Opinion ID: 1961252
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the alleged conflict between article i, paragraph 19, and the provisions of section 7 of chapter 303, l. 1968, respecting the handling of grievances.

Text: Plaintiffs again refer to the portion of paragraph 19 which says: Persons in public employment shall have the right to    present to and make known to    [the public employers] their grievances and proposals through representatives of their own choosing. They contend this language confers an unqualified right on each individual public employee or minority group of employees to process his or their own grievances either personally or by a representative of his or their own choosing other than the majority representative. Therefore, they claim the Legislature cannot constitutionally require, as it seeks to do by section 7 of Chapter 303, that individual or minority group grievances be processed by the majority representative in accordance with a collective agreement negotiated by such representative. The allegedly transgressing portions of section 7 are: A majority representative of public employees in an appropriate unit shall be entitled to act for and to negotiate argeements covering all employees in the unit   . In addition, the majority representative and designated representatives of the public employer shall meet at reasonable times and negotiate in good faith with respect to grievances   .