Bill Amendment: IL HB2521 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: LABOR RELATION-EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

Status: 2021-08-27 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 102-0596 [HB2521 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HB2521-House_Amendment_001.html

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Rep. Edgar Gonzalez, Jr.

Filed: 4/16/2021

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2521
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2521 on page 19,
immediately below line 2, by inserting the following:
"Section 10. The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act
is amended by changing Sections 7, 8, and 14 as follows:
(115 ILCS 5/7) (from Ch. 48, par. 1707)
Sec. 7. Recognition of exclusive bargaining
representatives - unit determination. The Board is empowered
to administer the recognition of bargaining representatives of
employees of public school districts, including employees of
districts which have entered into joint agreements, or
employees of public community college districts, or any State
college or university, and any State agency whose major
function is providing educational services, making certain
that each bargaining unit contains employees with an
identifiable community of interest and that no unit includes

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both professional employees and nonprofessional employees
unless a majority of employees in each group vote for
inclusion in the unit.
(a) In determining the appropriateness of a unit, the
Board shall decide in each case, in order to ensure employees
the fullest freedom in exercising the rights guaranteed by
this Act, the unit appropriate for the purpose of collective
bargaining, based upon but not limited to such factors as
historical pattern of recognition, community of interest,
including employee skills and functions, degree of functional
integration, interchangeability and contact among employees,
common supervision, wages, hours and other working conditions
of the employees involved, and the desires of the employees.
Nothing in this Act, except as herein provided, shall
interfere with or negate the current representation rights or
patterns and practices of employee organizations which have
historically represented employees for the purposes of
collective bargaining, including but not limited to the
negotiations of wages, hours and working conditions,
resolutions of employees' grievances, or resolution of
jurisdictional disputes, or the establishment and maintenance
of prevailing wage rates, unless a majority of the employees
so represented expresses a contrary desire under the
procedures set forth in this Act. This Section, however, does
not prohibit multi-unit bargaining. Notwithstanding the above
factors, where the majority of public employees of a craft so

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decide, the Board shall designate such craft as a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
The sole appropriate bargaining unit for tenured and
tenure-track academic faculty at each campus of the University
of Illinois shall be a unit that is comprised of
non-supervisory academic faculty employed more than half-time
and that includes all tenured and tenure-track faculty of that
University campus employed by the board of trustees in all of
the campus's undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools
and degree and non-degree programs (with the exception of the
college of medicine, the college of pharmacy, the college of
dentistry, the college of law, and the college of veterinary
medicine, each of which shall have its own separate unit),
regardless of current or historical representation rights or
patterns or the application of any other factors. Any
decision, rule, or regulation promulgated by the Board to the
contrary shall be null and void.
(b) An educational employer shall voluntarily recognize a
labor organization for collective bargaining purposes if that
organization appears to represent a majority of employees in
the unit. The employer shall post notice of its intent to so
recognize for a period of at least 20 school days on bulletin
boards or other places used or reserved for employee notices.
Thereafter, the employer, if satisfied as to the majority
status of the employee organization, shall send written
notification of such recognition to the Board for

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certification. Any dispute regarding the majority status of a
labor organization shall be resolved by the Board which shall
make the determination of majority status.
Within the 20 day notice period, however, any other
interested employee organization may petition the Board to
seek recognition as the exclusive representative of the unit
in the manner specified by rules and regulations prescribed by
the Board, if such interested employee organization has been
designated by at least 15% of the employees in an appropriate
bargaining unit which includes all or some of the employees in
the unit intended to be recognized by the employer. In such
event, the Board shall proceed with the petition in the same
manner as provided in paragraph (c) of this Section.
(c) A labor organization may also gain recognition as the
exclusive representative by an election of the employees in
the unit. Petitions requesting an election may be filed with
the Board:
(1) by an employee or group of employees or any labor
organizations acting on their behalf alleging and
presenting evidence that 30% or more of the employees in a
bargaining unit wish to be represented for collective
bargaining or that the labor organization which has been
acting as the exclusive bargaining representative is no
longer representative of a majority of the employees in
the unit; or
(2) by an employer alleging that one or more labor

