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CHAPTER 15 - MINIMUM STAFFING The number of police officers or firefighters on a shift is a decision left entirely to the employer. It is an exclusive managerial prerogative. When renegotiating a collective bargaining agreement, a municipal employer may refuse to even discuss minimum staffing for shift coverage in public safety contracts. When faced with union insistence upon such a provision, an employer may file a Prohibited Practice Charge at the Labor Relations Commission or, if the matter proceeds to arbitration under the jurisdiction of the Joint Labor-<strong>Management</strong> Committee, the municipal employer may insist that the arbitrator refrain from ruling on minimum staffing pursuant to the terms of the statute which created the JLMC. 1 The JLMC act specifically provides: Notwithstanding any other provision of this act to the contrary, no municipal employer shall be required to negotiate over subjects of minimum staffing of shift coverage, with an employee organization representing municipal police officers and firefighters. Unions may point to a minimum staffing clause as a bar to reducing coverage on holidays or at other premium pay times. Such challenges should prove unsuccessful for a variety of reasons. Such clauses are only enforceable for the first year of a multi-year contract. 2 The Labor Relations Commission has ruled that while minimum staffing for shift coverage is not a mandatory subject of bargaining 3 , minimum staffing per piece of firefighting apparatus is, at least when the piece is being placed in service at a fire. The issue of two or one-person police vehicles was not a mandatory subject of bargaining in Boston. 4 An LRC Hearing Officer was faced with a variety of firefighter minimum staffing and unilateral change issues in the 1992 case of Town of Halifax. 5 The Hearing Officer concluded that minimum staffing per shift is a permissive subject of bargaining because shift coverage in a fire department has a greater impact on the level of delivery of a public service than on the workload and safety of firefighters. On the other hand, she ruled that the number of firefighters on a piece of fire apparatus when that apparatus responds to an alarm is a mandatory subject of bargaining to the extent that such coverage raises a question of safety or workload. Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Minimum Staffing 15-2 A municipal employer may not submit a funding request to meet its obligations under a minimum staffing clause which is contingent on a Proposition 2 ½ override. 6 In a 2005 case, the Town of Bedford brought an action to vacate an arbitration award pursuant to G.L. c. 150C, § 11(a)(3). The Town contended that it did not violate the collective bargaining agreement when the Chief of the Fire Department unilaterally changed the number of callback firefighters from four to three. The Town argued that this type of decision fals within the Chief’s managerial prerogative and is not the proper subject of arbitration. The court’s review of an arbitrator’s decision is governed by G.L. c. 150C, § 11E, and is limited in scope. 7 “Courts inquire into an arbitration award only to determine if the arbitrator has exceeded the scope of his authority, or decided the mater based on fraud, arbitrary conduct or procedural irregularity in the hearings.” 8 “An arbitrator exceeds his authority by granting relief beyond the scope of the arbitration agreement . . . by awarding relief beyond that which the parties bound themselves . . . or by awarding relief prohibited bylaw.” 9 The Town argued that issues concerning call-back procedures should not have been submitted to arbitration because the subject is reserved for the Town’s discretion under a managerial rights theory. The Union contended that call-back procedures are not managerial prerogatives, but even if they are so construed, the call-back provision was at least enforceable during the first year of the agreement. When one party to a collective bargaining agreement is a public employer, there are certain subjects that cannot be arbitrated, even if they inadvertently become part of an agreement. The courts have held that some subjects are so central to the role of a government agency and its accountability in the political process, that decisions regarding these topics are reserved for the sole discretion of the public employer. 10 These subjects are considered non-delegable rights of management “that a municipality and its agents may not abandon by agreement, and that an arbitrator may not contravene.” 11 “[T]o the extent subjects within that zone find their way into a collective bargaining agreement, the provisions of the colective bargaining agreement are not enforceable.” 12 While determinations of staffing levels that affect public safety might appear to be non-delegable management prerogatives that are “beyond the scope of public sector bargaining.” 13 The Supreme Judicial Court has held that minimum staffing requirements that are, or are similar to job security provisions, such as the minimum number of firefighters required to be on duty at any time, are enforceable for periods not exceeding one fiscal year. 14 The Court reached this conclusion despite its express recognition Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PREFACE Municipal officials and dep
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INTRODUCTION Public safety unions h
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Table of Contents ii § 2 Entry-Lev
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Table of Contents iv § 8 Other Ben
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Management Rights 1-2 management ri
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Management Rights 1-4 organized pub
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Management Rights 1-6 arbitrate a d
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CHAPTER 2 - SCOPE OF ARBITRATION Mu
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Scope of Arbitration 2-3 There are
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Scope of Arbitration 2-5 Northborou
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Scope of Arbitration 2-7 DiSciulo
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Scope of Arbitration 2-9 leniency o
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Scope of Arbitration 2-11 20 Masach
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Subjects of Bargaining 3-2 When a p
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Subjects of Bargaining 3-4 § 2 NON
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Subjects of Bargaining 3-6 each new
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Subjects of Bargaining 3-8 47 Whitm
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CHAPTER 4 - “GOOD FAITH” Both t
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Good Faith 4-3 A. REFUSAL TO NEGOTI
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Good Faith 4-5 When a contract is i
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Good Faith 4-7 assignments an inher
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Good Faith 4-9 A union's obligation
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Good Faith 4-11 employees' terms an
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Good Faith 4-13 3) Contractual Waiv
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Good Faith 4-15 impasse is reached
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Good Faith 4-17 1 Harwich School Co
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Good Faith 4-19 59 Commonwealth of
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Assignment 5-2 Despite the fact tha
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Assignment 5-4 condition of re-issu
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CHAPTER 6 - PROMOTIONS The promotio
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Promotions 6-3 list is due to expir
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CHAPTER 7 - APPOINTMENTS The appoin
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Appointments 7-3 providing the unio
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Appointments 7-5 entry-level wage o
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Appointments 7-7 union requests bar
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CHAPTER 8 - BARGAINING UNIT WORK A
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Bargaining Unit Work 8-3 private se
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Bargaining Unit Work 8-5 § 1 REMED
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Bargaining Unit Work 8-7 2) Absence
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Bargaining Unit Work 8-9 33 Safeway
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Reorganization 9-2 the work is supe
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Reorganization 9-4 bargaining unit
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Reorganization 9-6 If the union dem
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Page 110 and 111: CHAPTER 13 - WORKPLACE RULES AND PR
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Page 134 and 135: Changing Schedules 14-2 § 1 CONTRA
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Page 144 and 145: Benefits, Compensation and Leaves 1
Page 158 and 159: Employee Performance 17-2 The emplo
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Page 172 and 173: APPENDIX A-10 CONSENT I agree that
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