Town of Burlington v. Labor Relations Commission

In October, 1976, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO (the union), petitioned the Labor Relations Commission (commission) for certification as the exclusive bargaining agent for the traffic supervisors in Burlington.1 The selectmen of Burlington reacted with some ire and voted an order — “effective immediately” — that traffic supervisors should work *185no more than five hours per day and should not be on the town’s payroll on any day when the schools were closed. That order constituted a reduction in pay because, since 1971, the traffic supervisors had been…