AN
ACT Relating to bargaining units for employees of institutions of higher
education governed by chapter 41.56 RCW; and amending RCW 41.56.030 and
41.56.201.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
41.56.030 and 1999 c 217 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
As
used in this chapter:
(1)
"Public employer" means any officer, board, commission, council, or
other person or body acting on behalf of any public body governed by this
chapter, or any subdivision of such public body. For the purposes of this
section, the public employer of district court or superior court employees for
wage-related matters is the respective county legislative authority, or person
or body acting on behalf of the legislative authority, and the public employer
for nonwage-related matters is the judge or judge's designee of the respective
district court or superior court.
(2)
"Public employee" means any employee of a public employer except any
person (a) elected by popular vote, or (b) appointed to office pursuant to
statute, ordinance or resolution for a specified term of office by the
executive head or body of the public employer, or (c) whose duties as deputy,
administrative assistant or secretary necessarily imply a confidential
relationship to the executive head or body of the applicable bargaining unit,
or any person elected by popular vote or appointed to office pursuant to
statute, ordinance or resolution for a specified term of office by the
executive head or body of the public employer, or (d) who is a personal
assistant to a district court judge, superior court judge, or court
commissioner, or (e) excluded from a bargaining unit under RCW
41.56.201(2)(a). For the purpose of (d) of this subsection, no more than
one assistant for each judge or commissioner may be excluded from a bargaining
unit.
(3)
"Bargaining representative" means any lawful organization which has
as one of its primary purposes the representation of employees in their
employment relations with employers.
(4)
"Collective bargaining" means the performance of the mutual
obligations of the public employer and the exclusive bargaining representative
to meet at reasonable times, to confer and negotiate in good faith, and to
execute a written agreement with respect to grievance procedures and collective
negotiations on personnel matters, including wages, hours and working
conditions, which may be peculiar to an appropriate bargaining unit of such
public employer, except that by such obligation neither party shall be
compelled to agree to a proposal or be required to make a concession unless
otherwise provided in this chapter.
(5)
"Commission" means the public employment relations commission.
(6)
"Executive director" means the executive director of the commission.
(7)
"Uniformed personnel" means: (a) Law enforcement officers as defined
in RCW 41.26.030 employed by the governing body of any city or town with a
population of two thousand five hundred or more and law enforcement officers
employed by the governing body of any county with a population of ten thousand
or more; (b) correctional employees who are uniformed and nonuniformed,
commissioned and noncommissioned security personnel employed in a jail as
defined in RCW 70.48.020(5), by a county with a population of seventy thousand
or more, and who are trained for and charged with the responsibility of
controlling and maintaining custody of inmates in the jail and safeguarding
inmates from other inmates; (c) general authority Washington peace officers as
defined in RCW 10.93.020 employed by a port district in a county with a
population of one million or more; (d) security forces established under RCW
43.52.520; (e) fire fighters as that term is defined in RCW 41.26.030; (f)
employees of a port district in a county with a population of one million or
more whose duties include crash fire rescue or other fire fighting duties; (g)
employees of fire departments of public employers who dispatch exclusively
either fire or emergency medical services, or both; or (h) employees in the
several classes of advanced life support technicians, as defined in RCW 18.71.200,
who are employed by a public employer.
(8)
"Institution of higher education" means the University of Washington,
Washington State University, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington
University, Western Washington University, The Evergreen State College, and the
various state community colleges.
Sec.
2. RCW
41.56.201 and 1993 c 379 s 304 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
At any time after July 1, 1993, an institution of higher education and the
exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit of employees
classified under chapter 28B.16 or 41.06 RCW as appropriate may exercise their
option to have their relationship and corresponding obligations governed
entirely by the provisions of this chapter by complying with the following:
(a)
The parties will file notice of the parties' intent to be so governed, subject
to the mutual adoption of a collective bargaining agreement permitted by this
section recognizing the notice of intent. The parties shall provide the notice
to the ((higher education)) Washington personnel resources
board or its successor and the commission;
(b)
During the negotiation of an initial contract between the parties under this
chapter, the parties' scope of bargaining shall be governed by this chapter and
any disputes arising out of the collective bargaining rights and obligations
under this subsection shall be determined by the commission. If the commission
finds that the parties are at impasse, the notice filed under (a) of this
subsection shall be void and have no effect; and
(c)
On the first day of the month following the month during which the institution
of higher education and the exclusive bargaining representative provide notice
to the ((higher education)) Washington personnel resources
board or its successor and the commission that they have executed an initial
collective bargaining agreement recognizing the notice of intent filed under
(a) of this subsection, chapter 28B.16 or 41.06 RCW as appropriate shall cease
to apply to all employees in the bargaining unit covered by the agreement.
(2)
All collective bargaining rights and obligations concerning relations between
an institution of higher education and the exclusive bargaining representative
of its employees who have agreed to exercise the option permitted by this
section shall be determined under this chapter, subject to the following:
(a)
The commission shall recognize, in its current form, the bargaining unit as
certified by the ((higher education)) Washington personnel resources
board or its successor ((and)). For purposes of determining
bargaining unit status, positions meeting the criteria established under RCW
41.06.070 or its successor shall be excluded from coverage under this chapter.
An employer may exclude such positions from a bargaining unit at any time the
position meets the criteria established under RCW 41.06.070 or its successor.
The limitations on collective bargaining contained in RCW 41.56.100 shall
not apply to that bargaining unit.
(b)
If, on the date of filing the notice under subsection (1)(a) of this section,
there is a union shop authorized for the bargaining unit under rules adopted by
the ((higher education)) Washington personnel resources
board or its successor, the union shop requirement shall continue in effect for
the bargaining unit and shall be deemed incorporated into the collective
bargaining agreement applicable to the bargaining unit.
(c)
Salary increases negotiated for the employees in the bargaining unit shall be
subject to the following:
(i)
Salary increases shall continue to be appropriated by the legislature. The
exclusive bargaining representative shall meet before a legislative session
with the governor or governor's designee and the representative of the
institution of higher education concerning the total dollar amount for salary
increases and health care contributions that will be contained in the
appropriations proposed by the governor under RCW 43.88.060;
(ii)
The collective bargaining agreements may provide for salary increases from
local efficiency savings that are different from or that exceed the amount or
percentage for salary increases provided by the legislature in the omnibus
appropriations act for the institution of higher education or allocated to the
board of trustees by the state board for community and technical colleges, but
the base for salary increases provided by the legislature under (c)(i) of this
subsection shall include only those amounts appropriated by the legislature,
and the base shall not include any additional salary increases provided under
this subsection (2)(c)(ii);
(iii)
Any provisions of the collective bargaining agreements pertaining to salary
increases provided under (c)(i) of this subsection shall be subject to
modification by the legislature. If any provision of a salary increase
provided under (c)(i) of this subsection is changed by subsequent modification
of the appropriations act by the legislature, both parties shall immediately
enter into collective bargaining for the sole purpose of arriving at a mutually
agreed upon replacement for the modified provision.
(3) Nothing in this section may be construed to permit an
institution of higher education to bargain collectively with an exclusive
bargaining representative concerning any matter covered by: (a) Chapter 41.05
RCW, except for the related cost or dollar contributions or additional or
supplemental benefits as permitted by chapter 492, Laws of 1993; or (b) chapter
41.32 or 41.40 RCW.
