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Expedited Arbitration - US Postal Service - A Management View (From Arbitration Promise and Performance, P 249-256, 1984, James L Stern and Barbara D Dennis, ed. - See NCJ-94688)

NCJ Number
94698
Author(s)
S S Barber
Date Published
1984
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Private-sector collective bargaining began under the Postal Reorganization Act in 1970. The Postal Service and four national unions, now the exclusive representatives of the bargaining-unit employees, have concluded five collective bargaining agreements -- 1971, 1973, 1975, 1978, and 1981. In view of the heavy reliance of an expedited system, some comments are appropriate regarding shared concerns about that process.
Abstract
Benefits of expedited arbitration often become liabilities as well. In the case of the Postal Service, a process designed to handle cases rapidly and to reduce the large volume has had to deal, during each successive contract year, with an increase in the number of appeals to arbitration, thus defeating its intended purpose. Under the expedited system, some union as well as management representatives have chosen to avoid making decisions at the first, second, or third step of the grievance procedure and to allow the arbitrator to resolve the dispute. The lower cost per case in expedited arbitration is offset by the expense involved in processing a greatly increased number of cases. This increased volume has necessitated the use, in some instances, of unsophisticated arbitrators and advocates as well as additional hearings, which, in turn, have led to awards with little value or consistency in guiding the parties. The end result of a supposedly quick and inexpensive method of hearing a large volume of appeals has been to create a system that feeds upon itself, encouraging the parties to become increasingly more reliant upon an arbitrator's decision rather than upon each other in resolving grievances arising under their collective bargaining agreement.

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