Journal Facts

Journal
Journal of Collective Negotiations
ISSN
2167-7816 (print) 2167-7824 (electronic)
Volume
31
Issue
4
Date
1/1/2007

Article Facts

Title
Grievance Arbitration Issues in Law Enforcement: The Wisconsin Experience
DOI
10.2190/CN.31.4.e
Authors
  • Brian R. Johnson
  • Doug McKenzie
  • William Crawley
Pages
343-360
Online Date
03/04/2008

Article Links

Grievance Arbitration Issues in Law Enforcement: The Wisconsin Experience

Brian R. Johnson
Doug McKenzie
William Crawley

DOI: 10.2190/CN.31.4.e

Abstract

This exploratory study examines grievance arbitration cases involving municipal and county sheriff's law enforcement agencies and unions in Wisconsin that had requested arbitration through the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC). Using official data (n = 141 cases) from WERC for 1994 to 2004, this study provides a profile of the types of cases brought to arbitration in Wisconsin according to dispute or issue, agency, union affiliation, and award outcome. Statistical analysis of the data found that county sheriff's agencies had a statistically significant higher number of cases brought to arbitration in to comparison municipal agencies. When controlling for specific issues, unions were more successful in issues that dealt with economic issues and employee terminations than employers. The findings also show that there were no statistically significant differences between unions affiliated with state-level or national unions in outcome success in comparison to independent-based unions.

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