Gilmer: A Real or Imaginary Problem for Organized Labor?

George C. Lacy

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DOI: 10.2190/JNP3-11J3-BP1H-60XR

Abstract

Compulsory arbitration of individual employee statutory rights is inconsistent with the concept of exclusive representation in a collective bargaining setting. In negotiations or in grievance arbitration, it is not uncommon for unions to be involved in employment disputes where individual employee statutory rights are directly or indirectly implicated. Often these statutory rights can clash with the interest of a majority of the membership and even where there is no clash the complexity of a statutory violation enmeshed with a contract violation may be beyond the scope of a union's ability to provide adequate representation. A solution for unions may rest in providing flexibility in the representation process and allowing employees to use their own representative in disputes that involve statutory claims on the condition that the arbitration decision will not establish a precedent for interpretation of the agreement.

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