Union Waiver of NLRA Rights: Part 2-- A Fresh Approach to Board Deferral to Arbitration

The author applies the non-waiverprinciple developed in Part I of this article to Board deferral to arbitration. Former Chairman Murphy\u27s concurring opinion in General American Transportation Corp. is evaluated in light of the non- waiver princple. The author analyzes the issues not properly resolved in that opinion, while demonstrating its basic insight. In Part 1 of this essay, I explored the implications of the Supreme Court\u27s holding in NLRP v. Magnavox Co. that exclusive bargaining agents do not have the authority to waive certain rights protected by section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. Drawing on Magnavox, I attempted to formulate a comprehensive non-waiver principle delineating those section 7 rights which exclusive bargaining agents should not have authority to sacrifice in the course of discharging their collective bargaining responsibilities. I also noted that perhaps the most significant citation of the Magnavox decision to date appeared in then-Board Chairman Murphy\u27s swing-vote opinion in General American Transportation Corp. (G.A.T.) concerning Board deferral to arbitration. In this essay, I shall develop the insight of Chairman Murphy\u27s opinion that the Magnavox decision may establish statutory limits on the Board\u27s discretion to defer