Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

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THIS review covers decisions in commercial, labor-management and accident claims cases, arranged under four headings: I. The Arbitration Clause and the Arbitrable Issue; II. The Enforcement of Arbitration Agreements; III. The Arbitrator and the Proceedings; and IV. The Award.

I. THE ARBITRATION CLAUSE AND THE ARBITRABLE ISSUE EMPLOYER'S ACTION AS CONSTITUTING VIOLATION OF CONTRACT — QUESTION OF FACT PRESENTED — WITHIN JURISDICTION OF ARBITRATOR

Employer must arbitrate question of whether introduction of conveyors in specific department, reclassification of jobs and concurrent cbange in rate of pay of all employees therein constituted violation of collective bargaining agreement or proper exercise of employee's right to create new jobs, notwithstanding that the agreement provided, inter alia, that arbitrator shall not have jurisdiction to "establish, change or determine the application of any wage rate nor to rule on any dispute regarding production standards nor to limit or impair any right that the Management Article in the Local Agreement . . . reserves to the Employer" and, that employer shall have right to determine "basis on which wages shall be paid" and "right to introduce new or improved facilities or methods of production." Basis of court holding was finding that controversy presented an issue of fact, i.e., whether new jobs had been created as a result of management's action. Citing United Steelworkers of America v. American Manufacturing Co., 363 U.S. 564, the court stated that "it is not the province of the courts to determine issues of fact which bear upon the question of whether a particular section of the contract has been violated. This is the function of the arbitrator." American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp, v. Local 7 of the International Brotherhood of Operative Potters, 358 F.2d 455 (6th Cir. 1966).