Opinion ID: 2088385
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the labor relations commission's case.

Text: Our holding in the policemen's and firemen's cases with respect to the 1971 salary ordinances and appropriations disposes of the principal issue in the commission's case  whether or not the policemen are entitled to receive their negotiated wage increases for 1972. Nevertheless, we discuss the commission's case because it raises certain important questions about the meaning and effect of G.L.c. 149, §§ 178G-178N, questions which we believe will continue to arise under the new public employees collective bargaining law, G.L.c. 150E, effective July 1, 1974. On April 4, 1972, the association filed a complaint of prohibited practices against the city and its then mayor, Rudolph H. DeSilva, based on the mayor's refusal to submit a request to the council for an appropriation to fund the policemen's 1972 wage increases. After hearing, the commission rendered a decision which found that this refusal constituted a refusal to bargain collectively in good faith in violation of G.L.c. 149, § 178L (4). It ordered the mayor to take the necessary steps to fund the wage increases. The city and the mayor thereafter filed in the Superior Court the bill for review at issue here. It was transferred to the Appeals Court for argument with the firemen's and policemen's cases. Mendes v. Taunton, 1 Mass. App. Ct. 486 (1973). The Appeals Court treated the commission's case in summary fashion at the end of its opinion and remanded the case to the Superior Court for proceedings not inconsistent therewith. Id. at 491. We do not agree with this disposition of the commission's case. In its decision the commission concluded that by refusing to submit the appropriation request to fund the 1972 wage increases the mayor violated explicit provisions of the contract and of G.L.c. 149, § 178I, which required him to make such a submission entirely apart from and independent of the 1971 salary ordinance. We believe this conclusion is correct. There is no suggestion in the record that the contract was not validly negotiated or executed. The fact that the execution on behalf of the city was performed by Mayor DeSilva's predecessor in office is irrelevant, as he did so in his capacity as chief executive officer, designated by statute as the official bargaining representative of the city. See § 178I (second sentence). The contract continued to be binding on both the city and the new mayor. Article XXXVI of the contract explicitly required [t]he Mayor of the City of Taunton ... [to] promptly submit to the Municipal Council ... appropriate requests for the appropriations, ordinances and legislation necessary to implement the terms of this Agreement. This language echoes that in § 178I: If funds are necessary to implement such written [collective bargaining] agreement, a request for the necessary appropriation shall be submitted to the legislative body. [12] On taking office in January, 1972, Mayor DeSilva was clearly obligated to carry out the duties embodied in these contractual and statutory provisions by requesting the necessary appropriations to fund the 1972 increases, [13] although the council would be free to refuse the request. [14] The only question remaining is whether, as the commission found, the mayor's refusal to make such a request constituted a failure to bargain collectively in good faith in violation of G.L.c. 149, § 178L (4). We agree with the commission's decision. The record shows that it was supported by substantial evidence and we find no error of law therein. See G.L.c. 30A, § 14 (8). It may be true, as the city asserts, that every breach of a collective bargaining contract is not per se a prohibited labor practice. [15] In this case, however, the mayor refused to implement what was probably the critical provision of the contract, the increased salary schedule, and his refusal appeared to be a violation of G.L.c. 149, § 178I, as well as a breach of contract. We agree with the commission that emphasis should be placed on the obligation of parties to a municipal collective bargaining contract to implement its provisions and we believe the mayor's refusal to honor this obligation properly could be found to constitute a prohibited practice under § 178L. [16] The fact that a judge of the Superior Court ruled later that year that payment of the 1972 wage increases would have been in violation of G.L.c. 44, § 33A, is not a proper defence, contrary to the city's contention. [17]