Grievance Arbitration Research Articles

Gender Effects in Grievance Arbitration

This study investigates arbitrators' decisions in 557 suspension cases and reveals that, other things equal, male arbitrators were 74 per cent more likely to sustain the grievances of female grievants than male grievants. There was no evidence, however, that female arbitrators treat male and female grievants differently. A review of studies on gender effects in arbitration suggests a weak gender effect where male arbitrators are more lenient with female grievants than with male grievants.

A Multivariate Logit Analysis of the Outcomes of Arbitration Decisions in British Columbia

A major conclusion drawn from this study is that bivariate estimates of the probability of management or union wins in grievance arbitration cases can be seriously in error as a result of the failure of these estimates to adjust for the effects of variables not included in the bivariate comparison. In this analysis of 1,815 arbitration cases occurring in British Columbia in the 1982 to 1985 period, bias is identified in the bivariate estimates of the probability of management wins by industry and issue. In addition, from application of a multivariate logit model, the study estimates the effect on arbitration outcome of industry, union size, union arbitration proneness, issue, arbitration experience, union occupation, and year. Similarities to and differences from the findings of previous studies are identified.

The Consistency and Predictability of Grievance Arbitration Awards

In this study of the consistency and predictability of grievance arbitration awards, 177 arbitrators named awards and 188 management and union representatives predicted awards for six hypothetical cases—-three variants of a just-cause dismissal case and three of a contract interpretation case. The awards were quite variable: in one variant of each case, somewhat more than 70% of the arbitrators agreed on the award, but in all other instances the level of agreement was below 57%. This inconsistency does not appear to be related to the arbitrator's age, gender, educational degree, or experience. On the other hand, the authors find that the distribution of predictions by management representatives corresponded fairly well to the distribution of awards.

The Consistency and Predictability of Grievance Arbitration Awards

The Consistency and Predictability of Grievance Arbitration Awards

The Legal Structure of Collective Bargaining in Education

Figures Preface Introduction Constitutional Rights and Tort Actions The Duty to Bargain in Good Faith Activities of Public Employment Relations Agencies Impasse Procedures The Bargaining Rights of School Administrators The Legal Status of Strikes The Public's Involvement in Collective Bargaining Grievance Arbitration Annoted Bibliography Index

Case characteristics affecting the method of grievance dispute settlement

In 1986, we reported the results of an attempt to model the inner, workings of grievance arbitration. We concluded that the primary determinant of whether or not a grievance is settled privately or through arbitral award is the degree of private, outside legal representation. This article extends that work. Utilizing a more sophisticated statistical technique with a better specified list of explanatory variables, it identifies two additional grievance case characteristics that influence the method of grievance settlement: case complexity and type of dispute. The probability of an arbitrated settlement is greatest where the issue is simple and involves discipline and where the parties are represented by private, outside attorney advocates.

Protecting employee safety rights: OSHA or arbitration?

This paper analyzes the protection of employees against employer retatliation for seeking a safe and healthy workplace. It discusses the exercise of rights guaranteed by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970 and compares the legal protection of Section 11(c) of that Act with the grievance arbitration mechanism found in most union contracts. It also considers the importance of union representation in the ability and protection of employees seeking to exercise their OSHA rights. Administrative and legislative recommendations are made to improve the OSHA procedures, and questions are raised regarding adapting arbitration procedures to the OSHA mechanism.

The Impact of Attorneys and Arbitrators on Arbitration Awards

This paper analyzes the impact of attorney representation and the identity of the arbitrator on a sample of grievance arbitration awards in cases involving discharge for just cause. The results indicate that, as compared to cases in which neither side is represented by an attorney, each party has more favorable arbitration awards when it has attorney representation and the other party does not. When both sides have attorney representation, however, the awards do not differ from those given when neither side has attorney representation. The results also indicate that the awards of several of the arbitrators studied were consistently more favorable to one of the parties than the other.

Review of Grievance Arbitration Awards: Ontario, the United States, and British Columbia

The balance between arbitral independence in settling industrial dis putes and the necessity of review by a supervising body depends upon the reviewing authority's attitude toward the arbitration process. The author examines the extent of supervisory review of the arbitral process in the United States, the Canadian province of Ontario, and the Canadian prov ince of British Columbia. The traditional common law standard of review in Ontario, the noninterventionist policy in the United States, and a varia tion of that approach as applied in British Columbia are compared. The author advocates the approach of British Columbia as an advantageous balancing of the systems developed in Ontario and the United States, con cluding that the noninterventionist approach to the review of arbitration decisions as refined in British Columbia best serves the interests of speed, economy, and finality vital to the arbitration process.

