REPORT TITLE:
Public Employees


DESCRIPTION:
Includes bargaining units 1, 5, and 7 in mechanism to resolve
collective bargaining disputes by mediation or arbitration.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           195
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.
 


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

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 89-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:
 
 3      "(d)  If a dispute between a public employer and the
 
 4 exclusive representative of appropriate bargaining unit (1),
 
 5 nonsupervisory employees in blue-collar positions; appropriate
 
 6 bargaining unit (2), supervisory employees in blue collar
 
 7 positions; appropriate bargaining unit (3), nonsupervisory
 
 8 employees in white collar positions; appropriate bargaining unit
 
 9 (4), supervisory employees in white collar positions; appropriate
 
10 bargaining unit (5), teachers and other personnel of the
 
11 department of education under the same salary schedule, including
 
12 part-time employees working less than twenty hours a week who are
 
13 equal to one-half a full-time equivalent; appropriate bargaining
 
14 unit (6), educational officers and other personnel of the
 
15 department of education under the same salary schedule;
 
16 appropriate bargaining unit (7), faculty of the University of
 
17 Hawaii and the community college system; appropriate bargaining
 
18 unit (8), personnel of the University of Hawaii and the community
 
19 college system, other than faculty; optional appropriate
 

 
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 1 bargaining unit (9), registered professional nurses; optional
 
 2 appropriate bargaining unit (10), institutional, health, and
 
 3 correctional workers; optional appropriate bargaining unit (11),
 
 4 firefighters; optional appropriate bargaining unit (12), police
 
 5 officers; or optional appropriate bargaining unit (13),
 
 6 professional and scientific employees, other than registered
 
 7 professional nurses, exists over the terms of an initial or
 
 8 renewed agreement more than ninety working days after written
 
 9 notification by either party to initiate negotiations, either
 
10 party may give written notice to the board that an impasse exists
 
11 and the board shall assist in the voluntary resolution of the
 
12 impasse by appointing a mediator within three days after the date
 
13 of impasse.  If the dispute continues to exist fifteen working
 
14 days after the date of impasse, the dispute shall be submitted to
 
15 arbitration proceedings as provided herein.
 
16      The board shall immediately determine whether the parties to
 
17 the dispute have mutually agreed upon an arbitration procedure
 
18 and whether the parties have agreed upon a person or persons whom
 
19 the parties desire to be appointed as the arbitrator or as a
 
20 panel of arbitrators, as the case may be.
 
21      If the board determines that an arbitration procedure
 
22 mutually agreed upon by the parties will result in a final and
 
23 binding decision, and that an arbitrator or arbitration panel has
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           195
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 been mutually agreed upon, it shall appoint such arbitrator or
 
 2 arbitration panel and permit the parties to proceed with the
 
 3 arbitration procedure mutually agreed upon.
 
 4      If, after eighteen working days from the date of impasse,
 
 5 the parties have not mutually agreed upon an arbitration
 
 6 procedure and an arbitrator or arbitration panel, the board shall
 
 7 immediately notify the employer and the exclusive representative
 
 8 that the issues in dispute shall be submitted to a three-member
 
 9 arbitration panel who shall follow the arbitration procedure
 
10 provided herein.
 
11      Within twenty-one working days from the date of impasse, two
 
12 members of the arbitration panel shall be selected by the
 
13 parties; one shall be selected by the employer and one shall be
 
14 selected by the exclusive representative.  The impartial third
 
15 member of the arbitration panel shall be selected by the two
 
16 previously selected panel members and shall chair the arbitration
 
17 panel.
 
18      In the event that the two previously selected arbitration
 
19 panel members fail to select an impartial third arbitrator within
 
20 twenty-four working days from the date of impasse, the board
 
21 shall request the American Arbitration Association, or its
 
22 successor in function, to furnish a list of five qualified
 
23 arbitrators from which the impartial arbitrator shall be
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           195
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 selected.  Within five calendar days after receipt of such list,
 
 2 the parties shall alternately strike names therefrom until a
 
 3 single name is left, who shall be immediately appointed by the
 
 4 board as the impartial arbitrator and chairperson of the
 
 5 arbitration panel.
 
 6      Upon the selection and appointment of the arbitration panel,
 
 7 each party shall submit to the panel, in writing, with copy to
 
 8 the other party, a final offer which shall include all provisions
 
 9 in any existing collective bargaining agreement not being
 
10 modified, all provisions already agreed to in negotiations, and
 
11 all further provisions other than those relating to contributions
 
12 by the State and respective counties to the Hawaii public
 
13 employees health fund which each party is proposing for inclusion
 
14 in the final agreement.
 
15      Within twenty calendar days of its appointment, the
 
16 arbitration panel shall commence a hearing at which time the
 
17 parties may submit either in writing or through oral testimony,
 
18 all information or data supporting their respective final offers.
 
