91 Pa. Commw. 463 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1985
Opinion by
Before us is the appeal of the Upper Bucks County Area Vocational-Technical School Joint Committee (Vo-Tech) from a decision of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County (court of common pleas) which affirmed an arbitrator’s award in favor of the Upper Bucks County Vocational-Technical Education Association (Association).
The facts in this case are undisputed. The original school calendar of the Vo-Tech for the 1980-81 school year called for school to begin on September 2, 1980 and end on June 9, 1981, providing 188 days of pupil instruction. ' In September, 1980, the Association engaged in a strike which closed the Vo-Tech for sixteen instruction days. Thereafter, the Vo-Tech and the Association engaged in collective bargaining which resulted in the execution of an agreement on October 16,1980. The agreement covered the period from July 1, 1980 through June 30, 1983 and included the fol
In October, 1980, the Vo-Tech approved a calendar for the 1980-81 school year identical to that which had been adopted prior to the school year, thereby failing to make up the days lost because of the strike. Thus, the 1980-81 school year was to consist of 172 instruction days.
The Association and individual teachers then commenced an action in the court of common pleas seeking a declaratory judgment that the Vo-Tech is required to operate its school for 180 days in accordance with Section 1501 of the Public School Code of 1949 (Public School Code).
With respect to the timeliness issue, Article 36 of the parties’ agreement provides that grievances shall be filed ten (10) days after its alleged occurrence. That same Article further provides, however, that if the Association exercises any right of appeal to a court or administrative agency concerning a subject appropriate for a grievance under the agreement and the court or agency defers to the grievance procedure, the grievance may subsequently foe processed. Although the Association filed its grievance more than ten days after it first became aware of the Vo-Tech’s decision not to make up the days lost because of the strike, the Arbitrator found that the court of common pleas, in dismissing the Association’s declaratory judgment action, deferred to the grievance procedure contained in the parties ’ agreement.
Before this Court the Vo-Tech contends: (1) that the Association’s grievance was not timely filed in accordance with the parties’ agreement; (2) that the Arbitrator’s award violates Section 1006 of the Public Employee Relations Act (PERA)
With respect to the issue of the timeliness of the Association’s grievance, the law is well settled that where the subject matter of a dispute is arbitrable and the collective bargaining agreement does not prohibit the arbitrator from deciding procedural issues, all procedural matters derived from the grievance must be left to the arbitrator for final determination. School District of the City of Duquesne v. Duquesne Education Association, 475 Pa. 279, 380 A.2d 353
Before turning to the Arbitrator’s decision, we note that our review of an arbitrator’s decision is highly circumscribed and requires that we affirm the award if it draws its essence from the collective bargaining agreement. Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit No. 5 Education Association v. Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit No. 5, 61 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 191, 432 A.2d 1152 (1981). The “essence” test, which defines our scope of review of an arbitrator’s award, has been articulated by our Supreme Court:
To' state the matter more precisely, where a task of an arbitrator, . . . has been to determine the intention of the contracting parties as evidenced by their collective bargaining agreement and the circumstances surrounding its execution, then the arbitrator’s award is based on a resolution of a question of fact and is to be respected by the judiciary if ‘the interpretation can in any rational way be derived from the agreement, viewed in light of its language, its context, and any other indicia of the parties ’ intention. . . . ’
However, if an arbirtator’s award, against the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions, conflicts with a fundamental policy of this Commonwealth expressed in statutory law, the judiciary has express statutory authority to review and correct or modify that award in the same manner as jury verdicts on a motion for judgment n.o.v. Section 7302(d)(2) of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa. C. S. §7302(d) (2); Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board v. Bald Eagle Area School District, 499 Pa. 62, 451 A.2d 671 (1982).
Turning now to the Arbitrator’s decision, the wage and salary provision in the parties’ agreement provides that during .the 1980-81 school year, originally scheduled for 188 days, salaries shall be reduced by l/188th for each day not worked as a result of the strike and not rescheduled at the discretion of the Vo-Tech. The Arbitrator awarded the Vo-Tech’s teachers an additional eight days’ pay based on his conclusion that the Vo-Tech did not have the discretion not to make up eight of the days lost because of the strike. The Arbitrator interpreted Article II of the parties’ agreement, which provided that the
Such an interpretation, as well as the award based thereon, can certainly be derived from the parties’ agreement. Thus, we conclude that the award draws its essence from the parties’ agreement.
Finally, the Vo-Tech argues that this Court should vacate the Arbitrator’s award because it violates Section 1006 of PERA. This Section provides: “No public employee shall be entitled to pay or compensation from the public employer for the period engaged in any strike.” However, we have held that where an arbitrator’s award of full annual salaries is based on an agreement which became effective at the end of the strike and contemplated the future performance of duties, such an award cannot be said to
We will, therefore, affirm the order of the court of common pleas which upheld the award of the Arbitrator.
Order,
And Now, this September 4, 1985 the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County in the above-captioned matter is hereby affirmed.
Act of Marca 10, 1949, P.L. 30, as amended, 24 P.S. §15-1501. This section provides that a school year must consist of at least 180 days of instruction.
Upper Bucks County Vocational-Technical School Education Association, et al. v. Upper Bucks County Area Vocational-Technical School Joint Committee, 36 Bucks Co. L. Rep. 262 (1981).
On appeal, the Commonwealth Court reversed the common pleas court concluding that the individual plaintiffs had standing as taxpayers to enforce the 180-day mandate. See Upper Bucks County Vocational-Technical Education Association, et al. v. Upper Bucks County Area Vocational-Technical School Joint Committee, et al., 69 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 85, 450 A.2d 295 (1982). The Supreme Court reversed this decision however, holding that neither the individual teachers as taxpayers nor the Association had standing to enforce the 180-day mandate. See Upper Bucks County Vocational-Technical School Education Association, et al. v. Upper Bucks County Vocational-Technical School Joint Committee, 504 Pa. 418, 474 A.2d 1120 (1984).
The Arbitrator based his finding that the court of common pleas had deferred to the grievance procedure in the parties’ agreement on the following language: “The teachers have other remedies to enforce whatever- rights they have against the School Boards for the days lost.”
Act of July 23, 1970, P.L. 563, as amended, 43 P.S. §1101.1006.
Moreover, the parties and the arbitrator are bound by Section 703 of PERA, 43 P.S. §1101.703, which provides in pertinent part as follows:
The parties to the collective bargaining process shall not effect or implement a provision in a collective bargaining agreement if the implementation of that provision would be in violation of, or inconsistent with, or in conflict with any statute or statutes. . . .
Compare Upper Merion Area School District v. Upper Merion Education Association, 85 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 115, 482 A.2d 274 (1984) wherein a panel of this Court held that the Mount Union ruling the 180-day requirement is mandatory did not invalidate the 174-work day provision in the parties’ collective bargaining agreement. Here, of course, the parties did not negotiate into their agreement a provision calling for specific number work days for the 1980-81 school year. Bather, the parties agreed to leave the length of the school year to the discretion of the Vo-Tech. The Arbitrator found that by agreeing not to violate any other statute, the parties intended to incorporate the 180-day requirement into their agreement thereby limiting the Vo-Tech’s discretion.