Board of Trustees of Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Inc. v. Labor Relations Bd., KELLOGG-HUBBARD

• Decision Date: 30 September 1994
• Docket Number: KELLOGG-HUBBARD,No. 93-161,AFL-CIO,93-161
• Citation: 649 A.2d 784,162 Vt. 571
• Parties: BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFLIBRARY, INC. v. LABOR RELATIONS BOARD and Local 1369, AFSCME,
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Page 784

649 A.2d 784

162 Vt. 571

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF KELLOGG-HUBBARD LIBRARY, INC. v. LABOR RELATIONS BOARD and Local 1369, AFSCME, AFL-CIO.

No. 93-161.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

Sept. 30, 1994.

J. Scott Cameron of Paterson & Walke, P.C., Montpelier, for plaintiff-appellant.

Colin R. Benjamin and Alan P. Biederman of Biederman and Rakow, P.C., Rutland, for appellee Local 1369, AFSCME.

Before ALLEN, C.J., and GIBSON, DOOLEY, MORSE and JOHNSON, JJ.

JOHNSON, Justice.

The issue in this case is whether an aggrieved party may appeal directly to this Court from orders of the Vermont Labor Relations Board (VLRB) pertaining to unit determination and certification under the State Labor Relations Act (SLRA), 21 V.S.A. §§ 1501-1623. Because we agree with the superior court that statutory law provides for such review, we affirm the court's refusal to assert jurisdiction over appellant's complaint under V.R.C.P. 75.

In October 1991, appellee, local union 1369 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, filed a petition under the SLRA requesting the VLRB to conduct an election among employees of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library, a private, nonprofit entity, to determine whether the employees wanted Local 1369 to represent them as their collective bargaining agent. Appellant, the library's board of trustees (Library), moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) had jurisdiction over the matter, not the VLRB. On February 10, 1992, the VLRB denied the Library's motion, ruling that it had jurisdiction because the NLRB, through an advisory opinion in an analogous case, had declined to assert jurisdiction over the dispute. See 21 V.S.A. § 1505 (SLRA does not apply to any employer or labor dispute that affects commerce unless NLRB has ceded, or declined to assert, jurisdiction). Accordingly, the VLRB granted the union's petition, and in June 1992 the employees voted 8-1 to have Local 1369 represent them. On July 13, 1992, the VLRB issued an order certifying the union as the collective bargaining agent for the library's employees.

On August 10, 1992, the Library filed a complaint in superior court requesting a declaratory judgment that the VLRB lacked jurisdiction over the petition filed by the union. The Library asserted that relief was available in superior court under V.R.C.P. 75 because there was no direct avenue of appeal under the SLRA. The superior court disagreed. Comparing the SLRA with the other two acts administered by the VLRB--the State Employees Labor Relations Act (SELRA), 3 V.S.A. §§ 901-1007, and the Municipal Employees Relations Act (MERA), 21 V.S.A. §§ 1721-1735--the court concluded that the legislature intended that the general principles and powers set forth in SELRA, including the provision allowing aggrieved persons to appeal directly to the Supreme Court on questions of law raised by decisions of the VLRB, would also apply in proceedings under SLRA and MERA. The court stated that it would be "absurd and unreasonable" to conclude that similar errors of law could be appealed directly to this Court under one of the statutes administered by the VLRB, but not the others. Accordingly, the court dismissed the Library's complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

We first examine the relevant statutes. The SLRA, which applies to employees in the private sector, see 21 V.S.A. § 1502(6), (7), was enacted in 1967. It expressly allows an aggrieved party to appeal to this Court from a decision in a proceeding involving a charge of an unfair labor practice, 21 V.S.A. § 1623(c), but it does not provide a right of appeal in any other type of proceeding. SELRA, which applies to state employees, 3 V.S.A. § 902(4), (5), was enacted in 1969. It includes a broad appeal provision, which states that "[a]ny person aggrieved by an order or decision of the board issued under the authority of this chapter may appeal on questions of law to the supreme court." 3 V.S.A. § 1003(a). MERA, which applies to municipal employees, was enacted in 1973. It also contains a broad appeal provision that is virtually identical to 3 V.S.A. § 1003(a). See 21 V.S.A. § 1729(c). In 1976, the legislature passed Act 152, which recreated the VLRB within SELRA, 1975 (Adj.Sess.), §§ 1-6, and repealed provisions in the SLRA pertaining to the creation and empowerment of the VLRB, id. § 7. Act 152 added, among other things, the following provision to the "powers and duties" provision in SELRA:

(d) In addition to its responsibilities under this chapter, the board shall carry out the responsibilities given to it under [SLRA] and when so doing shall exercise the powers and follow the procedures set out in that chapter. The board shall also carry out the responsibilities given to it under [MERA] and when so doing shall exercise the powers and follow the procedures set out in that chapter.