Feedback and Grievance Resolution

This paper assesses the contribution to grievance negotiations of participants' use of feedback about previous grievance settlements and arbitration decisions. Analysis of survey data collected from a sample of management and union grievance participants at three organizational levels supports the central proposition of systems theory that feedback contributes to the system's effectiveness, measured here as the estimated and observed rate of grievance resolution. Significant variance in the use and impact of feedback is found, however, across union and management respondents and organizational levels.

The Public Administrator's Grievance Arbitration Handbook. By Lee T. Paterson and Reginald T. Murphy. New York: Longman, Inc., 1983

The Public Administrator's Grievance Arbitration Handbook. By Lee T. Paterson and Reginald T. Murphy. New York: Longman, Inc., 1983

The Remedy Power in Grievance Arbitration

Commentators have offered differing theories of the grievance arbi trator's function in the formulation of remedies. The author argues that an arbitrator serves as a parties' contract reader, interpreting and ap plying what the agreement says about remedy. From this principle, the author infers that an arbitrator is implicitly granted the authority to award only specific performance of the provisions of the agreement, not damages, unless the agreement specifies to the contrary.

Essay Reviews : A GRIEVANCE ARBITRATION GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS. Kenneth H. Ostrander. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1981. 194 pages. Reviewed by Michael J. Murphy, Professor of Educational Administra tion, The University of Utah

Essay Reviews : A GRIEVANCE ARBITRATION GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS. Kenneth H. Ostrander. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1981. 194 pages. Reviewed by Michael J. Murphy, Professor of Educational Administra tion, The University of Utah

Delphi forecasting: Future issues in grievance arbitration

For the time period 1974–1977 there has not existed a list of new and future arbitration issues, ranked or otherwise. This research was conducted to contribute to an update of the literature on the major new and future issues in grievance arbitration. A Delphi survey was selected as the data collection instrument. This article will focus on the predicted future issues in grievance arbitration.

Labor Relations: Development, Structure, Process.

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 The Evolution of American Labor Chapter 3 Labor Law and Federal Agencies Chapter 4 Union Structure and Government Chapter 5 Unions: Member and Leader Attitudes, Behaviors, and Political Activities Chapter 6 Union Organizing Campaigns Chapter 7 Union Avoidance: Rational, Strategies, and Practices Chapter 8 The Environment for Bargaining Chapter 9 Wage and Benefit Issues in Bargaining Chapter 10 Nonwage Issues in Bargaining Chapter 11 Contract Negotiations Chapter 12 Impasses and Their Resolution Chapter 13 Union-Management Cooperation Chapter 14 Contract Administration Chapter 15 Grievance Arbitration Chapter 16 Public-Sector Labor Relations Chapter 17 A Survey of Labor Relations in Developed Market Economies

Collective bargaining and Virginia school board members: Perceptions and prognoses

Recent events in Virginia have reinforced the image of the Old Dominion as a bastion of conservatism and proponent of individual rights. In 1977, the Virginia State Supreme Court declared invalid all policies sanctioning collective bargaining between public employers and their employees.1 Thereby, all negotiated agreements with public school teachers were declared void. The opinion turned on the court's judgment that no direct grant of authority authorizes such negotiations and that, furthermore, the doctrine of implied powers would be strained beyond reasonable bounds in sanctioning such activities. Consequently, collective bargaining, a practice quietly developing in Northern Virginia (D.C. Metropolitan area) and in the Tidewater area (Norfolk, Newport News), rapidly halted. Affected employees responded with dismay and depression. Predictions of mass resignations on the one hand and the demise of teacher organizations on the other were rampant. Eighteen months later, neither of these predictions had come to pass. Following a brief dip in membership, teacher associations in the state apparently consolidated their positions and continue to speak, albeit haltingly, for their constituents. No strikes or withholding of services have occurred although at the time of this writing (November 1978), the Arlington Education Association was engaged in a work-to-rule activity, a mild form of organizational sanction. In April 1978, the State Supreme Court in another landmark decision ruled unconstitutional that portion of the State Department of Education-mandated grievances procedure calling for binding arbitration of grievances. The ruling

Grievance Arbitration and Conflict Regulation

Industrial conflict, when viewed as an incompatibility of objectives in forming or operating the employment relationship, is a common occurence which can take many forms. Some are initiated by individual workers, others by groups of workers and yet others by the employer. Despite this diversity, much of the effort to regulate conflict centres on only one form, namely, the strike. Very often it consists of providing alternatives to the strike. An extreme example is New Zealand where legislation has provided conciliation and arbitration and prohibited strikes. In the United States, the parties to most private sector labour contracts have specified a grievance procedure, capped by arbitration, intended to take the place of the strike in conflicts over "rights".

