STATE OF MAINE MAINE LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
[MLRB No. 78-A-04]
[Issued: January 5, 1978]
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)
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE )
)
and ) DECISION AND ORDER
)
ASSOCIATED FACULTIES OF THE ) ON NOTICE OF APPEAL IN UNIT
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE (AFUM) )
) DETERMINATION PROCEEDINGS
and )
)
THE FACULTY ASSOCIATION OF )
THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE )
SCHOOL OF LAW (LFA) )
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This matter came to the Maine Labor Relations Board by way of a Notice of
Appeal dated December 1, 1977, and filed by F. Paul Frinsko, Esquire, Attorney
for the University of Maine on December 2, 1977. On December 2, 1977, Bryan M.
Dench, Attorney for the Law Faculty Association of the University of Maine,
filed a telegram with the Maine Labor Relations Board joining in the prayer for
relief requested by F. Paul Frinsko in the Notice of Appeal. A hearing was held
in this matter on Tuesday, December 13, 1977, Chairman Walter E. Corey, presiding
with Michael Schoonjans, Employee Representative and Robert D. Curley, Employer
Representative.
DECISION
This case involves the unit determination proceedings presently being con-
ducted by a hearing examiner of the Maine Labor Relations Board pursuant to
Section 1024 of the University of Maine Labor Relations Act. After several
hearings were conducted by the examiner with a stenotype and tape record of the
proceedings, the services of the stenotypist became unavailable and the parties
were so notified by the examiner by letter dated November 1, 1977. By letters
dated November 3, 1977 from F. Paul Frinsko and November 4, 1977 from Bryan M.
Dench, the University of Maine and the Law Faculty Association, respectively,
objected to proceeding with further hearings without the services of a steno-
typist. By letter dated November 9, 1977, Bob Bourgault, Assistant Executive
Director of the Maine Teachers Association, indicated that the Associated Faculties
of the University of Maine was willing to proceed without the services of a steno-
typist and was willing to rely completely on its own notes and reasonable access
to the Maine Labor Relations Board's tapes of the hearings. By letter dated
November 18, 1977 to F. Paul Frinsko and Bryan M. Dench, the Executive Director
of the Maine Labor Relations Board commented on the letters from Mr. Frinsko and
Mr. Dench dated November 3, 1977 and November 4, 1977, respectively, and stated
he would ask the examiner to continue with his efforts to conclude the hearings
as soon as possible and to render a decision in order that bargaining agent
elections might be scheduled. On December 2, 1977, F. Paul Frinsko, on behalf
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of the University of Maine, filed a Notice of Appeal under Title 26, M.R.S.A.,
Section 1028(2) giving notice that the University of Maine was aggrieved by the
ruling or determination of the Executive Director of the Maine Labor Relations
Board by the Executive Director's letter dated November 18, 1977.
Upon examination of the Notice of Appeal and the letter of the Executive
Director of the Maine Labor Relations Board dated November 18, 1977, it is the
opinion of the Maine Labor Relations Board that every decision or letter of the
Executive Director is not subject to appeal under Title 26, M.R.S.A., Section
1028(2). Pursuant to Section 1024 and 1025 of the University of Maine Labor
Relations Act, it is necessary for the Executive Director to schedule hearings
including the time and place, and in some cases to provide for a stenotype or
recording services. Every decision concerning scheduling or interlocutory
matters was not intended to be subject to appeal under 26, M.R.S.A., Section
1028 but only the final ruling or determination of the Executive Director. To
provide otherwise would lead to piecemeal consideration of each case by the
Board and result in unnecessary delay and burden to both the parties and the
Maine Labor Relations Board and frustrate the purposes of the Maine Labor Rela-
tions Act.
ORDER
Based on the foregoing findings of fact and by virtue of and pursuant to
the authority granted to the Maine Labor Relations Board by the University of
Maine Labor Relations Act and the Municipal Public Employees Labor Relations
Act, it is hereby ORDERED:
1. That the Notice of Appeal filed by F. Paul Frinsko
on December 2, 1977, should be and hereby is
DISMISSED.
2. That the unit determination hearings be held in
this matter in Portland, Maine, in conformity with
the schedule as arranged by the hearing examiner,
Mr. Goldman, and that these hearings be videotaped
and audiotaped in a manner and form susceptible to
transcription.
Dated at Augusta, Maine, this 5th day of January, 1978.
MAINE LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
/s/________________________________________
Walter E. Corey, Chairman
/s/________________________________________
Robert D. Curley, Employer Representative
/s/________________________________________
Michael Schoonjans, Employee Representative
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