Report Title:

Collective bargaining; law enforcement & health personnel

Description:

Creates a new bargaining unit for law enforcement and emergency health and safety personnel, except those in bargaining units (9) through (12).

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2405

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOR EMPLOYEES IN LAW ENFORCEMENT AND EMERGENCY HEALTH AND SAFETY OCCUPATIONS.

 

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

SECTION 1. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the needs to recruit, train, and retain law enforcement and emergency health and safety personnel have become increasingly important. The more experienced and better trained this law enforcement and emergency health and safety personnel are, the more secure and safer Hawaii's citizenry will be.

Currently, there are classes of work that perform law enforcement and emergency health and safety related activities that are not included in bargaining units 9 through 12; for examples, deputy sheriffs, harbor enforcement officers, conservation and resources enforcement officers, 911 emergency response operators, emergency medical technicians, security officers, and the civil defense emergency operation watch team. Unfortunately, for no particular discernible reason, these classes of work are embedded in bargaining units that also include non-law enforcement and non-health and safety personnel. As a result, these employees in law enforcement and emergency health and safety classifications are not getting the recognition at the bargaining table that they deserve. Their compensation worth is diffused among the other members of their heterogeneous bargaining unit. This makes it difficult for employers to recruit and retain individuals into these "first responder" occupations. To make it easier for employers to recruit and retain first responders, this Act seeks to put law enforcement and emergency health and safety personnel, who are not in bargaining units (9) through (12), into a new homogeneous bargaining unit created just for them.

SECTION 2. Section 89-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) All employees throughout the State within any of the following categories shall constitute an appropriate bargaining unit:

(1) Nonsupervisory employees in blue collar positions;

(2) Supervisory employees in blue collar positions;

(3) Nonsupervisory employees in white collar positions;

(4) Supervisory employees in white collar positions;

(5) Teachers and other personnel of the department of education under the same pay schedule, including part-time employees working less than twenty hours a week who are equal to one-half of a full-time equivalent;

(6) Educational officers and other personnel of the department of education under the same pay schedule;

(7) Faculty of the University of Hawaii and the community college system;

(8) Personnel of the University of Hawaii and the community college system, other than faculty;

(9) Registered professional nurses;

(10) Institutional, health, and correctional workers;

(11) Firefighters;

(12) Police officers; [and]

(13) Professional and scientific employees, who cannot be included in any of the other bargaining units[.]; and

(14) Law enforcement and emergency health and safety personnel, who are not in bargaining units (9) through (12)."

SECTION 3. Section 89-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:

"(d) For the purpose of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement, the public employer of an appropriate bargaining unit shall mean the governor together with the following employers:

(1) For bargaining units (1), (2), (3), (4), (9), (10), and (13), the governor shall have six votes and the mayors, the chief justice, and the Hawaii health systems corporation board shall each have one vote if they have employees in the particular bargaining unit;

(2) For bargaining units (11) [and], (12), and (14), the governor shall have four votes and the mayors shall each have one vote;

(3) For bargaining units (5) and (6), the governor shall have three votes, the board of education shall have two votes, and the superintendent of education shall have one vote;

(4) For bargaining units (7) and (8), the governor shall have three votes, the board of regents of the University of Hawaii shall have two votes, and the president of the University of Hawaii shall have one vote.

Any decision to be reached by the applicable employer group shall be on the basis of simple majority, except when a bargaining unit includes county employees from more than one county. In such case, the simple majority shall include at least one county."

SECTION 4. Section 89-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (e) to read as follows:

"(e) If an impasse exists between a public employer and the exclusive representative of bargaining unit (2), supervisory employees in blue collar positions; bargaining unit (3), nonsupervisory employees in white collar positions; bargaining unit (4), supervisory employees in white collar positions; bargaining unit (6), educational officers and other personnel of the department of education under the same salary schedule; bargaining unit (8), personnel of the University of Hawaii and the community college system, other than faculty; bargaining unit (9), registered professional nurses; bargaining unit (10), institutional, health, and correctional workers; bargaining unit (11), firefighters; bargaining unit (12), police officers; [or] bargaining unit (13), professional and scientific employees[,]; or bargaining unit (14), law enforcement and emergency health and safety personnel, the board shall assist in the resolution of the impasse as follows:

(1) Mediation. During the first twenty days after the date of impasse, the board shall immediately appoint a mediator, representative of the public from a list of qualified persons maintained by the board, to assist the parties in a voluntary resolution of the impasse.

(2) Arbitration. If the impasse continues twenty days after the date of impasse, the board shall immediately notify the employer and the exclusive representative that the impasse shall be submitted to a three-member arbitration panel who shall follow the arbitration procedure provided herein.

(A) Arbitration panel. Two members of the arbitration panel shall be selected by the parties; one shall be selected by the employer and one shall be selected by the exclusive representative. The neutral third member of the arbitration panel, who shall chair the arbitration panel, shall be selected by mutual agreement of the parties. In the event that the parties fail to select the neutral third member of the arbitration panel within thirty days from the date of impasse, the board shall request the American Arbitration Association, or its successor in function, to furnish a list of five qualified arbitrators from which the neutral arbitrator shall be selected. Within five days after receipt of such list, the parties shall alternately strike names from the list until a single name is left, who shall be immediately appointed by the board as the neutral arbitrator and chairperson of the arbitration panel.

(B) Final positions. Upon the selection and appointment of the arbitration panel, each party shall submit to the panel, in writing, with copy to the other party, a final position which shall include all provisions in any existing collective bargaining agreement not being modified, all provisions already agreed to in negotiations, and all further provisions which each party is proposing for inclusion in the final agreement.

(C) Arbitration hearing. Within one hundred twenty days of its appointment, the arbitration panel shall commence a hearing at which time the parties may submit either in writing or through oral testimony, all information or data supporting their respective final positions. The arbitrator, or the chairperson of the arbitration panel together with the other two members, are encouraged to assist the parties in a voluntary resolution of the impasse through mediation, to the extent practicable throughout the entire arbitration period until the date the panel is required to issue its arbitration decision.

(D) Arbitration decision. Within thirty days after the conclusion of the hearing, a majority of the arbitration panel shall reach a decision pursuant to subsection (f) on all provisions that each party proposed in its respective final position for inclusion in the final agreement and transmit a preliminary draft of its decision to the parties. The parties shall review the preliminary draft for completeness, technical correctness, and clarity and may mutually submit to the panel any desired changes or adjustments that shall be incorporated in the final draft of its decision. Within fifteen days after the transmittal of the preliminary draft, a majority of the arbitration panel shall issue the arbitration decision."

SECTION 5. The employers and the affected exclusive representatives shall meet and consult, and submit to the legislature, twenty days prior to the regular session of 2007, a report identifying all those workers and corresponding classes of work that would meet the definition of and be migrated over to this newly created bargaining unit (14), law enforcement and emergency health and safety personnel. The report to the legislature shall include any and all statutory amendments required to formalize the creation, establishment, and migration of employees to this new bargaining unit without loss of accrued benefits, seniority, and wages.

SECTION 6. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and strickened. New statutory material is underscored.

Section 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that the transfer of law enforcement and emergency health and safety personnel into the newly established bargaining unit (14), shall take effect no later than June 30, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

BY REQUEST