Public Act 097-0007

HB1197 Enrolled LRB097 06187 NHT 46261 b

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,

represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. If and only if Senate Bill 7 as passed by the

97th General Assembly becomes law, the Illinois Educational

Labor Relations Act is amended by changing Sections 4.5, 12,

and 13 as follows:

(115 ILCS 5/4.5)

Sec. 4.5. Subjects of collective bargaining.

(a) Notwithstanding the existence of any other provision in

this Act or other law, collective bargaining between an

educational employer whose territorial boundaries are

coterminous with those of a city having a population in excess

of 500,000 and an exclusive representative of its employees may

include any of the following subjects:

(1) (Blank).

(2) Decisions to contract with a third party for one or

more services otherwise performed by employees in a

bargaining unit and the procedures for obtaining such

contract or the identity of the third party.

(3) Decisions to layoff or reduce in force employees.

(4) Decisions to determine class size, class staffing

and assignment, class schedules, academic calendar, length

of the work and school day with respect to a public school

district organized under Article 34 of the School Code

only, length of the work and school year with respect to a

public school district organized under Article 34 of the

School Code only, hours and places of instruction, or pupil

assessment policies.

(5) Decisions concerning use and staffing of

experimental or pilot programs and decisions concerning

use of technology to deliver educational programs and

services and staffing to provide the technology.

(b) The subject or matters described in subsection (a) are

permissive subjects of bargaining between an educational

employer and an exclusive representative of its employees and,

for the purpose of this Act, are within the sole discretion of

the educational employer to decide to bargain, provided that

the educational employer is required to bargain over the impact

of a decision concerning such subject or matter on the

bargaining unit upon request by the exclusive representative.

During this bargaining, the educational employer shall not be

precluded from implementing its decision. If, after a

reasonable period of bargaining, a dispute or impasse exists

between the educational employer and the exclusive

representative, the dispute or impasse shall be resolved

exclusively as set forth in subsection (b) of Section 12 of

this Act in lieu of a strike under Section 13 of this Act.

Neither the Board nor any mediator or fact-finder appointed

pursuant to subsection (a-10) of Section 12 of this Act shall

have jurisdiction over such a dispute or impasse.

(c) A provision in a collective bargaining agreement that

was rendered null and void because it involved a prohibited

subject of collective bargaining under this subsection (c) as

this subsection (c) existed before the effective date of this

amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly remains null and

void and shall not otherwise be reinstated in any successor

agreement unless the educational employer and exclusive

representative otherwise agree to include an agreement reached

on a subject or matter described in subsection (a) of this

Section as subsection (a) existed before this amendatory Act of

the 93rd General Assembly.

(Source: P.A. 93-3, eff. 4-16-03; 09700SB0007enr.)

(115 ILCS 5/12) (from Ch. 48, par. 1712)

Sec. 12. Impasse procedures.

(a) This subsection (a) applies only to collective

bargaining between an educational employer that is not a public

school district organized under Article 34 of the School Code

and an exclusive representative of its employees. If the

parties engaged in collective bargaining have not reached an

agreement by 90 days before the scheduled start of the

forthcoming school year, the parties shall notify the Illinois

Educational Labor Relations Board concerning the status of

negotiations. This notice shall include a statement on whether

mediation has been used.

Upon demand of either party, collective bargaining between

the employer and an exclusive bargaining representative must

begin within 60 days of the date of certification of the

representative by the Board, or in the case of an existing

exclusive bargaining representative, within 60 days of the

receipt by a party of a demand to bargain issued by the other

party. Once commenced, collective bargaining must continue for

at least a 60 day period, unless a contract is entered into.

Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this

Section, if after a reasonable period of negotiation and within

90 days of the scheduled start of the forth-coming school year,

the parties engaged in collective bargaining have reached an

impasse, either party may petition the Board to initiate

mediation. Alternatively, the Board on its own motion may

initiate mediation during this period. However, mediation

shall be initiated by the Board at any time when jointly

requested by the parties and the services of the mediators

shall continuously be made available to the employer and to the

exclusive bargaining representative for purposes of

arbitration of grievances and mediation or arbitration of

contract disputes. If requested by the parties, the mediator

may perform fact-finding and in so doing conduct hearings and

make written findings and recommendations for resolution of the

dispute. Such mediation shall be provided by the Board and

shall be held before qualified impartial individuals. Nothing

prohibits the use of other individuals or organizations such as

the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service or the American

Arbitration Association selected by both the exclusive

bargaining representative and the employer.

If the parties engaged in collective bargaining fail to

reach an agreement within 45 days of the scheduled start of the

forthcoming school year and have not requested mediation, the

Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board shall invoke

mediation.

Whenever mediation is initiated or invoked under this

subsection (a), the parties may stipulate to defer selection of

a mediator in accordance with rules adopted by the Board.

(a-5) This subsection (a-5) applies only to collective

bargaining between a public school district or a combination of

public school districts, including, but not limited to, joint

cooperatives, that is not organized under Article 34 of the

School Code and an exclusive representative of its employees.

(1) Any time 15 days after mediation has commenced

after 15 days of mediation, either party may declare an

impasse. The mediator may declare an impasse at any time

during the mediation process. Notification of an impasse

must be filed in writing with the Board, and copies of the

notification must be submitted to the parties on the same

day the notification is filed with the Board.

(2) Within 7 days after the declaration of impasse,

each party shall submit to the mediator, the Board, and the

other party in writing the final offer of the party,

including a cost summary of the offer. Seven days after

receipt of the parties' final offers, the Board mediator

shall make public the final offers and each party's cost

summary dealing with those issues on which the parties have

failed to reach agreement by immediately posting the offers

on its Internet website, unless otherwise notified by the

mediator or jointly by the parties that agreement has been

reached. The mediator shall make the final offers public by

filing them with the Board, which shall immediately post

the offers on its Internet website. On the same day of

publication by the mediator, at a minimum, the school

district shall distribute notice of the availability of the

offers on the Board's Internet website to all news media

that have filed an annual request for notices from the

school district pursuant to Section 2.02 of the Open

Meetings Act.

(a-10) This subsection (a-10) applies only to collective

bargaining between a public school district organized under

Article 34 of the School Code and an exclusive representative

of its employees.

(1) For collective bargaining agreements between an

educational employer to which this subsection (a-10)

applies whose territorial boundaries are coterminous with

those of a city having a population in excess of 500,000

and an exclusive representative of its employees, if the

parties fail to reach an agreement after a reasonable

period of mediation, the dispute shall be submitted to

fact-finding in accordance with this subsection (a-10).

Either the educational employer or the exclusive

representative may initiate fact-finding by submitting a

written demand to the other party with a copy of the demand

submitted simultaneously to the Board.

(2) Within 3 days following a party's demand for

fact-finding, each party shall appoint one member of the

fact-finding panel, unless the parties agree to proceed

without a tri-partite panel. Following these appointments,

if any, the parties shall select a qualified impartial

individual to serve as the fact-finder and chairperson of

the fact-finding panel, if applicable. An individual shall

be considered qualified to serve as the fact-finder and

chairperson of the fact-finding panel, if applicable, if he

or she was not the same individual who was appointed as the

mediator and if he or she satisfies the following

requirements: membership in good standing with the

National Academy of Arbitrators, Federal Mediation and

Conciliation Service, or American Arbitration Association

for a minimum of 10 years; membership on the mediation

roster for the Illinois Labor Relations Board or Illinois

Educational Labor Relations Board; issuance of at least 5

interest arbitration awards arising under the Illinois

Public Labor Relations Act; and participation in impasse

resolution processes arising under private or public

sector collective bargaining statutes in other states. If

the parties are unable to agree on a fact-finder, the

parties shall request a panel of fact-finders who satisfy

the requirements set forth in this paragraph (2) from

either the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service or

the American Arbitration Association and shall select a

fact-finder from such panel in accordance with the

procedures established by the organization providing the

panel.

