Bill Text: MI SB0886 | 2009-2010 | 95th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Corrections; employees; compulsory arbitration for local corrections officers; allow. Creates new act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-10-07 - Referred To Committee On Judiciary [SB0886 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2009-SB0886-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL No. 886
October 7, 2009, Introduced by Senator SWITALSKI and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
A bill to provide for compulsory arbitration of labor disputes
between county corrections officers and their employers; to provide
for the selection of members of arbitration panels; to prescribe
the procedures and authority of arbitration panels; to provide for
the enforcement and review of awards of those panels; and to
prescribe certain powers and duties of certain state and local
officials.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1. It is the public policy of this state that it is
requisite to the high morale of county corrections officers and the
efficient operation of county corrections facilities to afford an
alternate, expeditious, effective, and binding procedure for the
resolution of disputes, and to that end the provisions of this act,
providing for compulsory arbitration, shall be liberally construed.
Sec. 2. As used in this act:
(a) "County corrections facility" means any county jail or
other site used to house or detain individuals in the custody of a
county sheriff.
(b) "County corrections officer" means an individual employed
by or under the supervision of a county sheriff while engaged in
the management or control of individuals in the custody of that
county sheriff.
(c) "Employment relations commission" means the commission
created in section 3 of 1939 PA 176, MCL 423.3.
Sec. 3. If in the course of mediation of a county corrections
officer's dispute, except a grievance dispute concerning the
interpretation or application of an existing agreement, the dispute
has not been resolved within 30 days of the submission of the
dispute to mediation, or within additional periods to which the
parties may agree, the employees or the employer may initiate
binding arbitration proceedings by a prompt request, in writing, to
the other, with a copy to the employment relations commission.
Sec. 4. Within 10 days after the written request described in
section 3 is made, the employer shall choose a delegate and the
employees' designated or selected exclusive collective bargaining
representative, or if none, their previously designated
representative in the mediation and fact-finding procedures, shall
choose a delegate to a panel of arbitration as provided in this
act. The employer and the employees shall immediately notify the
other and the mediation board of their selections.
Sec. 5. (1) Within 7 days after a request from 1 or both
parties, the employment relations commission shall select from its
panel of arbitrators, as provided in subsection (2), 3 persons as
nominees for impartial arbitrator or chairperson of the arbitration
panel. Within 5 days after the selection, each party may
peremptorily strike the name of 1 of the nominees. Within 7 days
after this 5-day period, the employment relations commission shall
designate 1 of the remaining nominees as the impartial arbitrator
or chairperson of the arbitration panel.
(2) The employment relations commission shall provide a panel
of arbitrators from the Michigan employment relations commission
panel of arbitrators created in section 5 of 1969 PA 312, MCL
423.235, to be available to arbitrate labor disputes under this
act.
Sec. 6. Upon the appointment of the arbitrator, he or she
shall proceed to act as chairperson of the panel of arbitration,
call a hearing, to begin within 15 days after the appointment, and
give reasonable notice of the time and place of the hearing. The
chairperson shall preside over the hearing and shall take
testimony. Upon application and for good cause shown, and upon
terms and conditions that are just, a person, labor organization,
or governmental unit having a substantial interest in the
arbitration may be granted leave to intervene by the arbitration
panel. Any oral or documentary evidence and other data determined
relevant by the arbitration panel may be received in evidence. The
proceedings shall be informal. Technical rules of evidence shall
not apply, and the competency of the evidence is not impaired by a
violation of a technical rule of evidence. A verbatim record of the
proceedings shall be made, and the arbitrator shall arrange for the
necessary recording service. Transcripts may be ordered at the
expense of the party ordering them, but the transcripts are not
necessary for a decision by the arbitration panel. The expense of
the proceedings, including a fee to the chairperson, established in
advance by the labor mediation board shall be borne equally by each
of the parties to the dispute and the county. The delegates, if
public officers or employees, shall continue on the payroll of the
public employer at their usual rate of pay. The hearing conducted
by the arbitration panel may be adjourned from time to time, but,
unless otherwise agreed by the parties, shall be concluded within
30 days after the time of its commencement. The majority actions
and rulings of the arbitration panel shall constitute the actions
and rulings of the arbitration panel.
Sec. 7. The arbitration panel may administer oaths, require
the attendance of witnesses, and the production of books, papers,
contracts, agreements, and documents as the panel determines
material to a just determination of the issues in dispute, and for
purpose may issue subpoenas. If any person refuses to obey a
subpoena, or refuses to be sworn or to testify, or if any witness,
party, or attorney is guilty of any contempt while in attendance at
any hearing, the arbitration panel may, or the attorney general if
requested shall, invoke the aid of any circuit court within the
jurisdiction in which the hearing is being held, and the circuit
court shall issue an appropriate order. Any failure to obey the
order may be punished by the court as contempt.
Sec. 8. At any time before the rendering of an award, the
chairperson of the arbitration panel, if he or she is of the
opinion that it would be useful or beneficial to do so, may remand
the dispute to the parties for further collective bargaining for a
period not to exceed 3 weeks. If the dispute is remanded for
further collective bargaining, the time provisions of this act
shall be extended for a time period equal to that of the remand.
