Local 1383 of Intern. Ass'n of Fire Fighters v. City of Warren

• Decision Date: 02 November 1981
• Docket Number: AFL-CI,P,Docket No. 63227,No. 5,5
• Citation: 411 Mich. 642,311 N.W.2d 702
• Parties: LOCAL 1383 of the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS, also known as Warren Professional Fire Fighters Association,laintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF WARREN and Police and Fire Civil Service Commission For the City of Warren, Defendants-Appellees. Calendar411 Mich. 642, 311 N.W.2d 702
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

Page 702

311 N.W.2d 702

LOCAL 1383 of the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS, also known as Warren Professional Fire Fighters Association, AFL-CIO Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF WARREN and Police and Fire Civil Service Commission For the City of Warren, Defendants-Appellees.

Docket No. 63227.

Calendar No. 5.

411 Mich. 642, 311 N.W.2d 702

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Argued April 15, 1980.

Decided Nov. 2, 1981.

J. Douglas Korney, Gregory, Van Lopik, Korney & Moore, Detroit, for plaintiff-appellant.

Zwerdling & Maurer, George B. Washington, Detroit, for amicus Michigan.

Marston, Sachs, Nunn, Kates, Kadushin & O'Hare, P. C., Theodore Sachs, Ronald R. Helveston, John R. Runyan, Jr., Detroit, for Michigan State Fire Fighters Union.

MOODY, Justice.

Plaintiff, Local 1383 of the International Association of Fire Fighters (Local 1383), appeals from a Court of Appeals decision affirming a summary judgment in favor of defendants, the City of Warren and the Police and Fire Civil Service Commission for the City of Warren (Civil Service Commission). 89 Mich.App. 135, 279 N.W.2d 556 (1979).

The question presented is whether a collective-bargaining agreement's provision concerning promotions, which is entered into under the public employment relations act (PERA), is valid and enforceable when it conflicts with provisions of a city charter and the fire and police civil service act, 1935 P.A. 78 (Act 78). M.C.L. § 423.201 et seq.; M.S.A. § 17.455(1) et seq.; M.C.L. § 38.501 et seq.; M.S.A. § 5.3351 et seq. The circuit court and Court of Appeals held the promotional system in the collective-bargaining agreement between Local 1383 and the City of Warren void. We granted leave to appeal. 407 Mich. 897 (1979).

We hold that the contract provision governing promotions entered into under PERA is valid and enforceable. We also hold that this provision sets forth the promotional system for employees in the Local 1383 bargaining unit, notwithstanding conflicting provisions in Act 78 or the Warren Charter. Accordingly, we reverse the Court of Appeals decision.

I

There is no material dispute as to the facts in this case. The provisions of Act 78 set forth a civil service merit appointment and promotional system for fire fighters and police officers which may be adopted by local municipalities. The authority and duties of a municipal civil service commission governing these occupations are also explicitly detailed in the act. The terms of Act 78 were incorporated by reference into the Warren Charter by an amendment approved by the electorate in 1961. Warren Charter § 7.18.

Local 1383 is the recognized and exclusive collective-bargaining representative of all Warren Fire Department employees, except the Fire Commissioner and civilian employees. Local 1383 and the City of Warren executed a collective-bargaining agreement concerning wages, hours, and conditions of employment. The agreement provided in pertinent part:

"Article 12 Seniority.

"(a) Seniority and its application shall be governed by the provisions of Act 78, Public Acts of 1935, except as provided in Section (b) below.

"(b) It is agreed that the promotional system for employees in the Local 1383 bargaining unit shall provide for promotions based upon seniority and reasonable qualifications as may be determined by the Fire Department after consultation with the Union."

Attached to the collective-bargaining agreement was a letter of understanding between Local 1383 and the City of Warren. The letter provided that if the Civil Service Commission refused to implement Article 12(b) of the agreement, the City of Warren would be held in violation of that provision only if the city failed to implement the new procedure after final judicial determination of its validity.

The Fire Commissioner informed the Civil Service Commission that, pursuant to Article 12(b), the Fire Department was in the process of qualifying persons for promotions and would submit a list of names from which the department would make promotions. The Civil Service Commission took the position that it was the body which determined qualifications, through competitive examinations, for promotion of Fire Department employees under Act 78. It also said that it was unaware of any election in which the electors of the City of Warren had voted to rescind or repeal the adoption of the civil service system of the act.

