Labor Arbitration Attorneys
Labor arbitration or mediation is an alternative form of resolving grievances between labor unions and business management. Oftentimes the two parties involved won't want to engage in a long, costly litigation process, and would prefer to settle through more informal means. Despite the "informality" of arbitration in the field of labor, there are a number of procedures that need to be followed in order for the outcome to be legally and meaningfully binding.
The first step in resolving disputes between labor and management is to designate a neutral third party to be the arbiter. That arbiter presides over the arbitration process, holding informal or formal hearings designed to figure out what will satisfy either side. Then, the arbiter issues a ruling which the two parties agree to abide by. Arbitration is a simple concept in theory, but there are many complexities regarding how it may or may not be used.
For instance, arbitration typically carries more lenient penalities for businesses than litigation. The Supreme Court recently ruled on the side of arbitration for an age discriminiation ruling, meaning that subsequent labor contracts will send workers with grievances around age discrimination into arbitration rather than allowing for a protracted court battle. Whereas litigation makes rulings based on hard-and-fast laws and legal precedents, arbitration is far looser, and the result depends more on the three parties involved than on written law.
Standard labor grievances taken into arbitration often involve pension plans, benefits, or wages. It is not illegal, per se, to deny laborers what they want, so litigaton is not often possible. However, if the grievance isn't addressed immediately, it could develop into a serious problem. Hence, arbitration is useful to nip the problem in the bud. With a good arbiter, businesses and labor groups can usually come to a mutually beneficial compromise, and balance is restored again.
Problems with arbitration may occur when it is used in lieu of a company or union having to answer for actually breaking the law. The law of the land is impartial by nature, as is litigation - the goal is to figure out whether the law was broken, not "who won" and "who lost." Where the law is concerned, fault should be clearly, impassionately defined. When law gets muddied up in attempts to forge compromise or mutual payoffs, as might be the case behind the close doors of arbitraiton, it can lead to dissatisfaction among either party or among the public, especially in the case of high-profile grievances or disputes.