Opinion ID: 1275377
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Arbitration as a Mandatory Subject of Bargaining

Text: The first prong of Jaklinski's argument is that because grievance and arbitration procedures were mandatory subjects of bargaining over which the parties were obligated to bargain in good faith the joint employers could not unilaterally change the right to grievance arbitration. It is argued that the right thus survived the hiatus between the expiration of the old agreement and the invocation of Act 312 arbitration. This was also the theory accepted by the Court of Appeals when it ruled that Jaklinski was entitled to arbitrate her failure to be reappointed. It is true that public employers are required to bargain in good faith to impasse regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. MCL 423.215; MSA 17.455(15). Because wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment are regarded as mandatory subjects of bargaining, once a party negotiating a collective bargaining agreement proposes such a subject, neither party may take unilateral action regarding it prior to impasse. Detroit Police Officers Ass'n v Detroit, 391 Mich 44, 54-55; 214 NW2d 803 (1974). Grievance and arbitration procedures are mandatory subjects of bargaining. Pontiac Police Officers Ass'n v Pontiac, 397 Mich 674, 681; 246 NW2d 831 (1976). Under this line of reasoning, it logically follows that as part of its duty to bargain in good faith the joint employers had a duty prior to reaching impasse not to unilaterally alter the grievance arbitration mechanism in place at the time the contract expired. However, Jaklinski's grievance arose and was denied long after the parties had negotiated to impasse, at a time when the joint employers no longer had a duty not to alter the grievance arbitration mechanism. In addition, these duties are created in the public employment relations act, and are only enforceable under the mechanism set forth in the PERA by the Legislature. Breach of these duties is an unfair labor practice, and requests for an order to cease and desist from such practices are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Michigan Employment Relations Commission. MCL 423.216; MSA 17.455(16). Lamphere Schools v Lamphere Federation of Teachers, 400 Mich 104, 118; 252 NW2d 818 (1977). Jaklinski's claim in circuit court must be based on a viable contractual right to arbitration, and her claim based on statutory rights to good faith bargaining must be addressed to the MERC. [4] We thus reject the first prong of Jaklinski's argument.