3 V.S.A. § 924(d).

We agree with the superior court that the three statutes are closely related and therefore should be considered in pari materia as part of one system intended to oversee labor relations. See In re Preseault, 130 Vt. 343, 346, 292 A.2d 832, 834 (1972) ("Statutes in pari materia are to be construed with reference to each other as parts of one system."). Statutes are considered to be in pari materia when they deal with the same subject matter or have the same objective or purpose. 2B N. Singer, Sutherland Statutory Construction § 51.03, at 138 (5th ed. 1992). Further, "[c]haracterization of the object or purpose is more important than characterization of subject matter in determining whether different statutes are closely enough related to justify interpreting one in light of the other." Id.

Each of the three statutes has a virtually identical statement of purpose: To prescribe the rights of certain employees and employers in their relations with each other, to provide procedures for the protection of those rights, to protect the rights of individual employees in their relations with labor organizations, to proscribe harmful labor practices, and to protect the rights of the public in connection with labor disputes. See 3 V.S.A. § 901; 21 V.S.A. § 1501(b); 21 V.S.A. § 1721. In furtherance of these goals, all three statutes require employers, employees, and unions to follow a similar procedural system administered by a single administrative agency, which determines appropriate bargaining units, conducts representation elections, and adjudicates charges of unfair labor practices. More particularly to this case, all three statutes have similar provisions that address the procedures and the VLRB's role regarding unit determinations and petitions for elections. See 3 V.S.A. § 941; 21 V.S.A. §§ 1543, 1581; 21 V.S.A. § 1724.

In the context of these interrelated statutes, the Library argues that because the SLRA's appeal provision permits our review of VLRB orders that arise in unfair-labor-practice proceedings but is silent as to review of VLRB orders in other proceedings, review is unavailable in those other proceedings. The Library recognizes that we may review VLRB orders in virtually identical proceedings under the SLRA's two sister statutes, which expressly permit appeal to this Court from all VLRB orders. Nevertheless, in support of its position, the Library relies on the plain meaning of § 1623(c) of the SLRA and on the rule of statutory construction called inclusio unius est exclusio alterius--the inclusion of one is the exclusion of another.

Although rules of statutory construction may be helpful in interpreting the meaning of statutes, they are secondary to our primary objective of giving effect to the intent of the legislature. Nash v. Warren Zoning Bd. of Adjust., 153 Vt. 108, 112, 569 A.2d 447, 450 (1989); see Clymer v. Webster, 156 Vt. 614, 625, 596 A.2d 905, 912 (1991) (rules of statutory construction are not followed when they do not further remedial purposes of statute). We decline to accept the Library's constrained and unreasonable interpretation of the statutes. Rather, examining the three statutes and the 1976 amendment to those statutes, we conclude that the legislature intended to afford aggrieved parties the right to appeal to this Court from final decisions in all types of proceedings under each of the three statutes administered by the VLRB.

The only reasonable interpretation of the purpose behind the 1976 amendment is that the legislature intended to consolidate the general powers and procedures of the VLRB in SELRA and to apply them to proceedings in each of the three labor-relations statutes, while leaving intact particular procedures expressly provided in the SLRA and MERA. Subsection 924(d), part of the "powers and duties" section of SELRA added by the 1976 amendment, provides that, in addition to its responsibilities under SELRA, the VLRB shall carry out its responsibilities, exercise its powers, and follow procedures set forth in the SLRA and MERA. Section 1003(a) of SELRA permits an aggrieved person to appeal to this Court from any order or decision of the VLRB "issued under the authority of this chapter." A hypertechnical reading of the language of §§ 1003 and 924(d) might lead to the conclusion that the right of appeal in § 1003 was not intended to extend to proceedings set forth in statutes other than SELRA. Rather than accede to this unreasonable and irrational result, we conclude that, by consolidating the VLRB's powers and duties in SELRA, the legislature intended to extend the right of appeal provided in § 1003 to all proceedings administered by the VLRB, including proceedings set forth in SELRA and MERA. See Preseault, 130 Vt. at 348, 292 A.2d at 835 ("A statute is to be construed as to carry out the intent of the legislature, though such construction may seem contrary to the letter of the statute."); cf. Nash, 153 Vt. at 112, 569 A.2d at 450 (general procedural requirements of zoning appeals apply to conditional use cases...