(1) Any labor dispute, other than a representation question, may lawfully be submitted to voluntary arbitration in the manner provided in this section. However, arbitration of labor disputes without complying with this section shall be valid as it has heretofore been under the common law.
  (2) (a) When a labor dispute involves the meaning or interpretation of an existing collective agreement between an employer and a labor organization and the collective agreement provides for the use of a designated arbitrator to decide disputes thereunder, or provides the method for selection of arbitrator or arbitrators, the provisions of that agreement shall be binding upon the parties, and shall be complied with unless the parties agree to submit the dispute to some other arbitration procedure.

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Terms Used In Michigan Laws 423.9d

  • Commission: means the employment relations commission created by section 3. See Michigan Laws 423.2
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Employer: means a person and includes any person acting as an agent of an employer, but does not include the United States or any corporation wholly owned by the United States; any federal reserve bank; any employer subject to the railway labor act, 45 USC 151 to 188; the state or any political subdivision thereof; any labor organization, or anyone acting in the capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization, other than when acting as an employer; or any entity subject to 1947 PA 336, MCL 423. See Michigan Laws 423.2
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • in writing: shall be construed to include printing, engraving, and lithographing; except that if the written signature of a person is required by law, the signature shall be the proper handwriting of the person or, if the person is unable to write, the person's proper mark, which may be, unless otherwise expressly prohibited by law, a clear and classifiable fingerprint of the person made with ink or another substance. See Michigan Laws 8.3q
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • labor dispute: include but are not restricted to any controversy concerning terms, tenure, or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of employees in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, or changing terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee. See Michigan Laws 423.2
  • Labor organization: means any organization of any kind, or any agency or employee representation committee or plan, in which employees participate and that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work. See Michigan Laws 423.2
  • Person: includes an individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, labor organization, or any other private entity. See Michigan Laws 423.2
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
  (b) Disputes, other than representation questions, for which a settlement procedure by arbitration is not provided under any collective agreement between the employer and the labor organization involved, may be submitted to arbitration by agreement of the parties. The agreement to arbitrate shall be in writing, shall provide that the arbitration shall be conducted pursuant to this section, and shall include an undertaking by each of the parties that he will faithfully abide by and perform the arbitration award. The agreement, or a supplemental agreement, shall also specify the issue or issues to be decided, shall make provision for the payment by the parties, or either of them, of the costs and expenses of the arbitration, and may include such other provisions, not inconsistent herewith, as shall be agreeable to the parties. However, the commission may, upon the request of the parties, and upon finding that the parties, or either of them, are unable to bear the expense of the arbitration, designate an arbitrator for a dispute, in which event the expense of the arbitration, including a per diem fee of $50.00 and necessary expenses of the arbitrator, shall be paid out of the general fund. An agreement to arbitrate an existing or future dispute shall be enforceable in equity by any circuit court having jurisdiction.
  (3) The arbitrator or arbitrators designated in a proceeding shall within 20 days after his or their appointment, proceed to conduct hearings in the dispute. Reasonable notice of the hearings shall be given to the parties, who may appear and be heard both in person and by counsel or other representative. Hearings shall be informal, and the rules of evidence prevailing in judicial proceedings shall not be binding. Oral or documentary evidence and other data deemed relevant by the arbitrator or arbitrators may be received in evidence. A transcript of the proceedings shall be taken if the arbitrator or arbitrators so desire, or at the request and at the expense of any party. Within 30 days after the conclusion of the hearing, or within such additional period as the parties shall stipulate, the arbitrator or arbitrators shall make written findings and promulgate a written opinion and award upon the issue or issues presented and shall mail or otherwise deliver a true copy thereof to each of the parties. A majority vote of the arbitrators, if there be more than 1, shall constitute a decision on any matter. This section shall not supersede or invalidate the provisions of any collective agreement under which the parties are required to arbitrate disputes under subsection (2)(a).
  (4) An award rendered in a proceeding hereunder shall be enforceable at law or in equity as the agreement of the parties.