Bill Text: DE HB341 | 2013-2014 | 147th General Assembly | Draft
Bill Title: An Act To Amend Title 19 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Public Employment Relations.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-06-17 - Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House [HB341 Detail]
Download: Delaware-2013-HB341-Draft.html
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SPONSOR: |
Rep. Mulrooney & Sen. Marshall |
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Reps. Brady, Carson, Jaques, J. Johnson, Keeley, Kowalko, Longhurst, Mitchell, Osienski, Paradee, Potter; Sens. Henry, Townsend |
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 147th GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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HOUSE BILL NO. 341 |
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AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS. |
Section 1.Amend §1311A, Title 19 of the Delaware Codeby making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions shown by underline and as follows:
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision
in this Code, exclusive representatives of state merit employees, who are in
the classified service and not working in higher education, shall collectively
bargain matters
described in this subsection in the units
provided pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. The scope of bargaining
shall include for
purposes of this subsection only:
(1) Compensation, which shall be defined as
the payment of money in the form of hourly or annual salary, and any cash
allowance or items in lieu of a cash allowance to a public employee by reason
of said employee's employment by a public employer, as defined in this chapter,
whether the amount is fixed or determined by time, task or other basis of
calculations. Position classification, health care and other benefit programs
established pursuant to Chapters 52 and 96 of Title 29, workers compensation,
disability programs and pension programs shall not be deemed to be compensation
for purposes of this section; and.
(2) Any
items negotiable for state merit employees pursuant to §5938 of Title 29.To
the extent or where any of these items are covered by existing collective
bargaining agreements, the provisions negotiated pursuant to subsection (c) of
this section shall supersede those agreements.
(b) For purposes of bargaining pursuant to this section, employees shall be classified in the following bargaining units, each of which shall independently bargain compensation unless the Parties agree to combine one or more bargaining units for purposes of compensation bargaining:
(1) Labor, maintenance, trade and service workers which is composed of generally recognized blue collar and service classes including mechanics, highway, building and natural resource maintenance, skilled craft, equipment operators, toll collectors, food service, custodial, laundry, laborers, security officers and similar classes;
(2) Nonprofessional patient care workers which is composed of institutional care classes including licensed practical nurses, nursing assistants, active treatment assistants, technicians, therapy aides and similar classes;
(3) Social services, human services, and counseling which is composed of social workers, social service specialists, family therapists, youth counselors, teacher aides, activity aides, job service personnel, income maintenance personnel, eligibility specialists, vocational counselors, correctional counselors, child support enforcement personnel and similar classes;
(4) Administrative support, technical and clerical which is composed of administrative specialists, clerks, account technicians, computer operators, office service personnel, officer workers, paralegals and similar nonprofessional classes;
(5) Engineers, and administrative professionals which is composed of civil, environmental and other engineers, accountants, management analysts, fiscal officers, program managers, business professionals, auditors and similar professionals classes exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act [29 U.S.C. §201 et seq.];
(6) Professional patient care which is composed of registered nurses, public health nurses, psychiatric nurses, therapists, dietitians and similar professional classes;
(7) Professional education and library science which is composed of state agency teachers, counselors and librarians;
(8) Regulatory licensing and inspectors which is composed of employees empowered to review certain public and business activities including fire marshals, regulatory inspectors, field auditors, motor vehicle inspectors and similar classes;
(9) Law-enforcement and investigative agents which is composed of agency police officers, natural resource and environmental control officers, parole and probation officers of the Department of Correction, alcoholic beverage control officers, investigators and similar occupations;
(10) Correctional officers and similar correctional occupations;
(11) Correctional supervisors which is composed of correctional lieutenants, staff lieutenants, correctional captains and similar occupations;
(12) Scientists and medical professionals which is composed of biologists, chemists, agricultural specialists, pharmacists, psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, pathologists and similar occupations.
The Board shall determine the proper assignment of job classifications to bargaining units and the bargaining unit status of individual employees and shall provide for certified bargaining representatives to combine bargaining units or portions of bargaining units of employees they represent within the bargaining units defined in this section based upon the job classifications of the employees represented.
