Opinion

Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board v. Butler Education Ass'n

  • 30 Pa. Commw. 549
  • 375 A.2d 1341
  • 95 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2974
  • 1977 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 919
Court
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
Filed
Jun 15, 1977
Status
Published
Author
Menoer
On the bench
Blatt, Bowman, Crumlish, Kramer, Mencer, Menoer, Rogers, Wilkinson
Cited by
6 cases
Authority
More cited than 9.0%

The opinion

Dissenting Opinion by

Judge Menoer :

I respectfully dissent. The Butler Education Association (Association) filed a grievance seeking the *554 discharge of Vera E. Jones by the Butler Area School District (School District) for Ms. Jones’ failure to pay dues to maintain her teachers’ union membership. The School District refused to submit the matter to binding’ arbitration. The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (Board) ruled that the Association had not committed an unfair labor practice, and the School District appealed to the Court of Common Pleas of Butler County, which reversed the Board and, on authority of Dauphin County Technical School Education Association v. Dauphin County Area Vocational-Technical School Board, 24 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 639, 357 A.2d 721 (1976), enjoined arbitration on the subject of discharging Ms. Jones for nonpayment of dues.

The majority today reverses and permits binding-arbitration on the question of whether or not Ms. Jones should he discharged from her employment. The majority states that the trial court “is incorrect in assuming that, because one remedy the arbitrator might fashion is invalid, arbitration is not a proper remedy.” My reading of the collective bargaining agreement convinces me that termination of employment was the only remedy that could derive its essence from the agreement. In fact, that is all the Association sought here.

Since we have held in Dauphin County Technical School Education Association v. Dauphin County Area Vocational-Technical School Board that an arbitrator is precluded from rendering an award which discharges a teacher for nonpayment of dues necessary to maintain her membership in a teacher s’, union, I would affirm the Court of Common Pleas of Butler County which followed our ruling in this regard.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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