Tremblay v. Berlin Police Union, 5567

CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
Citation108 N.H. 416,237 A.2d 668
Docket NumberNo. 5567,5567
PartiesPaul TREMBLAY et al. v. BERLIN POLICE UNION et al.
Decision Date30 January 1968

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT

1. Where the discretionary power of municipalities to "recognize unions of employees and make and enter into collective bargaining contracts with such unions" ( RSA 31:3 (supp)) was exercised by the city of Berlin by adoption of such provisions by ordinance conferring upon city boards and commissions the authority to place such provisions into effect, it was held that the Berlin police commissioners had authority to enter into a collective bargaining contract with municipal employees.

2. Where the city of Berlin, pursuant to enabling home rule legislation (Laws 1963, 275:3), voted to authorize the mayor and city council to appoint police commissioners instead of their appointment being made by the State (Laws 1963, 275:8) it was held that police commissioners appointed in accordance therewith were city officers and therefore authorized to enter into collective bargaining agreements with unions.

3. A collective bargaining agreement between the Berlin police commissioners and municipal employees was held not to be an abdication and surrender of municipal sovereignty and against the public interest where the agreement contained provisions designed to make all delegation of authority to the union consistent with and subject to the ultimate authority of the police commission and mayor and council to manage the police department consistently with statutory directives, and where under the contract the union agreed that there should be no strikes, slowdowns of work or any interference with the efficient management of the police department.

4. A grievance procedure clause of the collective bargaining agreement providing for submission of grievances to arbitration was held not to constitute an unlawful delegation of municipal authority to the union where the agreement contained further provisions subjecting the grievance and arbitration procedures to Laws 1963, 275:5 as well as the State arbitration statute ( RSA 273:12 -27).

5. The Legislature has declared ( RSA 31:3 (supp)) as a matter of public policy that collective bargaining for municipal employees is a proper public purpose; and such enactment authorizing a municipality to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with a labor union is a constitutional exercise of legislative power.

Petition for declaratory judgment (RSA 491:22) to test the validity of certain provisions of a union contract negotiated on December 13, 1965 between Local Union #1444 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and the Berlin police commission. The plaintiffs are Paul Tremblay, the city marshal of the city of Berlin, his assistant, and two police officers Edgar LaPlante and Carl Giordono. The defendants are the Berlin police department Local Union #1444 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Berlin police commissioners. The parties submitted an agreed statement of facts and questions of law raised by the pleadings were reserved and transferred without ruling by the Court (Grant, J.).

The pertinent part of the agreed statement of facts is as follows:

'1. That on December 13th, 1965, the Police Commissioners for the City of Berlin, did recognize the local Union #1444 as the sole and exclusive representative of all employees of the Police Department except the Chief and his assistant, for the purposes of bargaining with respect to wages, hours of work, and working conditions acting under the alleged authority granted to them by New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated, Chapter 31, Section 3 Supplement, 'Towns may recognize unions of employees and make and enter into collective bargaining contracts with such unions.

'2. That on December 13, 1965, the Union and the Berlin Police Commission executed a contract, a copy of which is annexed to the petition.

'3. Article II, Section 1, of the contract recognizes that the Union is the sole and exclusive representative of all employees for the purpose of bargaining with respect to wages, hours of work and working conditions.

'4. Article III, Section 1, of the contract establishes a Union Shop.

'5. Article VII, Section 1, of the contract, entitled 'Vacancies,' provides that the employee with the highest seniority shall be given first opportunity to fill a vacancy providing he is qualified.

'6. Article VIII, Section 1, provides that reduction in force or rehiring shall be done on the basis of seniority.

'7. Article IX, Section 1, provides that temporary employees shall be hired before new employees, provided they can qualify.

'8. Article XVII, Section 1, sets up a procedure for settling grievances, which among other things, provides for an impartial arbitrator, whose decision shall be final and binding on all parties, with the further proviso that this clause shall comply with and be subordinate to the New Hampshire State Law.

'9. Article XXIII, Section 1, provides for payment to officers for appearance in Court and controls the manner in which the officers shall issue subpoenas.

'10. That your Petitioners Edgar LaPlante and Carl Giordono, Police Officers of the Berlin Police Department holding the rank of Sergeant Detective initially refused to give individual written authorization to allow the deduction from their weekly salary of $4.00 per four (4) week period for Union dues as demanded by Article IV, Section 1 of the above named contract entitled, Check-Off, but were finally constrained to sign by the Petitionees Local Union #1444 and the Petitionees the Police Commissioners for the City of Berlin upon information and belief expressed to them by the said Petitionees that their failure to sign the written authorization as demanded by Article IV, Section 1, would result in their dismissal from the Police Force as the Police Department for the City of Berlin was now a Union Shop.

'11. That the Petitionees Local Union #1444 and the Police Commissioners subsequent to the execution of the written contract aforementioned, orally agreed to raise the pay of your Petitioners Edgar LaPlante and Carl Giordono by $5.00 per week. This raise of salary to replace the right of these two (2) Petitioners to overtime pay as stipulated in Article XII, Section 2 of the above contract, and court time compensation as stipulated in Article XXIII, Section 1 of this same contract.'

Earl F. Gage, Berlin (by brief and orally), for plaintiffs.

Arthur J. Bergeron, Berlin, for Berlin Police Commissioners, filed no brief.