(3) The fact-finder shall have the following duties and

powers:

(A) to require the parties to submit a statement of

disputed issues and their positions regarding each

issue either jointly or separately;

(B) to identify disputed issues that are economic

in nature;

(C) to meet with the parties either separately or

in executive sessions;

(D) to conduct hearings and regulate the time,

place, course, and manner of the hearings;

(E) to request the Board to issue subpoenas

requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses or

the production of evidence;

(F) to administer oaths and affirmations;

(G) to examine witnesses and documents;

(H) to create a full and complete written record of

the hearings;

(I) to attempt mediation or remand a disputed issue

to the parties for further collective bargaining;

(J) to require the parties to submit final offers

for each disputed issue either individually or as a

package or as a combination of both; and

(K) to employ any other measures deemed

appropriate to resolve the impasse.

(4) If the dispute is not settled within 75 days after

the appointment of the fact-finding panel, the

fact-finding panel shall issue a private report to the

parties that contains advisory findings of fact and

recommended terms of settlement for all disputed issues and

that sets forth a rationale for each recommendation. The

fact-finding panel, acting by a majority of its members,

shall base its findings and recommendations upon the

following criteria as applicable:

(A) the lawful authority of the employer;

(B) the federal and State statutes or local

ordinances and resolutions applicable to the employer;

(C) prior collective bargaining agreements and the

bargaining history between the parties;

(D) stipulations of the parties;

(E) the interests and welfare of the public and the

students and families served by the employer;

(F) the employer's financial ability to fund the

proposals based on existing available resources,

provided that such ability is not predicated on an

assumption that lines of credit or reserve funds are

available or that the employer may or will receive or

develop new sources of revenue or increase existing

sources of revenue;

(G) the impact of any economic adjustments on the

employer's ability to pursue its educational mission;

(H) the present and future general economic

conditions in the locality and State;

(I) a comparison of the wages, hours, and

conditions of employment of the employees involved in

the dispute with the wages, hours, and conditions of

employment of employees performing similar services in

public education in the 10 largest U.S. cities;

(J) the average consumer prices in urban areas for

goods and services, which is commonly known as the cost

of living;

(K) the overall compensation presently received by

the employees involved in the dispute, including

direct wage compensation; vacations, holidays, and

other excused time; insurance and pensions; medical

and hospitalization benefits; the continuity and

stability of employment and all other benefits

received; and how each party's proposed compensation

structure supports the educational goals of the

district;

(L) changes in any of the circumstances listed in

items (A) through (K) of this paragraph (4) during the

fact-finding proceedings;

(M) the effect that any term the parties are at

impasse on has or may have on the overall educational

environment, learning conditions, and working

conditions with the school district; and

(N) the effect that any term the parties are at

impasse on has or may have in promoting the public

policy of this State.

(5) The fact-finding panel's recommended terms of

settlement shall be deemed agreed upon by the parties as

the final resolution of the disputed issues and

incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement

executed by the parties, unless either party tenders to the

other party and the chairperson of the fact-finding panel a

notice of rejection of the recommended terms of settlement

with a rationale for the rejection, within 15 days after

the date of issuance of the fact-finding panel's report. If

either party submits a notice of rejection, the chairperson

of the fact-finding panel shall publish the fact-finding

panel's report and the notice of rejection for public

information by delivering a copy to all newspapers of

general circulation in the community with simultaneous

written notice to the parties.

(b) If, after a period of bargaining of at least 60 days, a

dispute or impasse exists between an educational employer whose

territorial boundaries are coterminous with those of a city

having a population in excess of 500,000 and the exclusive

bargaining representative over a subject or matter set forth in

Section 4.5 of this Act, the parties shall submit the dispute

or impasse to the dispute resolution procedure agreed to

between the parties. The procedure shall provide for mediation

of disputes by a rotating mediation panel and may, at the

request of either party, include the issuance of advisory

findings of fact and recommendations. A dispute or impasse over

any Section 4.5 subject shall not be resolved through the

procedures set forth in this Act, and the Board, mediator, or

fact-finder has no jurisdiction over any Section 4.5 subject.

