Ordered that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, without costs or disbursements.
In pertinent part CPLR 7502 (c) provides that "The supreme court * * * may entertain an application * * * for a preliminary injunction in connection with an arbitrable controversy, but only upon the ground that the award to which the applicant may be entitled may be rendered ineffectual without such provisional relief". Contrary to the appellants' contentions, the granting of a preliminary injunction under the facts of the matter at bar did not constitute an improvident exercise of discretion. The instant controversy stemmed from a dispute under the collective bargaining agreement between the parties which, pursuant to that agreement, was subject to arbitration (see, Matter of Denihan [Denihan], 119 A.D.2d 144, 148, affd 69 N.Y.2d 725). The appellants, alleging that certain of the members of the petitioner organizations had exceeded their allotments of employee organization leave time, sought reimbursement of time or monetary compensation in lieu thereof from these allegedly offending members prior to an arbitrator's resolution of the merits of this dispute. Under the particular facts of this case we find that the granting of the injunction was appropriate to maintain the status quo pending the decision of the arbitrator "to preserve the efficacy of [a] potential arbitral award" (1985 N Y Legis Ann, at 118). Mangano, J.P., Thompson, Brown and Sullivan, JJ., concur.