Fairview Southdale Hospital v. Minnesota Nurses Association

This case presents the narrow question of whether the arbitrator in a labor dispute between Fairview Southdale Hospital and the Minnesota Nurses Association exceeded his authority by relying on past practice to conclude that free parking for nurses was an employee benefit which the Hospital could not unilaterally terminate without bargaining with the Association. The Hospital maintains that a provision in the collective bargaining agreement specifically limits employee benefits which cannot be unilaterally changed to those listed within the agreement itself, and that free parking was not…