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Chapter 12: The Arbitration Process
1. ________ is a process in which the parties involved agree to submit an unresolved dispute to
a neutral third party, whose decision is final and binding.
a. Mediation
b. Formalization
c. Arbitration
d. Polarization
2. Which of the following statements is TRUE of interest arbitration?
a. Most interest arbitration in the United States occurs in the public sector under compulsory
statutes.
b. In the case of interest arbitration, the decision given by the arbitrator is not binding on either
of the parties.
c. Interest arbitration in the public sector is governed by the Employee Free Choice Act.
d. Interest arbitration in the private sector is mandatory and generally follows a strike.
3. The ________ adopted an elaborate form of interest arbitration, known as the Experimental
Negotiating Agreement, in the 1970s as a means of avoiding the long and costly strikes that
had made the industry vulnerable to foreign competition.
a. International Workers Association
b. Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen
c. International Association of Fire Fighters
d. United Steelworkers of America
4. ________ arbitration is also known as grievance arbitration.
a. Concurrent
b. Interest
c. Reciprocal
d. Rights
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5. ________ arbitration deals with the allegation that an existing collective agreement has been
violated or misinterpreted.
a. Reciprocal
b. Distributive
c. Rights
d. Concurrent
6. Rights arbitration refers to ________.
a. issues not specifically mentioned in the contract
b. the interpretation and application of current contract terms
c. the consideration of past practice in settling disputes
d. the analysis of evidence that is not contained within the collective bargaining agreement
7. Which of the following is a difference between a grievance arbitration process and a judicial
process?
a. There are no prescribed rules for grievance arbitration as there are in the judicial process.
b. The arbitration process is less private as compared to the public judicial process.
c. The grievance arbitration procedure involves less sophisticated and knowledgeable parties
than those in most judicial proceedings.
d. The arbitrator does not consider the existing contract in deciding the outcome of the dispute.
8. In the landmark case of Lincoln Mills, the Supreme Court ordered that ________.
a. employees should be allowed to solicit support for a union from their fellow employees
during nonworking times
b. employees should be allowed to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave every year for family
reason.
c. an employer who entertains a good-faith reasonable doubt whether the employees support the
incumbent union, can withdraw recognition from the union and refuse to bargain with that
union
d. an employer should arbitrate grievances as provided for in a collective bargaining agreement
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9. In the ________ case, the Supreme Court ordered an employer to arbitrate grievances as
provided for in a collective bargaining agreement, stating that an employer’s agreement to
arbitrate grievance disputes was a trade-off for the union’s agreement not to strike.
a. Steelworkers Trilogy
b. Warrior & Gulf case
c. Gooseplay
d. Lincoln Mills
10. In the Steelworks Trilogy cases the Supreme Court ________.
a. ordered that employees with a substantial mutuality of interest in wages, hours, and working
conditions can be appropriately grouped in a bargaining unit
b. upheld the grievance arbitration process and limited judicial intervention
c. ordered that a union can be certified to represent an appropriate bargaining unit only through
a secret-ballot election
d. upheld the right of employees to use the employer’s bulletin board for the purpose of union
solicitation
11. Which of the following statements is TRUE of arbitration of grievances under collective
bargaining?
a. In determining whether there is a duty to arbitrate a dispute, the courts should examine the
merits of the underlying grievance.
b. In labor contracts with an arbitration clause, if there is any doubt regarding the topics covered
by the arbitration clause, then the topic should be considered as non-arbitrable.
c. The parties are not required to arbitrate a dispute that they have not agreed to submit to
arbitration.
d. A court should enforce the decision of an arbitrator only after examining its correctness.
12. A grievance is presumed to be arbitrable if ________.
a. the courts determine that the underlying grievance has merit
b. the management and the union are not able to reach an agreement even after negotiating the
issue for one month
c. the agreement does not include the topic under consideration
d. the contract provides for the arbitration of grievances and does not exclude the topic under
consideration
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13. Which of the following is TRUE of arbitration?
a. The courts determine whether there is a duty to arbitrate a dispute.
b. The courts must examine the merits of the underlying grievance to determine if there is a duty
to arbitrate a dispute.
c. The duty to arbitrate cannot extend beyond the life of the contract.
d. The courts must examine the correctness of an arbitration award before enforcing it.
14. Under which of the following circumstances does a labor-management issue become
arbitrable even after the collective bargaining contract expires?
a. The issue was not covered by the collective bargaining agreement.
b. The worker involved in the issue was hired after the collective bargaining agreement was
accepted by the union.
c. The issue involves facts and events that occurred before the expiration of the contract.
d. The issue affects more than 80 percent of the employees.
