NCJ Number
94909
Journal
Tennessee Law Review Volume: 51 Issue: 2 Dated: (Winter 1984) Pages: 187-234
Date Published
1984
Length
48 pages
Annotation
Supreme Court decisions on the role of arbitration are compared with those of the National Labor Relations Board.
Abstract
During the 1950's and 1960's, the Supreme Court handed down several decisions -- for example, Textile Workers Union v. Lincoln Mills of Alabama, Steelworkers Trilogy, and Boys Market v. Retail Clerks Local 770 -- in support of arbitration of labor disputes. These cases seemed to confirm the National Labor Relations Board's practice of deferring to arbitration awards in cases that involved violations of the National Labor Relations Act, provided that certain minimal procedural standards were met. In two recent Supreme Court decisions, Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co. and William E. Arnold Co. v. Carpenters District Council of Jacksonville and Vicinity, the Court found that the Federal policy favoring arbitration does not permit deferral in cases where workers' rights as individuals are involved. The Court held that parties could not waive such individual rights by collective bargaining agreements' grievance arbitration provisions. However, in spite of the Supreme Court's more restrictive view, the Board has expanded its own deferral practice since January 1984, when it redefined the doctrine set forth in its consideration of the Spielberg Manufacturing Co. case so that even more emphasis is placed on the arbitration process, and it is virtually impossible for an employee represented by a union to invoke the Board's processes for vindication of his/her individual rights. The National Labor Relations Board should tailor its policies to ensure full statutory protection as envisioned by the Congress and the Supreme Court. Numerous references are included.