BP BHEAD INT H

AN ACT Relating to educational employees' collective bargaining and contractual obligations; adding a new chapter to Title 28A RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

PART I

DEFINITIONS

NEW SECTION. Sec. 101. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Bargaining representative" means any lawful organization recognized by an employer and certified by the commission as the sole and exclusive bargaining representative of certain employees of the employer.

(2) "Commission" means the public employment relations commission established in RCW 41.58.010.

(3) "Education association" means an organization, whether organized on a county, city, regional, area or state basis, in which employees of one or more public school employers participate and that exists for the common purpose of protecting and advancing the wages and hours of the organization's members.

(4) "Educational employee" means any certificated employee of a school district, and includes a classified employee who formally belongs to an education association.

(5) "Impasse" means neither party has a change in position after good faith bargaining occurs.

(6) "Lockout" means the temporary withholding of work from a group of employees by means of shutting down the operation of the employer in order to bring pressure upon the affected employees or the bargaining representative, or both, to accept the employer's terms of settlement of a labor dispute.

(7) "Public school employer" means a public employer that is a school district board.

(8) "Strike" means the concerted failure to report for duty, the willful absence from one's position, the stoppage of work, or the abstinence in whole or in part from the full, faithful, and proper performance of the duties of employment for the purpose of inducing, influencing, or coercing a change in public employment conditions, compensations, or the rights, privileges, or obligations of employment, including unfair labor practices committed by the public school employee or employer.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 102. This chapter does not limit, impair, or affect the right of a public employee to the expression or communication of a view, grievance, complaint, or opinion on any matter related to the conditions or compensation of public employment or his or her betterment as long as the expression or communication does not interfere with the full, faithful, and proper performance of the duties of employment.

PART II

LOCKOUTS, WALKOUTS, STRIKES, AND NOTIFICATION

NEW SECTION. Sec. 201. No public employee or education association employee or organization may engage in a strike, and no public employee or employee organization may cause, instigate, encourage, or condone a strike.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 202. Employees of the district represented by other bargaining units may not engage in a sympathetic strike or work stoppage.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 203. No public school employer may institute a lockout. A public school employer does not violate this section if there is a total or partial cessation of the public school employer's operations in response to a strike held in violation of this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 204. (1) If a public school employer alleges that there is a strike by one or more public school employees in violation of section 201 of this act, the public school employer shall notify the commission by certified or registered mail within three days of the full or partial days a public school employee was engaged in the alleged strike.

(2) If a bargaining representative alleges that there is a lockout by a public school employer in violation of section 202 of this act, the bargaining representative shall by certified or registered mail notify the commission within three days of the full or partial days of the alleged lockout.

(3) Failure of the school directors to notify the commission of an alleged strike within three days shall result in a two hundred fifty dollar fine for each board member, school director, and district superintendent after the three-day period. Failure of the bargaining representative to notify the commission of an alleged lockout within three days shall result in a fifty dollar fine for each striking employee for each day after the three-day period.

PART III

VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES

NEW SECTION. Sec. 301. A public employee who engages in a strike or authorizes, approves, condones, or consents to a strike violates this chapter. In addition, a public employee who violates this chapter may be subject to removal or other disciplinary action provided by law for misconduct.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 302. For purposes of this section, any district employee who is absent from work without permission, or who abstains wholly or in part from the full performance of his or her duties in normal manner without permission, on the date or dates when a strike occurs, is presumed to have engaged in a strike on such date or dates.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 303. No person exercising on behalf of any public employer any authority, supervision, or direction over a public employee may authorize, approve, condone, or consent to a strike, or the engaging in a strike, by one or more public employees, and the person may not authorize, approve, condone, or consent to such strike or engagement.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 304. Not later than five days after the receipt of notification from the employer or bargaining representative, the commission director shall fine each public school employee the amount equal to one day of pay for that employee for each full or partial day that the employee engaged in the strike; including partial or full days not worked while in the notification and hearing process. The commission shall fine the bargaining representative of the public school employee fifty dollars per member represented for each employee engaged in the strike.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 305. If the commission director finds that a public school employer instituted a lockout in violation of section 202 of this act, the commission shall fine the public school employer five thousand dollars for each full or partial day of the lockout.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 306. If the commission imposes a fine against a public school employee under section 304 of this act and the public school employee continues to be employed by a public school employer, the commission shall order the public school employer to deduct the fine from the public school employee's annual salary. A public school employer shall comply promptly with an order under this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 307. If the commission imposes a fine against the bargaining representative, the fine shall be paid to the commission in full within thirty days from the date of the issuance of the fine. Fines shall be deposited in the school aid account created in section 313 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 308. If the commission imposes a fine against the school directors, the fine shall be paid within thirty days from the date of the issuance of the fine.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 309. If the commission does not receive payment of a fine imposed under this chapter within thirty days after the imposition of the fine, or if a public school employer does not deduct a fine from a public school employee's pay pursuant to an order under sections 203(3) and 304 of this act, the commission shall institute collection proceedings.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 310. A public school employer shall not provide to a public school employee or to a board member any compensation or additional work assignment that is intended to reimburse the public school employee or board member for a monetary penalty imposed under this chapter or that is intended to allow the public school employee or board member to recover a monetary penalty imposed under this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 311. Fines imposed under this chapter are in addition to other penalties prescribed by law.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 312. A public school employer may bring an action to enjoin a strike by public school employees in violation of section 201 of this act, and a bargaining representative may bring an action to enjoin a lockout by a public school employer in violation of section 202 of this act, in the superior court for the county in which the affected public school is located. A court having jurisdiction of an action brought under this section shall grant injunctive relief if the court finds that a strike or lockout has occurred, without regard to the existence of other remedies, demonstration of irreparable harm, or other factors. Failure to comply with an order of the court may be punished as contempt. In addition, the court shall award court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees to the plaintiff who prevails in an action brought under this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 313. The school aid account is created in the state treasury. All receipts from fines and penalties under this chapter shall be deposited into the account. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may be used only for one-time school construction costs.