15. In which of the following cases is a successor employer most likely to inherit the
predecessor’s contractual duty to arbitrate?
a. The successor employer does not accept the existing bargaining unit and the union.
b. There is “substantial continuity” between the old and the new companies.
c. The existing union and the successor employer enter into a new collective bargaining
agreement.
d. The successor employer has a good-faith reasonable doubt whether the employees support the
incumbent union.
16. Which of the following is a difference between arbitration and litigation?
a. Arbitration hearings are more formal than litigation.
b. Arbitrators need not have legal training but people conducting litigation ought to have legal
training.
c. The labor-management issues that are not covered by the collective bargaining agreement are
resolved by arbitration whereas the issues that are covered by the collective bargaining
agreement are resolved by litigation.
d. The decision given by an arbitrator is not binding on either of the party but the decision of
litigation is binding on both the parties.
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17. Which of the following terms refers to the recognition of the bargaining history of those in
the same industry to determine the respective rights of the parties involved in a labor dispute?
a. parol evidence
b. agency shop
c. common law of the shop
d. arbitrability
18. Which of the following terms refers to a proof that is not contained within the four edges of
the collective bargaining agreement?
a. past practice
b. common law of the shop
c. just cause
d. parole evidence
19. The ________ Act provides for the arbitration of disputes involving collective bargaining
agreements.
a. Economic Opportunity
b. Labor Management Relations
c. Social Security
d. Goldwater-Nichols Act
20. The ________ Act is also called the United States Arbitration Act.
a. Labor Management Relations
b. Davis-Bacon
c. Federal Arbitration
d. Goldwater-Nichols
21. Which of the following is an advantage of arbitration over the litigation process?
a. A decision given by an arbitrator is not binding on either of the parties.
b. The arbitration service is provided free of cost by the government.
c. Both labor and management participate in the selection of the arbitrator.
d. An arbitrator’s decision is binding only when it is approved by the NLRB.
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22. Which of the following is a responsibility of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation
Services’ Office of Arbitration Services?
a. investigating details of a dispute and based on that, selecting a suitable arbitrator for the
dispute
b. maintaining a roster of arbitrators qualified to hear and decide labor questions in labor–
management disputes
c. evaluating the merits of the underlying grievances submitted for arbitration
d. determining the accuracy of the decision given by the arbitrator and then approving the
decision so that it becomes binding on both the parties
23. Which of the following statements is TRUE of arbitrators?
a. Arbitrators must be approved by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services’ Office of
Arbitration Services.
b. Arbitrators have to complete a certification course in arbitration before they can perform the
duties of an arbitrator.
c. Only attorneys and judges can be arbitrators in labor-management disputes.
d. The collective bargaining agreement can specify the education or technical training that
arbitrators require.
24. A tripartite arbitration board is composed of ________ and a neutral member who serves as
chairperson.
a. members of the NLRB and an equal number of members of the Federal Labor Relations
Authority
b. members of the Federal Labor Relations Authority and an equal number of members selected
by management
c. members selected by union and an equal number of members of the NLRB
d. members selected by management and an equal number of members selected by union
25. Which of the following factors should be taken into consideration while determining the
arbitrability of a dispute?
a. the breadth of contractual issues
b. the number of people affected by the dispute
c. the financial impact of the dispute on the employer
d. the time required for completing the arbitration of the dispute
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26. According to the concept of ________, a person cannot be punished twice for the same
offense based on the same conduct.
a. severability
b. common law of the shop
c. double jeopardy
d. arbitrability
27. Ted was fined by his employer for soliciting support for the union during working hours on
the factory floor. A week later, Ted was fired from his job for the same offence. Under which
of the following principles could Ted be reinstated into the job?
a. the Globe doctrine
b. double jeopardy
c. the severability doctrine
d. obiter dictum
28. Which of the following is an optional step in the hearing procedure for the arbitration of a
grievance?
a. an opening statement by the initiating party
b. the presentation of evidence, witnesses, and arguments by the defense
c. the presentation of evidence, witnesses, and arguments by the initiating party
d. a summation by the initiating party
29. Which of the following is most likely to be included in the opening statement presented by a
party during a hearing procedure for the arbitration of a grievance?
a. the questions to be asked to the other party during cross examination
b. the relief sought by the party
c. the rules of evidence to be followed during the hearing
d. the general bargaining practices followed in the industry
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30. Which of the following points should be kept in mind by an arbitrator while assessing
credibility of witnesses?
a. The most confident witness is always the most accurate.
b. Demeanor alone can reveal that a witness is lying.
c. Witnesses are generally accurate in remembering the details of an event.
d. The occupation or social class of a witness does not guarantee veracity.
