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International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers11/12/2003
Opinion Vote: AFFIRMED.
Breckenridge and Spinden, JJ., concur.
Opinion:
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union No. 53 ("Union") and the City Power & Light Department, City of Independence, Missouri ("City") were parties to an Agreement establishing terms and conditions of employment for certain public employees, which included an arbitration procedure. The Union sought to compel the City to arbitrate a dispute over wages based on a belief that the Agreement required arbitration in this situation, despite a prohibition in the Agreement against the arbitrator establishing wages and the settled law that setting wages of public employees is the sole prerogative of the legislature. The trial court granted the City's motion for summary judgment. We affirm.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
The Union filed an action seeking to compel arbitration of a dispute arising under a labor agreement between the Union and the City. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, including stipulated facts. The trial court granted the City's motion for summary judgment and denied the Union's motion.
The City has recognized the Union as the exclusive collective bargaining agent for certain employees of the City with the City Power & Light Department. The City and the Union are signatories to an Agreement that governs the terms and conditions of employment for those employees. Included in that Agreement is an addendum titled "EXHIBIT 'A' Job Classifications and Wage Rates," which lists information for all employees covered by the Agreement.
In January 2000, the Union filed three separate petitions for certification of representation with the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, State Board of Mediation ("Board"), seeking self-determination elections for three groups of employees. The only group at issue here is the Inventory Control Technicians in the Support Services Division. A pre-election telephone conference was held in March 2000, to discuss the procedures for conducting the elections. It was agreed that the Inventory Control Technician position would be included within the larger existing unit if the person in that position voted for union representation. But there was no discussion or agreement as to whether any of the terms of the parties' Agreement covering the larger existing unit would be extended to cover the Inventory Control Technician position. The stipulations for the elections put the other two groups of employees into one unit and "an appropriate unit consisting of Inventory Control Technicians in the Support Services Department; excluding all others" in a separate unit.
In April 2000, the Board held a self-determination election for the two units and the sole person holding the position of Inventory Control Technician II voted for union representation. In May 2000, the Board certified the Union as the collective bargaining agent for "a unit consisting of Inventory Control Technicians in the Support Services Department; excluding all others." Because this position was a new classification, it was not listed on Exhibit "A."
Negotiations began over the terms and conditions of employment for the Inventory Control Technician. A tentative understanding was reached for many issues, but the parties were unable to reach an agreement on appropriate wages and benefits to be paid for this position. In January 2001, the Union requested that the City submit these issues to arbitration pursuant to Article VI, Section 1 of the Agreement. The City refused.
The Union then sought to compel arbitration and claimed the City breached its Agre
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