REPORT TITLE:
Collective Bargaining; Strike


DESCRIPTION:
Excludes public employees in bargaining units (2), (3), (4), (6),
(8), (9), (10), and (13) from mandatory binding arbitration.
Allows these public employees to participate in a strike on the
issue of the amounts of contributions by the State and counties
to the Hawaii public employees health fund.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                            301         
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the right of
 
 2 employees in Hawaii to strike over matters covered under
 
 3 collective bargaining agreements is rooted in the dark and
 
 4 violent days of the first sugar strikes.  Then and now, the right
 
 5 to strike guarantees that agreements reached by an employer and
 
 6 an employees' union are satisfactory to the majority of the
 
 7 union's members.  Subjecting these employees to final binding
 
 8 arbitration deprives them of the right to determine--for
 
 9 themselves and for their fellow employees--whether or not the
 
10 conditions of an agreement are satisfactory.
 
11      The right to strike over matters covered under collective
 
12 bargaining agreements is rooted in the oppressive and inhumane
 
13 treatment endured by our grandparents in the hot and dangerous
 
14 fields and processing plants of Hawaii's plantation companies.
 
15 Except where public safety may be compromised, there is no
 
16 compelling state interest in depriving employees of the right to
 
17 strike.
 
18      The purpose of this Act is to exclude public employees in
 
19 bargaining units (2), (3), (4), (6), (8), (9), (10), and (13)
 

 
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 1 from mandatory binding arbitration; and to allow these public
 
 2 employees to participate in a strike on the issue of the amounts
 
 3 of contributions by the State and counties to the Hawaii public
 
 4 employees health fund.
 
 5      SECTION 2.  Section 89-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 6 amended by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:
 
 7      "(d)  If a dispute between a public employer and the
 
 8 exclusive representative of [appropriate bargaining unit (2),
 
 9 supervisory employees in blue collar positions; appropriate
 
10 bargaining unit (3), nonsupervisory employees in white collar
 
11 positions; appropriate bargaining unit (4), supervisory employees
 
12 in white collar positions; appropriate bargaining unit (6),
 
13 educational officers and other personnel of the department of
 
14 education under the same salary schedule; appropriate bargaining
 
15 unit (8), personnel of the University of Hawaii and the community
 
16 college system, other than faculty; optional appropriate
 
17 bargaining unit (9), registered professional nurses; optional
 
18 appropriate bargaining unit (10), institutional, health, and
 
19 correctional workers;] optional appropriate bargaining unit (11),
 
20 firefighters; or optional appropriate bargaining unit (12),
 
21 police officers[; or optional appropriate bargaining unit (13),
 
22 professional and scientific employees, other than registered
 
23 professional nurses], exists over the terms of an initial or
 

 
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 1 renewed agreement more than ninety working days after written
 
 2 notification by either party to initiate negotiations, either
 
 3 party may give written notice to the board that an impasse exists
 
 4 and the board shall assist in the voluntary resolution of the
 
 5 impasse by appointing a mediator within three days after the date
 
 6 of impasse.  If the dispute continues to exist fifteen working
 
 7 days after the date of impasse, the dispute shall be submitted to
 
 8 arbitration proceedings as provided [herein.] in this section.
 
 9      The board shall immediately determine whether the parties to
 
10 the dispute have mutually agreed upon an arbitration procedure
 
11 and whether the parties have agreed upon a person or persons whom
 
12 the parties desire to be appointed as the arbitrator or as a
 
13 panel of arbitrators, as the case may be.
 
14      If the board determines that an arbitration procedure
 
15 mutually agreed upon by the parties will result in a final and
 
16 binding decision, and that an arbitrator or arbitration panel has
 
17 been mutually agreed upon, it shall appoint such arbitrator or
 
18 arbitration panel and permit the parties to proceed with the
 
19 arbitration procedure mutually agreed upon.
 
20      If, after eighteen working days from the date of impasse,
 
21 the parties have not mutually agreed upon an arbitration
 
22 procedure and an arbitrator or arbitration panel, the board shall
 
23 immediately notify the employer and the exclusive representative
 

 
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 1 that the issues in dispute shall be submitted to a three-member
 
 2 arbitration panel who shall follow the arbitration procedure
 
 3 provided [herein.] in this section.
 
 4      Within twenty-one working days from the date of impasse, two
 
 5 members of the arbitration panel shall be selected by the
 
 6 parties; one shall be selected by the employer and one shall be
 
 7 selected by the exclusive representative.  The impartial third
 
 8 member of the arbitration panel shall be selected by the two
 
 9 previously selected panel members and shall chair the arbitration
 
10 panel.
 
11      In the event that the two previously selected arbitration
 
12 panel members fail to select an impartial third arbitrator within
 
13 twenty-four working days from the date of impasse, the board
 
14 shall request the American Arbitration Association, or its
 
15 successor in function, to furnish a list of five qualified
 
16 arbitrators from which the impartial arbitrator shall be
 
17 selected.  Within five calendar days after receipt of such list,
 
18 the parties shall alternately strike names therefrom until a
 
19 single name is left, who shall be immediately appointed by the
 
20 board as the impartial arbitrator and chairperson of the
 
21 arbitration panel.
 
22      Upon the selection and appointment of the arbitration panel,
 
23 each party shall submit to the panel, in writing, with copy to
 

 
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 1 the other party, a final offer which shall include all provisions
 
 2 in any existing collective bargaining agreement not being
 
 3 modified, all provisions already agreed to in negotiations, and
 
 4 all further provisions other than those relating to contributions
 
 5 by the State and respective counties to the Hawaii public
 
 6 employees health fund which each party is proposing for inclusion
 
 7 in the final agreement.
 
 8      Within twenty calendar days of its appointment, the
 
 9 arbitration panel shall commence a hearing at which time the
 
10 parties may submit either in writing or through oral testimony,
 
11 all information or data supporting their respective final offers.
 
12 Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the
 
13 parties from reaching a voluntary settlement on the unresolved
 
14 issues, with or without the assistance of a mediator, at any time
 
15 prior to the conclusion of the hearing conducted by the
 
16 arbitration panel.
 
17      Within thirty calendar days after the conclusion of the
 
18 hearing, a majority of the arbitration panel shall issue a final
 
19 and binding decision.
 
20      In reaching a decision, the arbitration panel shall give
 
21 weight to the factors listed below and shall include in a written
 
22 opinion an explanation of how the factors were taken into account
 
23 in reaching the decision:
 

 
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 1      (1)  The lawful authority of the employer.
 
 2      (2)  Stipulations of the parties.
 
 3      (3)  The interests and welfare of the public.
 
 4      (4)  The financial ability of the employer to meet these
 
 5           costs.
 
 6      (5)  The present and future general economic condition of
 
 7           the counties and the State.
 
 8      (6)  Comparison of wages, hours, and conditions of
 
 9           employment of the employees involved in the arbitration
 
10           proceeding with the wages, hours, and conditions of
 
11           employment of other persons performing similar
 
12           services, and of other state and county employees in
 
13           Hawaii.
 
14      (7)  The average consumer prices for goods or services,
 
15           commonly known as the cost of living.
 
16      (8)  The overall compensation presently received by the
 
17           employees, including direct wage compensation,
 
18           vacation, holidays and excused time, insurance and
 
19           pensions, medical and hospitalization benefits, the
 
20           continuity and stability of employment, and all other
 
21           benefits received.
 
22      (9)  Changes in any of the foregoing circumstances during
 
23           the pendency of the arbitration proceedings.
 

 
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 1     (10)  Such other factors, not confined to the foregoing,
 
 2           which are normally or traditionally taken into
 
 3           consideration in the determination of wages, hours, and
 
 4           conditions of employment through voluntary collective
 
 5           bargaining, mediation, fact-finding, arbitration, or
 
 6           otherwise between the parties, in the public service or
 
 7           in private employment.
 
 8      The decision of the arbitration panel shall be final and
 
 9 binding upon the parties on all provisions submitted to the
 
10 arbitration panel.  If the parties have reached agreement with
 
11 respect to the amounts of contributions by the State and counties
 
12 to the Hawaii public employees health fund by the tenth working
 
13 day after the arbitration panel issues its decision, the final
 
14 and binding agreement of the parties on all provisions shall
 
15 consist of the panel's decision and the amounts of contributions
 
16 agreed to by the parties.  If the parties have not reached
 
17 agreement with respect to the amounts of contributions by the
 
18 State and counties to the Hawaii public employees health fund by
 
19 the close of business on the tenth working day after the
 
20 arbitration panel issues its decision, the parties shall have
 
21 five days to submit their respective recommendations for such
 
22 contributions to the legislature, if it is in session, and if the
 
23 legislature is not in session, the parties shall submit their
 

 
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 1 respective recommendations for such contributions to the
 
 2 legislature during the next session of the legislature.  In such
 
 3 event, the final and binding agreement of the parties on all
 
 4 provisions shall consist of the panel's decision and the amounts
 
 5 of contributions established by the legislature by enactment,
 
 6 after the legislature has considered the recommendations for such
 
 7 contributions by the parties.  It is strictly understood that no
 
 8 member of a bargaining unit subject to this subsection shall be
 
 9 allowed to participate in a strike on the issue of the amounts of
 
10 contributions by the State and counties to the Hawaii public
 
11 employees health fund.  The parties shall take whatever action is
 
12 necessary to carry out and effectuate the final and binding
 
13 agreement.  The parties may, at any time and by mutual agreement,
 
14 amend or modify the panel's decision.
 
15      Agreements reached pursuant to the decision of an
 
16 arbitration panel and the amounts of contributions by the State
 
17 and counties to the Hawaii public employees health fund, as
 
18 provided herein, shall not be subject to ratification by the
 
19 employees concerned.  All items requiring any moneys for
 
20 implementation shall be subject to appropriations by the
 
21 appropriate legislative bodies and the employer shall submit all
 
22 such items within ten days after the date on which the agreement
 
23 is entered into as provided herein, to the appropriate
 

 
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 1 legislative bodies.
 
 2      The costs for mediation shall be borne by the board.  All
 
 3 other costs incurred by either party in complying with these
 
 4 provisions, including the costs of its selected member on the
 
 5 arbitration panel, shall be borne by the party incurring them,
 
 6 except that all costs and expenses of the impartial arbitrator
 
 7 shall be borne equally by the parties."
 
 8      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 9 New statutory material is underscored.
 
10      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
11 
 
12                           INTRODUCED BY:_________________________