City of Somerville v. Somerville Municipal Employees Ass'n

I respectfully dissent. As the majority correctly observe, the scope of our review is exceedingly narrow. As the majority also correctly recognize, however, “[t]he civil service law is not one of the statutes identified in G. L. c. 150E, § 7(d), which may be ‘superseded by a collective bargaining agreement[,]’ . . . [and] if the civil service law and the collective bargaining provisions conflict, then as matter of law, an arbitrator would act in excess of his powers in seeking to enforce those collective bargaining rights.” Fall River v. AFSCME Council 93, Local 3177, AFL-CIO, 61 Mass. App.…