Sillers

Ronald Sillers appeals from a judgment denying a petition to compel arbitration of a claimed employment grievance.

The undisputed facts are that appellant is a sheriff’s sergeant of Contra Costa County, holding his appointment under county civil service, and that by examination he qualified himself for promotion to the position of sheriff’s lieutenant.

Appellant presented a grievance pursuant to the county’s Employer-Employee Relations Ordinance, alleging that he “has been passed over on each and every occasion where a vacancy has occurred because of his participation in the campaign of, and support for, Mr. Albert Carter in his election bid for Sheriff in 1974, and also because of [his] activities and participation in the Contra Costa County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association in the early 1970’s.” The county declined to submit appellant’s claim to the grievance procedure, contending that promotions are governed not by the Employer-Employee Relations Ordinance but by regulations issued by the county civil service commission. The present litigation followed.

*100 The issue of law presented in this appeal concerns the relationship between statutes and ordinances governing the…