The changes made to this subsection (b) by this amendatory Act

of the 97th General Assembly are declarative of existing law.

(c) The costs of fact finding and mediation shall be shared

equally between the employer and the exclusive bargaining

agent, provided that, for purposes of mediation under this Act,

if either party requests the use of mediation services from the

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the other party

shall either join in such request or bear the additional cost

of mediation services from another source. All other costs and

expenses of complying with this Section must be borne by the

party incurring them.

(c-5) If an educational employer or exclusive bargaining

representative refuses to participate in mediation or fact

finding when required by this Section, the refusal shall be

deemed a refusal to bargain in good faith.

(d) Nothing in this Act prevents an employer and an

exclusive bargaining representative from mutually submitting

to final and binding impartial arbitration unresolved issues

concerning the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement.

(Source: P.A. 93-3, eff. 4-16-03; 09700SB0007enr.)

(115 ILCS 5/13) (from Ch. 48, par. 1713)

Sec. 13. Strikes.

(a) Notwithstanding the existence of any other provision in

this Act or other law, educational employees employed in school

districts organized under Article 34 of the School Code shall

not engage in a strike at any time during the 18 month period

that commences on the effective date of this amendatory Act of

1995. An educational employee employed in a school district

organized under Article 34 of the School Code who participates

in a strike in violation of this Section is subject to

discipline by the employer. In addition, no educational

employer organized under Article 34 of the School Code may pay

or cause to be paid to an educational employee who participates

in a strike in violation of this subsection any wages or other

compensation for any period during which an educational

employee participates in the strike, except for wages or

compensation earned before participation in the strike.

Notwithstanding the existence of any other provision in this

Act or other law, during the 18-month period that strikes are

prohibited under this subsection nothing in this subsection

shall be construed to require an educational employer to submit

to a binding dispute resolution process.

(b) Notwithstanding the existence of any other provision in

this Act or any other law, educational employees other than

those employed in a school district organized under Article 34

of the School Code and, after the expiration of the 18 month

period that commences on the effective date of this amendatory

Act of 1995, educational employees in a school district

organized under Article 34 of the School Code shall not engage

in a strike except under the following conditions:

(1) they are represented by an exclusive bargaining

representative;

(2) mediation has been used without success and, if

an impasse has been declared under subsection (a-5) of

Section 12 of this Act, at least 14 days have elapsed after

the mediator has made public the final offers;

(2.5) if fact-finding was invoked pursuant to

subsection (a-10) of Section 12 of this Act, at least 30

days have elapsed after a fact-finding report has been

released for public information;

(2.10) for educational employees employed in a school

district organized under Article 34 of the School Code, at

least three-fourths of all bargaining unit employees who

are members of the exclusive bargaining representative

have affirmatively voted to authorize the strike;

provided, however, that all members of the exclusive

bargaining representative at the time of a strike

authorization vote shall be eligible to vote;

(3) at least 10 days have elapsed after a notice of

intent to strike has been given by the exclusive bargaining

representative to the educational employer, the regional

superintendent and the Illinois Educational Labor

Relations Board;

(4) the collective bargaining agreement between the

educational employer and educational employees, if any,

has expired or been terminated; and

(5) the employer and the exclusive bargaining

representative have not mutually submitted the unresolved

issues to arbitration.

If, however, in the opinion of an employer the strike is or

has become a clear and present danger to the health or safety

of the public, the employer may initiate in the circuit court

of the county in which such danger exists an action for relief

which may include, but is not limited to, injunction. The court

may grant appropriate relief upon the finding that such clear

and present danger exists. An unfair practice or other evidence

of lack of clean hands by the educational employer is a defense

to such action. Except as provided for in this paragraph, the

jurisdiction of the court under this Section is limited by the

Labor Dispute Act.

(Source: P.A. 89-15, eff. 5-30-95; 90-548, eff. 1-1-98;

09700SB0007enr.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon

becoming law or on the effective date of Senate Bill 7 of the

97th General Assembly, whichever is later.