ADR Assignment 2

Local No. 1001, a public sector union, has come to you seeking representation in regard to a grievance they filed on behalf of their membership against Tower City, located in State (the state where you reside).  Local No. 1001 is the certified bargaining agent for a number of civil service employees with Tower City.  The have a three year collective bargaining agreement with Tower City which is effective October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2012.  The collective bargaining agreement has a grievance procedure which allows for the filing of grievances on behalf of the entire membership and culminates in binding arbitration selecting arbitrators with the American Arbitration Association.  The President of Local No. 1001 has advised he filed a grievance under the prevailing benefits clause of the collective bargaining agreement which provides that the City cannot unilaterally change any benefits the employees receive even though the benefit is not specifically articulated in the contract.  Basically, the City had, for over 10 years, provided gourmet coffee and pastries in the employee lounge, free of charge, and due to recent budget cuts, started charging for the coffee and pastries without discussing it with the union.

The union's president wants to know whether and to what extent they can engage in discovery, ie. take depositions, request documents, whether they can subpoena witnesses to testify at the hearing, and whether they can take any action after the arbitration if they are not pleased with the arbitrator's ruling.  Please research to provide answers to these questions in reliance on state law, applicable rules and the procedures of the American Arbitration Association.  In addition, please provide suggestions as to the type of discovery which might be useful and explain the arbitration process, generally, and research labor arbitration decisions to advise him what they have to demonstrate to prevail on a prevailing benefits case. Prepare your responses in memorandum format.