Broderick, Craig, Bourque & Costakis, Manchester (William H. Craig, Manchester, orally), for Berlin Police Department Local Union #1444 of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

PER CURIAM.

The 'right of public employees to join or become members of labor unions is becoming increasingly recognized.' American Federation of State &c. Employees v. City of Keene, 108 N.H. 68, 69, 227 A.2d 602, 603. See Anderson, Legal Aspects of Collective Bargaining in Public Employment, in Developments in Public Employee Relations: Legislative, Judicial, Administrative, 128 (Warner ed. 1965). The corresponding right of municipality to enter into a collective bargaining contract with a labor union has been recognized by statute since the enactment of Laws 1955, ch. 255. Manchester v. Manchester Teachers Guild, 100 N.H. 507, 511, 131 A.2d 59. That statute, which is a constitutional exercise of legislative power (N.H.Const., Pt. II, Art. 5; Opinion of the Justices, 101 N.H. 544, 134 A.2d 281; Town of Exeter v. Kenick, 104 N.H. 168, 170, 181 A.2d 638) reads as follows: 'Towns * * * may recognize unions of employees and make and enter into collective bargaining contracts with such unions.' RSA 31:3 (supp). In 1962 the city of Berlin passed an ordinance which expressly empowered all present and future city boards and commissions to recognize unions of their employees and to enter into collective bargaining contracts with such unions.

The plaintiffs contend that the police commissioners and the police department employees are state officers and not city officers and therefore the statute authorizing collective bargaining by municipalities (RSA 31:3 (supp)) has no application. This contention might have had merit under former legislation where police commissioners were appointed by the state. Gooch v. Town of Exeter, 70 N.H. 413, 18 A. 1100; Gibbs v. City of Manchester, 73 N.H. 265, 61 A. 128; Gilbert v. City of Berlin, 76 N.H. 470, 84 A. 235; Pollard v. Gregg, 77 N.H. 190, 90 A. 176. However under more recent home rule legislation (Laws 1963, 275:3) the city of Berlin voted to authorize the major and city council to appoint police commissioners instead of their appointment being made by the state. Laws 1963, 275:8. Under this home rule legislation it is clear this police department is managed by the police commissioners who are answerable in turn to the mayor and council of the city (Laws 1963, 275:4-6) who are municipal officials whom the statute authorizes to enter into collective bargaining contracts. (RSA 31:3 (supp)). This conclusion is buttressed by the fact that an attempt to retain appointment of police commissioners by the state was defeated when the home rule legislation was being considered in the Senate. See 1963 Journal of the Senate 946. The power of municipalities to recognize unions of their employees is discretionary and not compulsory and the power resides in the mayor and city council. American Federation of State &c. Employees v. City of Keene, 108 N.H. 68, 70, 227 A.2d 602. This discretionary power was exercised by the mayor and city council of Berlin by its ordinance of December 3, 1962, whereby the city expressly accepted the provisions of RSA 31:3 (supp) and validly conferred upon all city...

To continue reading

Request your trial
20 cases
  • Maryland Classified Emp. Ass'n, Inc. v. Anderson
    • United States
    • Maryland Court of Appeals
    • December 7, 1977
    ...N.E.2d 878 (1976); DeLury v. City of New York, 51 A.D.2d 288, 381 N.Y.S.2d 236, 239-240 (1976). See also Tremblay v. Berlin Police Union, 108 N.H. 416, 237 A.2d 668, 671-672 (1968); Joint School District No. 8 v. Wisconsin Emp. Rel. Bd., 37 Wis.2d 483, 155 N.W.2d 78, 83 (1967).For recent co......
  • Smigel v. Southgate Community School Dist.
    • United States
    • Michigan Supreme Court
    • November 29, 1972
    ...contract. Both members and nonmembers receive the same pay scale depending on seniority and education. In Tremblay v. Berlin Police Union, 108 N.H. 416, 237 A.2d 668 (1968), the court had before it a declaratory judgment dealing with the validity of certain provisions of the union contract ......
  • City of Biddeford by Board of Ed. v. Biddeford Teachers Ass'n
    • United States
    • Maine Supreme Court
    • April 30, 1973
    ...arbitrator to be appointed by the state board of arbitration whose decision was to be final and binding. In Tremblay v. Berlin Police Union, 108 N.H. 416, 237 A.2d 668 (1968), this was attacked as an unlawful delegation of municipal authority. The New Hampshire Court 'If that were the end o......
  • Jacinto v. Egan
    • United States
    • Rhode Island Supreme Court
    • September 12, 1978
    ...matters of magnitude to a third party for determination. Indeed, the Supreme Court of New Hampshire observed in Tremblay v. Berlin Police Union, 108 N.H. 416, 237 A.2d 668 (1968), that a requirement for arbitration in a labor contract to be subordinated to the provisions of state law might ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles
  • Collective Bargaining for Local Public Employees in Colorado
    • United States
    • Colorado Bar Association Colorado Lawyer No. 8-11, November 1979
    • Invalid date
    ...jurisdictions. See, e.g., Gary Teachers Local Union 4 v. Gary, 152 Ind. App. 591 284 N.E.2d 108 (1972); Tremblay v. Berlin Police Union, 108 N.H. 416, 237 A.2d 668 (1968); Local 953 Int's Union of AFSCME v. School Dist., 66 L.R.R.M. 2419 (Mich, Cir. Ct. 1967); Local 1226, Rhinelander City E......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT