An employer unilaterally adopted a policy banning smoking in the laboratory in one dental clinic and did so without prior notification to the union. An arbitrator upheld the union’s grievance to the extent that the parties are ordered to immediately “consult and negotiate” a smoking policy for the clinic labs. The arbitrator had ruled that, given the past practice of allowing smoking in the dental clinics, the matter needs to be the subject of bargaining.
83 LA 529 (1984).