International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 188, Afl-Cio, and — Baxter, J., Concurring in Part and Dissenting…

Summary

Justice Baxter concurs that the city's decision to lay off firefighters for fiscal reasons was not subject to collective bargaining, but dissents from the majority's conclusion that the union could obtain equitable judicial review of the agency's refusal to issue an unfair-labor-practice complaint. She reads the exception for erroneous statutory construction narrowly, limiting it to situations in which an agency refuses to exercise discretion because it mistakenly believes it lacks statutory authority. Because the agency considered the merits and applied settled law, she would have required dismissal of the union's judicial challenge with prejudice.