Synopsis By: Lurie - Proceeding Author: Robert S. Katz

Mr. Katz, a lawyer representing employers, states “[It] is my own opinion that the apparent recent increase in successful judicial challenges to arbitration decisions and the reluctance of our Supreme Court to grant a greater role to arbitration in our federal labor statutory scheme stems primarily from the tendency of arbitrators to characterize themselves as “industrial judges.” Mr. Katz agrees that the arbitrator should be a “contract reader,” but that the arbitrator should not infer any content not contained in the CBA; that they do not have the “implied authority” to read into the contract provisions deemed necessary.