Commonwealth v. Joint Bargaining Committee of Pennsylvania Social Services Union, Local 668

Opinion by

Judge Craig,

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appeals a labor arbitrator’s award, which sustained a grievance in favor of a group of employees whom Pennsylvania Social Services Union represents for collective bargaining purposes.

The issues for our resolution are (1) whether the arbitrator erred in determining that the grievance presented an arbitrable issue and (2) whether he grounded his award on an interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement.

Before securing employment with the Commonwealth, each of the grievants had participated in Project Hope, a career training program…