Arbitration: toward a rebirth
January 1, 1978
The author discusses two recent Fifth Circuit Title VII cases that epitomize areas governed by statutory principles which might better be controlled by collective bargaining. In each case, an agreement produced by good-faith collective bargaining, and based upon a realistic appraisal of external law as it existed when the accord was reached, was required, as the court said, to be vacated. Thus, unions and employers sought to avoid the expense and friction of litigation to the final decision, but were not able to do so. The author concludes that many issues of employment discrimination, equal pay, age discrimination, and the like could be decided as well or better by an arbitrator as by a federal judge.