## Facts

- New Hampshire’s public-sector labor statute (RSA 273-A) requires public employers and employee organizations to bargain in good faith and, after a CBA expires, to maintain the “status quo” of mandatory subjects of bargaining until a new agreement is reached.
- RSA 273-A also prohibits strikes and certain “job actions” by public employees and treats prohibited job action as an unfair labor practice.
- The City of Manchester (City) and the Manchester Police Patrolman’s Association (Union) were parties to a three-year CBA that ran from 1991 to 1994.
- The CBA included: (1) Article 12, a procedure for off-duty officers to work “extra details” on a volunteer basis; (2) Article 9, a procedure allowing the City to require officers to accept additional assignments when necessary; and (3) Article 26, a no-strike clause barring any strike, work stoppage, or slowdown of services.
- By 1996 the CBA had been expired for roughly two years, and negotiations had not produced a successor agreement; the parties were operating under the statutory status quo.
- The City’s annual Riverfest event required additional police coverage. In the two prior years, officers had volunteered for Riverfest extra-detail assignments.
- In advance of the 1996 Riverfest, the Union strongly encouraged officers not to volunteer for Riverfest details as part of the ongoing labor dispute, while not directing officers to refuse any assignments they were ordered to work.
- After learning of the Union’s position and fearing insufficient staffing, the City sought an ex parte temporary injunction in superior court to compel officers to work the Riverfest details.
- The superior court denied the ex parte request, concluding the Riverfest extra details were voluntary under the status quo terms, while recognizing the City could order officers to work if required for security.
- After the superior court ruling, the Union sent a letter to members urging them not to volunteer for Riverfest details if not ordered to work.
- The City filed an unfair labor practice petition with the Public Employee Labor Relations Board (PELRB), alleging the Union’s conduct violated RSA 273-A and breached the CBA’s extra-detail and no-strike provisions.
- The PELRB ruled for the Union, finding no unlawful job action and no unfair labor practice. The City appealed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether the Union’s concerted urging that officers not volunteer for optional off-duty Riverfest extra-detail assignments constituted an unlawful strike, work stoppage, slowdown, or other prohibited job action under RSA 273-A and the CBA’s no-strike clause.
2. Whether encouraging officers not to participate in voluntary extra details violated the statutory status quo obligation after the CBA’s expiration or breached the status quo terms of Articles 12 and 26.
3. Whether the PELRB acted unlawfully or unreasonably in concluding that the Union’s conduct was not an unfair labor practice.

## Decision

- The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed the PELRB.
- The court agreed that the Union’s encouragement not to volunteer for extra details did not amount to an unlawful strike, work stoppage, slowdown, or prohibited job action because the extra details were voluntary and officers remained subject to being ordered to work under the City’s authority.
- The court rejected the City’s claim that the Union altered the status quo by changing the level of volunteer participation; the status quo preserved the contractual rules governing extra details, not a guaranteed number of volunteers.
- Applying the deferential standard of review applicable to PELRB determinations, the court found the board’s decision was supported by the record and was not unlawful or unreasonable.

## Legal Principles

- After a public-sector CBA expires, the statutory status quo requires continuation of the prior agreement’s terms and conditions of employment, but it does not guarantee continuation of past employee choices within a voluntary system.
- A coordinated refusal to accept purely voluntary extra-duty work, where employees continue to perform required duties and remain subject to lawful orders for additional assignments, is not necessarily a strike, work stoppage, slowdown, or prohibited job action under RSA 273-A or a no-strike clause.
- Where a CBA (or status quo) distinguishes between voluntary extra details and compelled assignments, an employee organization’s urging members to decline voluntary work does not by itself deprive the employer of the ability to staff an event if the employer retains the right to order work when needed.
- Appellate review of PELRB decisions is deferential; the board’s findings and conclusions will be upheld unless the appealing party shows the decision is unlawful or unreasonable on the record.

## Conclusion

The New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld the PELRB’s dismissal of the City’s unfair labor practice petition, holding that the Union’s campaign urging officers not to volunteer for optional Riverfest extra-detail shifts did not constitute an illegal job action and did not violate the status quo, because the details were voluntary and the City retained authority to order officers to work when necessary.


Appeal of City of Manchester, 741 A.2d 70, 144 N.H. 320 (1999)