The chairperson of the panel of arbitration shall notify the
employment relations commission of the remand.
Sec. 9. At or before the conclusion of the hearing held
pursuant to section 6, the arbitration panel shall identify the
economic issues in dispute, and direct each of the parties to
submit, within the time limit as the panel prescribes, to the
arbitration panel and to each other its last offer of settlement on
each economic issue. The determination of the arbitration panel as
to the issues in dispute and as to which of these issues are
economic is conclusive. The arbitration panel, within 30 days after
the conclusion of the hearing, or further additional periods to
which the parties may agree, shall make written findings of fact
and issue a written opinion and order upon the issues presented to
it and upon the record made before it, and shall mail or otherwise
deliver a true copy of those writings to the parties and their
representatives and to the employment relations commission. As to
each economic issue, the arbitration panel shall adopt the last
offer of settlement which, in the opinion of the arbitration panel,
more nearly complies with the applicable factors prescribed in
section 10. The findings, opinions, and order as to all other
issues shall be based upon the applicable factors prescribed in
section 10.
Sec. 10. If there is no agreement between the parties, or if
there is an agreement but the parties have begun negotiations or
discussions for a new agreement or amendment of the existing
agreement, and wage rates or other conditions of employment under
the proposed new or amended agreement are in dispute, the
arbitration panel shall base its findings, opinions, and order upon
the following factors, as applicable:
(a) The lawful authority of the employer.
(b) Stipulations of the parties.
(c) The interests and welfare of the public and the financial
ability of the county to meet those costs.
(d) Comparison of the wages, hours, and conditions of
employment of the employees involved in the arbitration proceeding
with the wages, hours, and conditions of employment of other
employees performing similar services and with other employees
generally:
(i) In public employment in comparable communities.
(ii) In private employment in comparable communities.
(e) The average consumer prices for goods and services,
commonly known as the cost of living.
(f) The overall compensation presently received by the
employees, 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.
(g) Changes in any of the circumstances described in
subdivisions (a) to (f) during the pendency of the arbitration
proceedings.
(h) Any other factor, which is normally or traditionally taken
into consideration in the determination of wages, hours, and
conditions of employment through voluntary collective bargaining,
mediation, fact-finding, arbitration, or otherwise between the
parties, in the public service or in private employment.
Sec. 11. A majority decision of the arbitration panel, if
supported by competent, material, and substantial evidence on the
whole record, is final and binding upon the parties, and may be
enforced, at the instance of either party or of the arbitration
panel in the circuit court in the county in which the dispute arose
or in which a majority of the affected employees reside. The
commencement of a new municipal fiscal year after the initiation of
arbitration procedures under this act, but before the arbitration
decision, or its enforcement, does not render a dispute moot, or
otherwise impair the jurisdiction or authority of the arbitration
panel or its decision. Increases in rates of compensation or other
benefits may be awarded retroactively to the commencement of any
period in dispute, any other statute or charter provisions to the
contrary notwithstanding. At any time the parties, by stipulation,
may amend or modify an award of arbitration.
Sec. 12. If an employee organization recognized under 1947 PA
336, MCL 423.201 to 423.217, as the bargaining representative of
employees subject to this act, willfully disobeys a lawful order of
enforcement by a circuit court pursuant to section 11, or willfully
encourages or offers resistance to that order, whether by a strike
or otherwise, the punishment for each day that the contempt
persists may be a fine fixed in the discretion of the court in an
amount not to exceed $250.00 per day. A public employer who is
subject to 1947 PA 336, MCL 423.201 to 423.217, and who willfully
disobeys a lawful order of enforcement by the circuit court or
willfully encourages or offers resistance to the order is guilty of
contempt and may be fined for each day that the contempt persists
an amount, fixed at the discretion of the court, not to exceed
$250.00 per day to be assessed against the employer.
Sec. 13. (1) Orders of the arbitration panel are reviewable by
the circuit court in the county in which the dispute arose or in
which a majority of the affected employees reside, but only for the
following reasons:
(a) The arbitration panel was without or exceeded its
jurisdiction.
(b) The order is unsupported by competent, material, and
substantial evidence on the whole record.
(c) The order was procured by fraud, collusion, or other
similar and unlawful means.
(2) The pendency of the proceeding for review shall not
automatically stay the order of the arbitration panel.
Sec. 14. During the pendency of proceedings before the
arbitration panel, existing wages, hours, and other conditions of
employment shall not be changed by action of either party without
the consent of the other but a party may consent without prejudice
to his or her rights or position under this act.
Sec. 15. This act is supplementary to 1947 PA 336, MCL 423.201
to 423.217, and does not amend or repeal any of its provisions, but
any provisions of that act requiring fact-finding procedures are
inapplicable to disputes subject to arbitration under this act.
Sec. 16. A person shall not be sentenced to a term of
imprisonment for any violation of this act or an order of the
arbitration panel.
