Court Opinion

ID: 9687769
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:47:35.037277+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:31.685083
License: Public Domain

HEFLIN, Chief Justice
(dissenting):
The firefighters’ only contention of error is that the final decree of the trial court should have held that a written agreement between the City and the firefighters was permissible
(1) if the City agrees to enter into a written agreement;
(2) if the agreement is terminable at will by the city; and
(3) if the agreement is subject to the continuing legislative discretion of the City.
*59The Firefighters’ Act (Act No. 229, Acts of Alabama, 1967, Regular Session, approved August 16, 1967) assured all firefighters serving the state or any municipality in the state the right and freedom of association, self-organization, and the right to join or to refuse to join a labor organization and to have the right to have the representatives of their own choosing to present proposals relative to salaries and other conditions of employment. However, this Act limits this right by prohibiting such a firefighter from striking or asserting the right to strike or being a member of an organization that asserts the right to strike against the state or any municipality, knowing such organization asserts such right.
Black’s Law Dictionary, Revised 4th Edition, 1968, on page 1015 defines a labor organization as follows:
“A combination of workmen usually, but not necessarily, of the same trade or of several allied trades, for securing by united action, the most favorable conditions as regards wages, hours of labor, etc., for its members. Keith Theatre v. Vachon, 134 Me. 392, 187 A. 692, 694; People v. Distributors Division, Smoked Fish Workers Union, Local No. 20377, 169 Misc. 255, 7 N.Y.S.2d 185, 187.”
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, 1966, defines labor union as follows:
“A labor organization created for the purpose of advancing (as by collective bargaining) its members’ interests (as in respect to wages and working conditions).”
A labor union certainly is not a social organization, but is an organization that has among its primary functions the following :
1. Collective bargaining for its members;
2. An agency that can execute a labor-management agreement for its collective membership.
When the legislature expressly assured all firefighters serving the state, or any municipality, the right to join a labor organization, it necessarily assured the firefighters the right to have the labor organization act as their collective bargaining agent and their signatory agent to the collective bargaining agreement.
Therefore, I am of the opinion that the relief sought by the firefighters on this appeal should be granted.
MADDOX, J., concurs.