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No. 82-186 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
BUTTE TEACHERS' UNION LOCAL NO. 332, AFL-CIO,
Plaintiff and Appellant,
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF BUTTE SCHOOL
DISTRICT NO. 1OF SILVER BOW COUNTY, MONTANA,

Defendant and Respondent.
Appeal from: District Court of the Second Judicial District, In and for the County of Silver Bow Honorable Gordon Bennett, Judge presiding.
Counsel of Record: For Appellant: J.Brian Tierney, Butte, Montana For Respondent: Poore, Roth & Robinson, Butte, Montana Donald C. Robinson, Butt.e, Montana
Submitted  on briefs:  September 23,  1982  
Decided:  December  16, 1982  
Filed:  3EC f 619@  

jL-.

Clerk
Mr. Justice Frank B. Morrison, Jr., delivered the Opinion of the Court.
The Second Judicial District Court, Judge Gordon Bennett pre- siding, entered judgment in favor of respondent and dismissed appellant's declaratory judgment claim based on the parties' collective bargaining agreement. Butte Teacher's Union Local No. 332 appeals.
On March 23, 1981, Butte Teacher's Union Local No. 332 brought a declaratory judgment claim against the Board of Trustees of Butte School District No. 1 of Silver Bow County, alleging that retiring teachers, as part of their severance pay package under the parties' collective bargaining agreement, should receive severance pay for unused "additional" sick leave. The provisions on which the claim was premised state in pertinent part:
"Article 23: Severance Pay: Section 1 -School District No. 1 sha3T pay-tld--ceac%er upon his or her retirement or death, one-half of any unused portion of the accumulated sick leave remaining in his or her account.
"Article 32: Sickness --and Death---in Family
.---
Leave Section 1: A teacher shall be allowed each year an annual fifteen (15) days sick leave with full salary cumulative for ten (10) years or one hundred fifty (150) days, plus an additional five (5) days shall be allowed in which the teacher receives the difference between his or her rate of pay and $18 per day, accumulated up to thirty-five days . . ."
The Union sought a declaration that the school district has a duty to make payment of additional sick leave to retired and retiring teachers retroactive to 1977, which was when this Court issued its opinion in School District No. 1 v. Driscoll (1977)r 175 Mont. 555, 568 P.2d 149, whereby a similar provision in a separate collective bargaining agreement between the district and school administrators was cons trued to require the district to include unused additional sick leave in the accumulated sick leave due and owing every administrator upon retirement. The school district answered, denying "any liability of any
kind or nature whatsoever to the retired and retiring teacher members for payment of additional sick leave upon retirement."
The Union filed a motion for summary judgment along with a supporting a

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