(c) The exclusive bargaining
representatives of all of the employees in each individual bargaining unit identified
above shall join together in a bargaining coalition to bargain collectively for
that unit Where a
majority of the employees in one of the twelve bargaining units defined in
subsection (b) above are represented, the exclusive bargaining representatives
of those employees shall join together in a bargaining coalition to bargain
collectively for the represented employees in that unit. Employee organizations that are part of
the coalition shall exercise authority over decisions of the coalition proportional
to the number of employees exclusively represented in the coalition by the
employee organization. To the extent a finalized agreement on compensation
items requires legislative approval or the appropriation of funds, the Governor
shall recommend the same to the General Assembly for the ensuing fiscal years
and the agreement provision requiring such appropriation shall be contingent on
the specific appropriation of funds by the General Assembly. In the event the
General Assembly fails to appropriate the funds necessary to implement the
provision of an agreement, that provision shall be returned to the parties for
negotiation or the provision may be implemented to the extent consistent with
or limited by appropriations from the General Assembly, at the discretion of
the General Assembly. Contracts shall be timed to become effective in
accordance with the State's fiscal year.
(d) Coalition compensation agreements shall not constitute a bar to an election in accordance with § 1311(b) of this title. Such bar shall be established by the noncompensation agreement covering employees in an appropriate unit.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision in this Code to the contrary, where no employee organization is certified to represent some or all of the employees in a bargaining unit defined in subsection (b) of this section, an employee organization desiring to be certified as the exclusive representative of the unrepresented employees in such unit shall file a petition with the Board, accompanied by a combination of the uncoerced signatures of at least 30% of the unrepresented state employees in a unit described in said subsection (b) of this section. Alternatively, an employee organization may file a petition with the Board, accompanied by the uncoerced signatures of at least 30% of all of the combined total of unrepresented state employees and state employees currently represented by the petitioning employee organization in a unit described in said subsection (b) of this section. The Board or its designee shall act on such petition in accordance with §§1310 and 1311 of this title and shall dismiss the petition or order an election within (90) days.Elections ordered in accordance with this Section shall be conducted within (60) days of such order. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to prevent a public employer from voluntarily recognizing an employee organization as the exclusive bargaining representative for a specified bargaining unit without an election so long as the following conditions have been met:
(1) A petition shall have been filed with the Board by an employee or group of employees or employee organization acting in their behalf alleging that a majority of employees in a unit identified in subsection (b) of this section above wish to be represented by an employee organization for such purposes; and
(2) The Board verifies that a majority of the employees in such unit have, within 12 months of the submission of the petition to the Board, signed authorizations designating the employee organization specified in the petition as their exclusive bargaining representative and that no other employee organization is currently certified or recognized as the exclusive bargaining representative of any of the employees claimed to be represented in the unit; and
(3) The
Board determines that notices have been posted causes notice to be posted, where notices to affected employees are
normally posted, for a period of at least 10 calendar days, advising that
exclusive recognition will be granted without an election to a named employee
organization for such unit.
(f) Notwithstanding any provision in
this Code to the contrary, collective bargaining pursuant to this section shall
commence at least 150 days by July 1 of the year prior to the expiration date of any current collective bargaining agreement
or in the case of a newly certified representative within a reasonable time
after certification.
Should agreement not be reached by September 1 of said year the parties shall
request mediation.
(g) Notwithstanding anything in this
section to the contrary, a bargaining unit created pursuant to the provisions
of subsection (b) of this section, shall not bargain for compensation as
defined herein until all of the eligible employees a majority
of all of the eligible employees in such unit are represented by an
exclusive bargaining representative. Nothing contained in this subsection shall
be interpreted to deny bargaining for any items negotiable for state merit
employees pursuant to §5938 of Title 29.
Section 2.Amend §1314, Title 19 of the Delaware Codeby making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions shown by underline and as follows:
1314. Mediation
(e)In the case of a compensation bargaining unit of state merit employees, should agreement not be reached by September 1 of the year prior to the expiration date of any current collective bargaining agreement, the parties shall request mediation.
Section 3.This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2015.
SYNOPSIS
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This bill allows for collective bargaining in each of the defined units when a majority of the identified employees are recognized. In addition, specific dates and timeframes are added. |