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organizations have presented a claim to be recognized as
an exclusive bargaining representative of a majority of
the employees in an appropriate unit and that it doubts
the majority status of any of the organizations or that it
doubts the majority status of an exclusive bargaining
representative.
The Board shall investigate the petition and if it has
reasonable cause to suspect that a question of representation
exists, it shall give notice and conduct a hearing. If it finds
upon the record of the hearing that a question of
representation exists, it shall direct an election, which
shall be held no later than 90 days after the date the petition
was filed. The showing of interest in support of a petition
filed under paragraph (1) of this subsection (c) may be
evidenced by electronic communications, and such writing or
communication may be evidenced by the electronic signature of
the employee as provided under Section 5-120 of the Electronic
Commerce Security Act. The showing of interest shall be valid
only if signed within 12 months prior to the filing of the
petition. Nothing prohibits the waiving of hearings by the
parties and the conduct of consent elections.
(c-5) The Board shall designate an exclusive
representative for purposes of collective bargaining when the
representative demonstrates a showing of majority interest by
employees in the unit. If the parties to a dispute are without
agreement on the means to ascertain the choice, if any, of

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employee organization as their representative, the Board shall
ascertain the employees' choice of employee organization, on
the basis of dues deduction authorization or other evidence,
or, if necessary, by conducting an election. The showing of
interest in support of a petition filed under this subsection
(c-5) may be evidenced by electronic communications, and such
writing or communication may be evidenced by the electronic
signature of the employee as provided under Section 5-120 of
the Electronic Commerce Security Act. The showing of interest
shall be valid only if signed within 12 months prior to the
filing of the petition. All evidence submitted by an employee
organization to the Board to ascertain an employee's choice of
an employee organization is confidential and shall not be
submitted to the employer for review. The Board shall
ascertain the employee's choice of employee organization
within 120 days after the filing of the majority interest
petition; however, the Board may extend time by an additional
60 days, upon its own motion or upon the motion of a party to
the proceeding. If either party provides to the Board, before
the designation of a representative, clear and convincing
evidence that the dues deduction authorizations, and other
evidence upon which the Board would otherwise rely to
ascertain the employees' choice of representative, are
fraudulent or were obtained through coercion, the Board shall
promptly thereafter conduct an election. The Board shall also
investigate and consider a party's allegations that the dues

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deduction authorizations and other evidence submitted in
support of a designation of representative without an election
were subsequently changed, altered, withdrawn, or withheld as
a result of employer fraud, coercion, or any other unfair
labor practice by the employer. If the Board determines that a
labor organization would have had a majority interest but for
an employer's fraud, coercion, or unfair labor practice, it
shall designate the labor organization as an exclusive
representative without conducting an election. If a hearing is
necessary to resolve any issues of representation under this
Section, the Board shall conclude its hearing process and
issue a certification of the entire appropriate unit not later
than 120 days after the date the petition was filed. The
120-day period may be extended one or more times by the
agreement of all parties to a hearing to a date certain.
(c-6) A labor organization or an employer may file a unit
clarification petition seeking to clarify an existing
bargaining unit. The Board shall conclude its investigation,
including any hearing process deemed necessary, and issue a
certification of clarified unit or dismiss the petition not
later than 120 days after the date the petition was filed. The
120-day period may be extended one or more times by the
agreement of all parties to a hearing to a date certain.
(d) An order of the Board dismissing a representation
petition, determining and certifying that a labor organization
has been fairly and freely chosen by a majority of employees in

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an appropriate bargaining unit, determining and certifying
that a labor organization has not been fairly and freely
chosen by a majority of employees in the bargaining unit or
certifying a labor organization as the exclusive
representative of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit
because of a determination by the Board that the labor
organization is the historical bargaining representative of
employees in the bargaining unit, is a final order. Any person
aggrieved by any such order issued on or after the effective
date of this amendatory Act of 1987 may apply for and obtain
judicial review in accordance with provisions of the
Administrative Review Law, as now or hereafter amended, except
that such review shall be afforded directly in the Appellate
Court of a judicial district in which the Board maintains an
office. Any direct appeal to the Appellate Court shall be
filed within 35 days from the date that a copy of the decision
sought to be reviewed was served upon the party affected by the
decision.
No election may be conducted in any bargaining unit during
the term of a collective bargaining agreement covering such
unit or subdivision thereof, except the Board may direct an
election after the filing of a petition between January 15 and
March 1 of the final year of a collective bargaining
agreement. Nothing in this Section prohibits the negotiation
of a collective bargaining agreement covering a period not
exceeding 3 years. A collective bargaining agreement of less

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than 3 years may be extended up to 3 years by the parties if
the extension is agreed to in writing before the filing of a
petition under this Section. In such case, the final year of
the extension is the final year of the collective bargaining
agreement. No election may be conducted in a bargaining unit,
or subdivision thereof, in which a valid election has been
held within the preceding 12 month period.
(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-813, eff. 10-30-09.)
(115 ILCS 5/8) (from Ch. 48, par. 1708)
Sec. 8. Election - certification. Elections shall be by
secret ballot, and conducted in accordance with rules and
regulations established by the Illinois Educational Labor
Relations Board. A secret ballot election may be conducted
electronically, using an electronic voting system, in addition
to paper ballot voting systems. An incumbent exclusive
bargaining representative shall automatically be placed on any
ballot with the petitioner's labor organization. An
intervening labor organization may be placed on the ballot
when supported by 15% or more of the employees in the
bargaining unit. The Board shall give at least 30 days notice
of the time and place of the election to the parties and, upon
request, shall provide the parties with a list of names and
addresses of persons eligible to vote in the election at least
15 days before the election. The ballot must include, as one of
the alternatives, the choice of "no representative". No mail

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ballots are permitted except where a specific individual would
otherwise be unable to cast a ballot.
The labor organization receiving a majority of the ballots
cast shall be certified by the Board as the exclusive
bargaining representative. If the choice of "no
representative" receives a majority, the employer shall not
recognize any exclusive bargaining representative for at least
12 months. If none of the choices on the ballot receives a
majority, a run-off shall be conducted between the 2 choices
receiving the largest number of valid votes cast in the
election. The Board shall certify the results of the election
within 6 working days after the final tally of votes unless a
charge is filed by a party alleging that improper conduct
occurred which affected the outcome of the election. The Board
shall promptly investigate the allegations, and if it finds
probable cause that improper conduct occurred and could have
affected the outcome of the election, it shall set a hearing on
the matter on a date falling within 2 weeks of when it received
the charge. If it determines, after hearing, that the outcome
of the election was affected by improper conduct, it shall
order a new election and shall order corrective action which
it considers necessary to insure the fairness of the new
election. If it determines upon investigation or after hearing
that the alleged improper conduct did not take place or that it
did not affect the results of the election, it shall
immediately certify the election results.

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Any labor organization that is the exclusive bargaining
representative in an appropriate unit on the effective date of
this Act shall continue as such until a new one is selected
under this Act.
(Source: P.A. 92-206, eff. 1-1-02.)
(115 ILCS 5/14) (from Ch. 48, par. 1714)
Sec. 14. Unfair labor practices.
(a) Educational employers, their agents or representatives
are prohibited from:
(1) Interfering, restraining or coercing employees in
the exercise of the rights guaranteed under this Act.
(2) Dominating or interfering with the formation,
existence or administration of any employee organization.
(3) Discriminating in regard to hire or tenure of
employment or any term or condition of employment to
encourage or discourage membership in any employee
organization.
(4) Discharging or otherwise discriminating against an
employee because he or she has signed or filed an
affidavit, authorization card, petition or complaint or
given any information or testimony under this Act.
(5) Refusing to bargain collectively in good faith
with an employee representative which is the exclusive
representative of employees in an appropriate unit,
including, but not limited to, the discussing of

