Court Opinion

ID: 9738981
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:06:44.756049+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:09.570914
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
The majority opinion focuses so intently on the language of the contract that it loses sight of the contract as a whole and arrives at an illogical interpretation.
If the majority interpretation of the contract were correct, Union would have expended great time and energy negotiating the contract, only in the end to give State permission to unilaterally change any contract provision, whether required or not. Such ah interpretation is nonsensical. Union would never intend to enter into such an agreement because, in effect, it would leave Union at the will of the State with no contract.
The majority interpretation gives the State unrestricted power to change the contract (as evident from the nature of the changes approved by the majority). As AFSCME correctly argues, the regulations at issue in this case were unnecessary because the Fair Labor Standards Act establishes only minimum requirements. CSC simply was not obligated to promulgate the regulations, thereby altering the essence of the contract.* Therefore, if State is free to make these discretionary changes without Union’s acceptance or negotiation, then it is free to promulgate regulations altering any provision of the contract. Consequently, Union has no contract, a result they would never intend.
Although the court must look to the language of the contract, the contract must be read as a whole, taking into consideration “the bargaining history, the context in which the contract was negotiated, the interpretation of the contract by the parties, and the conduct of the parties bearing upon its meaning.” International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. N.L.R.B., 788 F.2d 1412, 1414 (9th Cir.1986); see also Bednarik v. United Steelworkers of America, 634 F.Supp. 498, 501 (N.D.Ohio 1985) (“When a case turns on the interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement, *16it may be appropriate to look beyond even the plainest contractual language to determine the intent of the parties.”). The court should strive for a balanced, reasonable contract interpretation. See General Motors Corp. v. Erves, 399 Mich. 241, 249 N.W.2d 41 (1976). Here, a reasonable interpretation would allow State to unilaterally alter the contract only when necessary. See United States Trust Co. of New York v. New Jersey, 431 U.S. 1, 25, 97 S.Ct. 1505, 1519, 52 L.Ed.2d 92, 112 (1977) (Laws impairing a state’s own financial obligations are constitutional only if they are “reasonable and necessary to serve an important public purpose.”).
Contrary to the statement in the majority opinion, the crux of this case is not “whether CSC may impose midstream rule changes which affect terms of a collective bargaining agreement,” but whether CSC may impose “unnecessary” changes. If the CSC rules are wrong or overreaching, or, as here, unnecessary, then they cannot be immediately superimposed on the negotiated agreement or contract — that is why they are subject to negotiation. Wright v. Board of Education of City of East Orange, 99 N.J. 112, 491 A.2d 644 (1985). Therefore, I concur to the extent that the midstream rule changes were necessary, but dissent to the extent the changes were unnecessary.

 See Sonoma County Organization of Public Employees v. County of Sonoma, 23 Cal.3d 296, 152 Cal.Rptr. 903, 591 P.2d 1 (1979) (Wages are frequently “the very heart of an employment contract.”).