Grievance Arbitration of Discharge Cases, A Study of the Concept of Industrial Dsicipline and their Result, by George W. Adams, Kingston, Industrial Relations Centre, Queen’s University, 1979, 108 pp.

Grievance Arbitration of Discharge Cases, A Study of the Concept of Industrial Dsicipline and their Result, by George W. Adams, Kingston, Industrial Relations Centre, Queen’s University, 1979, 108 pp.. Un article de la revue Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations (Volume 34, numéro 4, 1979, p. 639-854) diffusée par la plateforme Érudit.

Book Reviews Section

Book reviewed in this article:Mulder, Mauk. The Daily Power Game. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Social Sciences Division, 1977.Pfeiffer, J. William and Jones, John E. (Editors) The 1978 Annual Handbook for Group Facilitators.Zander, Alvin. Groups at Work.Connellan, Thomas K. How to Improve Human Performance: Behaviorism in Business and Industry.Swart, J. Carroll. A Flexible Approach to Working Hours.Fournies, Ferdinand F. Coaching for Improved Work Performance.Schrank, Robert. Ten Thousand Working Days.Morley, Ian and Stephenson, Geoffrey. The Social Psychology of Bargaining.Rowbottom, Ralph. Social Analysis: A Collaborative Method of Gaining Usable Scientific Knowledge of Social Institutions.Argyris, Chris and Schön, Donald A. Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective.Blake, Robert R. and Mouton, Jane Srygley. Making Experience Work: The Grid Approach to Critique.Anthony, P. D. The Conduct of Industrial Relations.Montana, Patrick J. and Higginson, Margaret V. Career Life Planning for Americans: Agenda for Organizations and Individuals.Educational Measurement and the Law: Proceedings of the ETS Invitational Conference.Pasmore, William A. and Sherwood, John J. (Editors) Sociotechnical Systems: A Sourcebook.Staudohar, Paul D. Grievance Arbitration in Public Employment.Yoder, Dale and Heneman, Herbert G., Jr. PAIR Policy and Program Management: Volume VII of the ASPA Handbook of Personnel and Industrial Relations.Kaplan, H. Roy. (Editor) American Minorities and Economic Opportunity.Leavitt, Harold J. Managerial Psychology. (Fourth Edition)Hampton, David R., Summer, Charles E. and Webber, Ross A. Organizational Behavior and the Practice of Management.Wexley, Kenneth N. and Yukl, Gary A. Organizational Behavior and Personnel Psychology.Schultz, Duane P. Psychology and Industry Today. (Second Edition)Miner, John B. The Management Process: Theory, Research, and Practice. (Second Edition)Williams, J. Clifton. Human Behavior in Organizations.Klatt, Lawrence A., Murdick, Robert G. and Schuster, Fred E. Human Resources Management: A Behavioral Systems Approach.Leplat, Jacques and Cuny, Xavier. Introduction a la Psychologie du Travail.Lippitt, Gordon and Lippitt, Ronald. The Consulting Process in Action.Weiner, J. S. and Maule, H. G. (Editors) Human Factors in Work, Design and Production. (Case Studies in Ergonomics Practice: Volume 1.)Mitchell, Terence R. People in Organizations: Understanding Their Behavior.Franklin, Jerome L. (Editor) Human Resource Development in the Organization: A Guide to Information Sources (Management Information Guide Series, No. 35).Theodore Kunin, Jackson, Douglas N. and Messick, Samuel. (Editors) Problems in Human Assessment. (Reprint Edition)

School District Defenses Used in Grievance Arbitrations

Teachers' organiza tions are filing grievances in increas ing numbers, making it necessary for today's principal to be aware of the process in volved in arbitration. Some insights are provided in the fol lowing overview of grievance arbitrations in the State of Michigan.