of any employee to run as a candidate for or to hold elective office be deemed to be within the scope of negotiation.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150e - Labor Relations: Public Employees › Section 8 - Grievance Procedure; Arbitration

Section 8. The parties may include in any written agreement a grievance procedure culminating in final and binding arbitration to be invoked in the event of any dispute concerning the interpretation or application of such written agreement. In the absence of such grievance procedure, binding arbitration may be ordered by the commission upon the request of either party; provided that any such grievance procedure shall, wherever applicable, be exclusive and shall supercede any otherwise applicable grievance procedure provided by law; and further provided that binding arbitration hereunder shall be enforceable under the provisions of chapter one hundred and fifty C and shall, where such arbitration is elected by the employee as the method of grievance resolution, be the exclusive procedure for resolving any such grievance involving suspension, dismissal, removal or termination notwithstanding any contrary provisions of sections thirty-nine and forty-one to forty-five, inclusive, of chapter thirty-one, section sixteen of chapter thirty-two, or sections forty-two through forty-three A, inclusive, of chapter seventy-one. Where binding arbitration is provided under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement as a means of resolving grievances concerning job abolition, demotion, promotion, layoff, recall, or appointment and where an employee elects such binding arbitration as the method of resolution under said collective bargaining agreement, such binding arbitration shall be the exclusive procedure for resolving any such grievance, notwithstanding any contrary provisions of sections thirty-seven, thirty-eight, forty-two to forty-three A, inclusive, and section fifty-nine B of chapter seventy-one.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150e - Labor Relations: Public Employees › Section 9a - Strikes Prohibited; Investigation; Enforcement Proceedings

Section 9A. (a) No public employee or employee organization shall engage in a strike, and no public employee or employee organization shall induce, encourage or condone any strike, work stoppage, slowdown or withholding of services by such public employees.
(b) Whenever a strike occurs or is about to occur, the employer shall petition the commission to make an investigation. If, after investigation, the commission determines that any provision of paragraph (a) of this section has been or is about to be violated, it shall immediately set requirements that must be complied with, including, but not limited to, instituting appropriate proceedings in the superior court for the county wherein such violation has occurred or is about to occur for enforcement of such requirements.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150e - Labor Relations: Public Employees › Section 10 - Prohibited Practices

Section 10. (a) It shall be a prohibited practice for a public employer or its designated representative to:
(1) Interfere, restrain, or coerce any employee in the exercise of any right guaranteed under this chapter;
(2) Dominate, interfere, or assist in the formation, existence, or administration of any employee organization;
(3) Discriminate in regard to hiring, tenure, or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any employee organization;
(4) Discharge or otherwise discriminate against an employee because he has signed or filed an affidavit, petition, or complaint or given any information or testimony under this chapter, or because he has informed, joined, or chosen to be represented by an employee organization;
(5) Refuse to bargain collectively in good faith with the exclusive representative as required in section six;
(6) Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation, fact-finding, and arbitration procedures set forth in sections eight and nine;
(b) It shall be a prohibited practice for an employee organization or its designated agent to:
(1) Interfere, restrain, or coerce any employer or employee in the exercise of any right guaranteed under this chapter;
(2) Refuse to bargain collectively in good faith with the public employer, if it is an exclusive representative, as required in section six;
(3) Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation, fact finding and arbitration procedures set forth in sections eight and nine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150e - Labor Relations: Public Employees › Section 12 - Service Fee; Imposition; Amount; Discrimination

Section 12. The commonwealth or any other employer shall require as a condition of employment during the life of a collective bargaining agreement so providing, the payment on or after the thirtieth day following the beginning of such employment or the effective date of such agreement, whichever is later, of a service fee to the employee organization which in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, is duly recognized by the employer or designated by the commission as the exclusive bargaining agent for the unit in which such employee is employed; provided, however, that such service fee shall not be imposed unless the collective bargaining agreement requiring its payment as a condition of employment has been formally executed, pursuant to a vote of a majority of all employees in such bargaining unit present and voting.
Prior to the vote, the exclusive bargaining agent shall make reasonable efforts to notify all employees in the unit of the time and place of the meeting at which the ratification vote is to be held, or any other method which will be used to conduct the ratification vote. The amount of such service fee shall be equal to the amount required to become a member and remain a member in good standing of the exclusive bargaining agent and its affiliates to or from which membership dues or per capita fees are paid or received. No employee organization shall receive a service fee as provided herein unless it has established a procedure by which any employee so demanding may obtain a rebate of that part of said employee's service payment, if any, that represents a pro rata share of expenditures by the organization or its affiliates for:
(1) contributions to political candidates or political committees formed for a candidate or political party;
(2) publicizing of an organizational preference for a candidate for political office;
(3) efforts to enact, defeat, repeal or amend legislation unrelated to the wages, hours, standards of productivity and performance, and other terms and conditions of employment, and the welfare or the working environment of employees represented by the exclusive bargaining agent or its affiliates;
(4) contributions to charitable, religious or idealogical causes not germane to its duties as the exclusive bargaining agent;
(5) benefits which are not germane to the governance or duties as bargaining agent, of the exclusive bargaining agent or its affiliates and available only to the members of the employee organization.
It shall be a prohibited labor practice for an employee organization or its affiliates to discriminate against an employee on the basis of the employee's membership, nonmembership or agency fee status in the employee organization or its affiliates.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 150e - Labor Relations: Public Employees › Section 13 - List of Employee Organizations; Required Information; Filing; Compliance, Enforcement

Section 13. The commission shall maintain a list of employee organizations. To be recognized as such and to be included in the list an organization shall file with the commission a statement of its name, the name and address of its secretary or other officer to whom notices may be sent, the date of its organization, and its affiliations, if any, with other organizations. Every employee organization shall notify the commission promptly of any change of name or of the name and address of its secretary or other officer to whom notices may be sent, or of its affiliations.
The commission shall indicate on the list which employee organizations are exclusive representatives of appropriate bargaining units, the effective dates of their certification, and the effective date and expiration date of any agreement reached between the public employer and the exclusive representative. Copies of such list shall be made available to interested parties upon request.
In the event of failure of compliance with this section, the commission shall compel such compliance by appropriate order, said order to be enforceable in the superior court for the county wherein such violation has occurred in the same manner as other orders of the commission under this chapter.