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Massachusetts Bay Transp. Authority v. Labor Relations Com'n6/16/1997
Labor Relations Commission. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Collective bargaining. Public Employment, Collective bargaining. Labor, Public employment. Jurisdiction, Labor case. Statute, Construction. Words, "Executive."
FRIED, J. At the suit of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), a Superior Court Judge issued a declaratory judgment on the MBTA's motion for summary judgment to the effect that the Labor Relations Commission (commission) lacks jurisdiction to determine whether certain MBTA employees, having been placed on the MBTA executive payroll, are executive employees exempt from exercising bargaining rights under G. L. c. 150A, as applied to the MBTA by G. L. c. 161A, § 19A. We vacate that judgment.
I
The MBTA is established under G. L. c. 161A, § 2, as "a body politic and corporate and a political subdivision of the Commonwealth." MBTA employees have been held to be public employees. Hansen v. Commonwealth, 344 Mass. 214, 218-219, 181 N.E.2d 843 (1962). General Laws c. 150A (Act), known as the "Baby Wagner Act," Massachusetts Port Auth., CR-2940 (Labor Relations Commission 1965), secures to certain classes of employees not covered by the national labor laws, the benefits of collective bargaining. See G. L. c. 150A, § 1. See also R.H. White Co. v. Murphy, 310 Mass. 510, 515, 38 N.E.2d 685 (1942). The Act established the commission as an institution, similar to the National Labor Relations Board, to enforce certain of the Act's provisions and to adjudicate disputes arising under it. G. L. c. 150A, § 7. Among its functions, the commission entertains petitions by labor organizations seeking to represent employees in a workplace subject to the commission's jurisdiction. Section 5 (a) of G. L. c. 150A states the general rule that the representatives chosen by a majority of the employees "in a unit appropriate for such purposes" shall be the exclusive representatives of the employees in that unit for purposes of collective bargaining. Subsection (b) authorizes the commission to determine the appropriate bargaining units. Subsection (c) states that "whenever a question . . . arises concerning the representation of employees, the commission may investigate such controversy and [after a hearing] certify . . . the representatives who have been selected." Judicial review of such determinations occurs when an affected person or organization petitions for review of a commission order or opposes a petition for enforcement. See G. L. c. 150A, § 6 (e) and (f). The court on such review may enforce, modify, or set aside the commission's order. See G. L. c. 150A, § 5 (e).
This case arises out of a petition to the commission by the Office and Professional International Union, Local 453 (union), in which the union seeks to represent certain superior officers, e.g., lieutenants and captains, of the MBTA police department. The MBTA filed a motion with the commission asserting that the commission lacks jurisdiction to investigate and decide the representation issues presented by the union's petition. The MBTA's motion was based on the contention that the superior officers had been placed on the MBTA's "executive payroll" and that therefore they were "executives" to whom the provisions of G. L. c. 150A do not apply, by the terms of the statute which placed employees of the MBTA under the jurisdiction of the Act, G. L. c. 161A, § 19A. Section 19A provides:
"Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, the provisions of section five of chapter one hundred and fifty A shall so far as apt apply to the authority and its employees, excepting directors, executives and those confidential employees representing the authority and dealing with e
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