19 Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the
 
20 parties from reaching a voluntary settlement on the unresolved
 
21 issues, with or without the assistance of a mediator, at any time
 
22 prior to the conclusion of the hearing conducted by the
 
23 arbitration panel.
 

 
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 1      Within thirty calendar days after the conclusion of the
 
 2 hearing, a majority of the arbitration panel shall issue a final
 
 3 and binding decision.
 
 4      In reaching a decision, the arbitration panel shall give
 
 5 weight to the factors listed below and shall include in a written
 
 6 opinion an explanation of how the factors were taken into account
 
 7 in reaching the decision:
 
 8      (1)  The lawful authority of the employer.
 
 9      (2)  Stipulations of the parties.
 
10      (3)  The interests and welfare of the public.
 
11      (4)  The financial ability of the employer to meet these
 
12           costs.
 
13      (5)  The present and future general economic condition of
 
14           the counties and the State.
 
15      (6)  Comparison of wages, hours, and conditions of
 
16           employment of the employees involved in the arbitration
 
17           proceeding with the wages, hours, and conditions of
 
18           employment of other persons performing similar
 
19           services, and of other state and county employees in
 
20           Hawaii.
 
21      (7)  The average consumer prices for goods or services,
 
22           commonly known as the cost of living.
 
23      (8)  The overall compensation presently received by the
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           195
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           employees, including direct wage compensation,
 
 2           vacation, holidays and excused time, insurance and
 
 3           pensions, medical and hospitalization benefits, the
 
 4           continuity and stability of employment, and all other
 
 5           benefits received.
 
 6      (9)  Changes in any of the foregoing circumstances during
 
 7           the pendency of the arbitration proceedings.
 
 8     (10)  Such other factors, not confined to the foregoing,
 
 9           which are normally or traditionally taken into
 
10           consideration in the determination of wages, hours, and
 
11           conditions of employment through voluntary collective
 
12           bargaining, mediation, fact-finding, arbitration, or
 
13           otherwise between the parties, in the public service or
 
14           in private employment.
 
15      The decision of the arbitration panel shall be final and
 
16 binding upon the parties on all provisions submitted to the
 
17 arbitration panel.  If the parties have reached agreement with
 
18 respect to the amounts of contributions by the State and counties
 
19 to the Hawaii public employees health fund by the tenth working
 
20 day after the arbitration panel issues its decision, the final
 
21 and binding agreement of the parties on all provisions shall
 
22 consist of the panel's decision and the amounts of contributions
 
23 agreed to by the parties.  If the parties have not reached
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           195
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 agreement with respect to the amounts of contributions by the
 
 2 State and counties to the Hawaii public employees health fund by
 
 3 the close of business on the tenth working day after the
 
 4 arbitration panel issues its decision, the parties shall have
 
 5 five days to submit their respective recommendations for such
 
 6 contributions to the legislature, if it is in session, and if the
 
 7 legislature is not in session, the parties shall submit their
 
 8 respective recommendations for such contributions to the
 
 9 legislature during the next session of the legislature.  In such
 
10 event, the final and binding agreement of the parties on all
 
11 provisions shall consist of the panel's decision and the amounts
 
12 of contributions established by the legislature by enactment,
 
13 after the legislature has considered the recommendations for such
 
14 contributions by the parties.  It is strictly understood that no
 
15 member of a bargaining unit subject to this subsection shall be
 
16 allowed to participate in a strike on the issue of the amounts of
 
17 contributions by the State and counties to the Hawaii public
 
18 employees health fund.  The parties shall take whatever action is
 
19 necessary to carry out and effectuate the final and binding
 
20 agreement.  The parties may, at any time and by mutual agreement,
 
21 amend or modify the panel's decision.
 
22      Agreements reached pursuant to the decision of an
 
23 arbitration panel and the amounts of contributions by the State
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           195
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 and counties to the Hawaii public employees health fund, as
 
 2 provided herein, shall not be subject to ratification by the
 
 3 employees concerned.  All items requiring any moneys for
 
 4 implementation shall be subject to appropriations by the
 
 5 appropriate legislative bodies and the employer shall submit all
 
 6 such items within ten days after the date on which the agreement
 
 7 is entered into as provided herein, to the appropriate
 
 8 legislative bodies.
 
 9      The costs for mediation shall be borne by the board.  All
 
10 other costs incurred by either party in complying with these
 
11 provisions, including the costs of its selected member on the
 
12 arbitration panel, shall be borne by the party incurring them,
 
13 except that all costs and expenses of the impartial arbitrator
 
14 shall be borne equally by the parties."
 
15      SECTION 2.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
16      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
17 
 
18                           INTRODUCED BY:_________________________