Local 1383 brought this action seeking a declaratory judgment that the terms of the collective-bargaining agreement prevail over any contrary provisions of Act 78, and any rules or regulations adopted by the Civil Service Commission pursuant to the act. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment. The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of defendants. The Court of Appeals affirmed.

II

The critical question posed by this case is whether a normal and vital subject of bargaining can be removed from the public bargaining table by local charter provisions.

In 1963, the people adopted a new Constitution which specifically authorized the Legislature to enact laws governing public employment. Article 4, § 48 of the Constitution provides:

"The legislature may enact laws providing for the resolution of disputes concerning public employees, except those in the state classified civil service."

Acting pursuant to this explicit constitutional authorization, PERA was enacted by the Legislature in 1965. This basic law provided public employees the right to form and join labor organizations and to negotiate in good faith with public employers regarding "wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment".

Accordingly, the duty of the City of Warren to bargain collectively with Local 1383 is set forth in § 15 of PERA, which reads:

"A public employer shall bargain collectively with the representatives of its employees as defined in section 11 and is authorized to make and enter into collective bargaining agreements with such representatives. For the purposes of this section, to bargain collectively is the performance of the mutual obligation of the employer and the representative of the employees to meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, or the negotiation of an agreement, or any question arising thereunder, and the execution of a written contract, ordinance or resolution incorporating any agreement reached if requested by either party, but such obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or require the making of a concession." M.C.L. § 423.215; M.S.A. § 17.455(15).

This Court has repeatedly recognized that § 15 of PERA was patterned after § 8(d) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). 29 U.S.C. § 158(d). The language of these PERA and NLRA sections is virtually identical. Consequently, when defining the scope of bargaining, Michigan cases have followed Federal decisions and have adopted a broad and expansive interpretation of "wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment". See, e. g., Central Michigan University Faculty Ass'n v. Central Michigan University, 404 Mich. 268, 273 N.W.2d 21 (1978); Detroit Police Officers Ass'n v. Detroit, 391 Mich. 44, 214 N.W.2d 803 (1974); Detroit Police Officers Ass'n v. Detroit, 61 Mich.App. 487, 233 N.W.2d 49 (1975), lv. den., 395 Mich. 756 (1975).

In Federal labor law, seniority, promotion, and promotional criteria are among other terms and conditions of employment under NLRA § 8(d). ¹ In a technical sense, the meaning of the phrase "other terms and conditions of employment" has developed to include seniority, promotion, and promotional criteria. In fact, seniority is so clearly a mandatory subject of bargaining that there is little litigation concerning this concept. Morris, ed., The Developing Labor Law (Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs, Inc, 1971), p. 406.

A rule of statutory construction adopted by the Legislature states:

"All words and phrases shall be construed and understood according to the common and approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases, and such as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in the law, shall be construed and understood according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning." M.C.L. § 8.3a; M.S.A. § 2.212(1).

"(O)ther terms and conditions of employment" is a technical phrase in labor relations law. That phrase has a specific meaning. We are convinced that the Legislature, by using the phrase in PERA, intended to include a meaning similar to that afforded by Federal interpretations.

Accordingly, our Court has recognized that seniority, promotion, and promotional criteria are included within the phrase "other terms and conditions of employment". We have concluded that these matters are mandatory subjects of collective bargaining. CMU, supra; DPOA, supra, 391 Mich. 44, 214 N.W.2d 803. ²

"The subjects included within the phrase 'wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment' are referred to as 'mandatory subjects' of bargaining. Once a specific subject has been classified as a mandatory subject of bargaining, the parties are required to bargain concerning the subject, and neither party may take unilateral action on the subject absent an impasse in negotiations." (Citations omitted.) CMU, 277, 273 N.W.2d 21.

It may also be fairly deduced that when the Constitutional Convention authorized the Legislature to enact laws "providing for the resolution of disputes concerning public employees", Const.1963, art. 4, § 48, it must have perceived that the Legislature would thereby have the power to enact laws governing the resolution of disputes regarding so vital a concern as promotion and seniority.

The right to bargain and the duty to bargain in good faith specifically permit employees' representatives to engage in negotiations for the purpose of changing conditions of employment. Public employers may resist the proposed changes...