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grievances with the exclusive representative; provided,
however, that if an alleged unfair labor practice involves
interpretation or application of the terms of a collective
bargaining agreement and said agreement contains a
grievance and arbitration procedure, the Board may defer
the resolution of such dispute to the grievance and
arbitration procedure contained in said agreement.
(6) Refusing to reduce a collective bargaining
agreement to writing and signing such agreement.
(7) Violating any of the rules and regulations
promulgated by the Board regulating the conduct of
representation elections.
(8) Refusing to comply with the provisions of a
binding arbitration award.
(9) Expending or causing the expenditure of public
funds to any external agent, individual, firm, agency,
partnership or association in any attempt to influence the
outcome of representational elections held pursuant to
paragraph (c) of Section 7 of this Act; provided, that
nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit an
employer's right to be represented on any matter
pertaining to unit determinations, unfair labor practice
charges or pre-election conferences in any formal or
informal proceeding before the Board, or to seek or obtain
advice from legal counsel. Nothing in this paragraph shall
be construed to prohibit an employer from expending or

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causing the expenditure of public funds on, or seeking or
obtaining services or advice from, any organization, group
or association established by, and including educational
or public employers, whether or not covered by this Act,
the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act or the public
employment labor relations law of any other state or the
federal government, provided that such services or advice
are generally available to the membership of the
organization, group, or association, and are not offered
solely in an attempt to influence the outcome of a
particular representational election.
(10) Interfering with, restraining, coercing,
deterring or discouraging educational employees or
applicants to be educational employees from: (1) becoming
members of an employee organization; (2) authorizing
representation by an employee organization; or (3)
authorizing dues or fee deductions to an employee
organization, nor shall the employer intentionally permit
outside third parties to use its email or other
communications systems to engage in that conduct. An
employer's good faith implementation of a policy to block
the use of its email or other communication systems for
such purposes shall be a defense to an unfair labor
practice.
(11) Disclosing to any person or entity information
set forth in subsection (d) of Section 3 of this Act that

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the employer knows or should know will be used to
interfere with, restrain, coerce, deter, or discourage any
public employee from: (i) becoming or remaining members of
a labor organization, (ii) authorizing representation by a
labor organization, or (iii) authorizing dues or fee
deductions to a labor organization.
(12) Promising, threatening, or taking any action (i)
to permanently replace an employee who participates in a
strike under Section 13 of this Act, (ii) to discriminate
against an employee who is working or has unconditionally
offered to return to work for the employer because the
employee supported or participated in such as a strike, or
(iii) to lockout, suspend, or otherwise withhold from
employment employees in order to influence the position of
such employees or the representative of such employees in
collective bargaining prior to a strike.
(b) Employee organizations, their agents or
representatives or educational employees are prohibited from:
(1) Restraining or coercing employees in the exercise
of the rights guaranteed under this Act, provided that a
labor organization or its agents shall commit an unfair
labor practice under this paragraph in duty of fair
representation cases only by intentional misconduct in
representing employees under this Act.
(2) Restraining or coercing an educational employer in
the selection of his representative for the purposes of

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collective bargaining or the adjustment of grievances.
(3) Refusing to bargain collectively in good faith
with an educational employer, if they have been designated
in accordance with the provisions of this Act as the
exclusive representative of employees in an appropriate
unit.
(4) Violating any of the rules and regulations
promulgated by the Board regulating the conduct of
representation elections.
(5) Refusing to reduce a collective bargaining
agreement to writing and signing such agreement.
(6) Refusing to comply with the provisions of a
binding arbitration award.
(c) The expressing of any views, argument, opinion or the
dissemination thereof, whether in written, printed, graphic or
visual form, shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair
labor practice under any of the provisions of this Act, if such
expression contains no threat of reprisal or force or promise
of benefit.
(c-5) The employer shall not discourage public employees
or applicants to be public employees from becoming or
remaining union members or authorizing dues deductions, and
shall not otherwise interfere with the relationship between
employees and their exclusive bargaining representative. The
employer shall refer all inquiries about union membership to
the exclusive bargaining representative, except that the

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employer may communicate with employees regarding payroll
processes and procedures. The employer will establish email
policies in an effort to prohibit the use of its email system
by outside sources.
(d) The actions of a Financial Oversight Panel created
pursuant to Section 1A-8 of the School Code due to a district
violating a financial plan shall not constitute or be evidence
of an unfair labor practice under any of the provisions of this
Act. Such actions include, but are not limited to, reviewing,
approving, or rejecting a school district budget or a
collective bargaining agreement.
(Source: P.A. 101-620, eff. 12-20-19; revised 8-21-20.)".