31. Which of the following statements is TRUE of an arbitrator’s award?
a. The arbitrator’s award becomes binding on both the parties only after it is approved by the
NLRB.
b. The arbitrator’s awards are usually presented in written format.
c. A union has a right to reject the arbitrator’s award if a majority of the employees consider it
to be inappropriate.
d. The arbitrator’s award is a part of a written document known as the arbitrator’s opinion.
32. Which of the following terms refers to the remarks made by an arbitrator that are irrelevant to
the case brought to arbitration?
a. obiter dictum
b. animus nocendi
c. fieri facias
d. trinoda necessitas
33. A sufficient or proper reason for which management has the right to discipline or discharge
employees is known as a(n) ________.
a. clause tontine
b. arbitrable issue
c. obiter dictum
d. just cause
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34. Under which of the following circumstances will a disciplinary action taken by management
be considered a disciplinary action that is based on a just cause?
a. The disciplinary action was administered by the management without adequate investigation.
b. After a lax past enforcement, management suddenly started enforcing a rule without prior
intimation.
c. The employee was given adequate warning as to the consequences of his conduct.
d. Management has enforced a rule against only a particular group of employees.
35. ________ arbitration can be far more successful in the public sector than the private sector
because of political pressures. Under this type of arbitration, an unbiased third party
examines the collective bargaining impasse and issues findings and recommendations.
a. Integrative
b. Reformatory
c. Associative
d. Advisory
True/False
36. Virtually all labor contracts provide for mediation as the last step in the grievance procedure.
37. Most interest arbitration in the United States occurs in the private sector under compulsory
statutes.
38. Interest arbitration is found in almost every labor agreement and used far more than rights
arbitration today.
39. The decision made by the arbitrator during interest arbitration is not binding on the
participants.
40. Rights arbitration deals with the allegation that an existing collective agreement has been
violated or misinterpreted.
41. The arbitration process is more private and therefore unique to the parties, as compared with
the public judicial process.
42. The grievance arbitration procedure involves less sophisticated and knowledgeable parties
than those in most judicial proceedings.
43. In determining whether there is a duty to arbitrate a dispute, the courts should examine the
merits of the underlying grievance.
44. As long as an arbitration award is based on the bargaining agreement, a court should enforce
the award without examining its correctness.
45. In interpreting the labor agreement, the arbitrator is limited to the words of the contract and
cannot take into consideration past practices.
46. The courts have consistently enforced the principle that a grievance is presumed to be
arbitrable as long as the agreement does not exclude the topic under consideration.
47. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the duty to arbitrate can extend beyond the life of the
contract.
48. A successor employer inherits the predecessor’s contractual duty to arbitrate as long as there
is substantial continuity between the old and the new companies.
49. Arbitrators’ decisions, as long as they are based on interpretation of the contract, are final and
binding and are not questioned by the courts.
50. Arbitration hearings are more formal than litigation, and the advocates are required to have
legal training.
51. The common law of the shop is recognition of the bargaining history of those in the same
industry as opposed to the actual parties in a particular case.
52. Parol evidence is evidence that is not contained within the four edges of the collective
bargaining agreement and therefore is outside the parameters of an arbitration proceeding.
53. An individual is precluded from suing under the civil rights laws if his claim has gone
through arbitration under the collective bargaining agreement.
54. The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) is also called the United States Arbitration Act.
55. Both labor and management have to pay arbitration fees.
56. A prior arbitration award cannot be considered in subsequent arbitrations, even if it involves
the same parties, the same contract, and the same issues.
57. One of the responsibilities of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services’ Office of
Arbitration Services is providing the parties involved in collective bargaining agreements
with a list of experienced panels of arbitrators.
58. Arbitrators are not required to have any specific educational or technical training unless
specified in the collective bargaining agreement.
59. Only attorneys and judges are allowed to be arbitrators.
60. Generally, experienced arbitrators discourage the use of visual evidence.
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61. A sufficient or proper reason for which management has the right to discipline or discharge
employees is known as a just cause.
62. All the employees of the federal government have the right to strike.
63. Fact-finding and advisory arbitration can be far more successful in the public sector than the
private sector because of political pressures.
64. Interest arbitration allows a panel to make a final and binding decision on a negotiation
dispute.
65. Interest bargaining cannot be used to resolve disputes in the public sector.