Arbitrator\u27s Jurisdiction to Determine Arbitrability of Labor Disputes under Public Sector Collective Bargaining Agreements: Is the Arbitrator\u27s Jurisdiction to Decide Arbitrability in the First Instance the Worst of Both Worlds - McLaughlin v. Chester Upland School District, An

Abstract

The general rule permitting pre-arbitration adjudication of arbitrability has been criticized as an invitation to forum-shopping and a race to the courthouse, an unnecessary obstacle to expeditious resolution of labor disputes,6 and a bad faith attempt by one party (usually the employer) to breach a contractual commitment to arbitration.7 Overruling a number of its own precedents following this majority rule, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania recently held in McLaughlin v. Chester Upland School District that an arbitrator has the sole and exclusive jurisdiction in the first instance to decide the arbitrability of a labor dispute arising out of a public sector collective bargaining agreement.