NCJ Number
108591
Journal
Harvard Law Review Volume: 100 Issue: 6 Dated: (April 1987) Pages: 1307-1325
Date Published
1987
Length
19 pages
Annotation
The 1986 U.S. Supreme Court's decision in AT&T Technologies, Inc. v. Communications Workers is likely to accelerate the decline of the use of arbitration in labor-management relations, although the process will continue to be used in the private workplace.
Abstract
The Court developed the modern law of labor arbitration in the Steelworkers Trilogy decisions of 1960. However, the Trilogy presented two inconsistent principles: (1) that the courts must follow the contractual statements in determining the arbitrability of an issue and (2) that, as a matter of public policy, disputes under agreements containing arbitration clauses are subject to arbitration. However, the Communications Workers decision forcefully reasserted the contractual basis of agreements to arbitrate without providing an equivalent restatement of the presumption of arbitrability. The result is expanded management rights and constricted arbitration, which are both aspects of more general economic trends that include the weakening of labor unions. However, arbitration will continue as a means of keeping open the lines of communication between workers and management and of allowing management to hear individual grievances without the risks of concerted worker action. 96 footnotes.