PART IV

EMPLOYEE DISCHARGE

NEW SECTION. Sec. 401. A public school employer may discipline or discharge a public employee for engaging in a strike. The officer or entity having power to remove or discipline the employee may do so within five days after regular compensation of the employee has ceased or other discipline has been imposed.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 402. At no time during negotiations, impasse, or strike may the master contract supersede an educational employee's contract.

PART V

MEDIATION AND IMPASSE

NEW SECTION. Sec. 501. The public school employer and a bargaining representative shall mutually agree that an impasse exists, and that they are to submit the dispute to the commission for mediation with or without the concurrence of the other as provided by RCW 41.56.440.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 502. If the parties in section 501 of this act agree to participate in mediation under this section, not later than thirty days after the date of impasse, an arbitration panel shall be created. Each of the parties shall appoint one individual to represent the party in the mediation, and those two representatives shall select a third member to act as a neutral party and mediator. If the two parties fail to choose a mediator within seven days, the commission shall appoint a mediator within two days after this seven-day period has run.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 503. Not later than thirty days after the appointment of a mediator under section 502 of this act, if the representatives of the parties mutually agree on a recommended settlement of the impasse, the representatives each shall present the recommended settlement to the party he or she represents for approval.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 504. If one or both of the parties fail to ratify a recommended settlement under section 503 of this act within the thirty-day time limit specified in section 503 of this act, the public school employer may implement unilaterally its last offer of settlement made before the impasse occurred. This section does not limit or otherwise affect a public school employer's ability to unilaterally implement all or part of its bargaining position as otherwise provided by law.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 505. Mediation costs under this chapter shall be shared equally by both parties.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 506. During the process of mediation and if impasse should occur, the school day shall proceed as planned by the school calendar. No cessation of instructional time may occur.

PART VI

LIMITATIONS OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

NEW SECTION. Sec. 601. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, as used in this chapter "collective bargaining" is the performance of the mutual obligation of the employer and the representative of the employees to meet at reasonable times and bargain in good faith with respect to wages, benefits, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment unless specifically prohibited.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 602. Collective bargaining between a public school employer and a bargaining representative of its employees is limited to the following:

(1) Salary schedule with current state guidelines including extra duty salary schedules;

(2) Fringe benefits, including group health coverage and pension;

(3) Right to organize;

(4) Election of officers;

(5) Impasse resolution; and

(6) Personal safety and security.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 603. A matter not set forth in section 602 of this act is a prohibited subject of bargaining between a public school employer and a bargaining representative of its employees, and for the purposes of this chapter, is within the sole authority of the public school employer to decide.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 604. A bargaining representative or an education association shall not veto a collective bargaining agreement reached between a public school employer and a bargaining unit consisting of employees of the public school employer nor may a bargaining representative or an education association require the bargaining unit to obtain the ratification of an education association before or as a condition of entering into a collective bargaining agreement; nor may a bargaining representative or an education association in any other way prohibit or prevent the bargaining unit from entering into a collective bargaining agreement.

PART VII

GIVING PUBLIC NOTICE

NEW SECTION. Sec. 701. During the ten days before the ratification of a collective bargaining agreement, the proposed terms of the master contract shall be displayed at the public library. At a publicly called meeting, the district superintendent and school board shall entertain public comments and concerns and shall consider them before contract ratification. The final master contract shall be displayed in the public library closest to the district office within sixty days of ratification and shall be available on display for seven days.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 702. A public school employer has the exclusive responsibility, authority, and right to manage and direct on behalf of the public the operations and activities of the public schools under its control.

PART VIII

MISCELLANEOUS

NEW SECTION. Sec. 801. Part headings as used in this act do not constitute any part of the law.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 802. Sections 101, 102, 201 through 204, 301 through 313, 401, 402, 501 through 506, 601 through 604, 701, and 702 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 28A RCW.