Court Opinion

ID: 9645048
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:11:19.05979+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:22.439370
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, J.,
dissenting.
I would reverse the Appellate Division and reinstate the arbitration award. While not controlling, it is inconceivable to me that respondent was unaware that his promotion to the rank of Sergeant had been challenged by the bargaining representative for all troopers in the Division of State Police. I am satisfied that he knew of the filed grievance and the proceedings thereunder and simply waited to see what the outcome was before asserting that he should have been given notice and an opportunity to be heard. It is to be noted that the Division, in responding to the grievance, sought to uphold the promotion and sustain the basis on which it had been made.
What concerns me most is the effect the majority ruling can have on labor relations in the field of public employment. The exclusive representative for a labor unit often speaks for thousands of employees the interests of whom may vary. Nevertheless, it is the representative’s duty to act for the benefit of the members of its unit as a whole, even though the position it takes may work to the disadvantage of some few. As long as it acts in good faith, without favoritism or bias, its statutory right of exclusive representation must be accorded full weight. It could work havoc in grievance proceedings to say that individual members of a labor unit would have a right to intervene in such procedures in a situation where the exclusive representative’s position, while beneficial to the unit as a whole, adversely affects a few members of the unit. I fear that this approach can throw the proverbial monkey wrench into the resolution of *512labor disputes in the public sector. To that extent I disagree with the “assumption” made in Red Bank Reg. Educ. Assn. v. Red Bank Reg. High Sch. Bd. of Educ., 78 N.J. 122, 135 (1978), that individual employees enjoy a concurrent right with their majority representative with respect to the presentation of grievances.
A member of a unit dissatisfied with his representative’s position on a particular grievance obviously has the right to take the matter up with such representative. Should the representative violate its duty of fair representation and discriminate against members of its unit, it is answerable to those members in damages and may even be subject to an unfair practice claim under N.J.S.A. 34:13A-5.4.
For affirmance as modified — Chief Justice WILENTZ and Justices PASHMAN, SCHREIBER, HANDLER and POLLOCK — 5.
For reversal — Justice SULLIVAN — 1.