April 12, 2011, Introduced by Rep. Farrington and referred to the Committee on Government Operations.
A bill to amend 1969 PA 312, entitled
"An act to provide for compulsory arbitration of labor disputes in
municipal police and fire departments; to define such public
departments; to provide for the selection of members of arbitration
panels; to prescribe the procedures and authority thereof; and to
provide for the enforcement and review of awards thereof,"
by amending sections 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 (MCL 423.232,
423.233, 423.235, 423.236, 423.238, 423.239, and 423.240).
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec.
2. (1) Public police and fire departments department
employee means any of the following:
(a)
An employee of a department of
a city, county, village, or
township, having
employees district, board, or
any other entity
created in whole or in part by the authorization of 1 or more of
those governing bodies, whether created by statute, ordinance,
contract, resolution, delegation, or any other mechanism, who is
engaged
as policemen, a police
officer or in fire fighting or
subject
to the hazards thereof. , emergency
(b) Emergency medical service personnel employed by a public
police
or fire department. , or an
(c) An emergency telephone operator, but only if directly
employed by a public police or fire department.
(2) Emergency medical service personnel for purposes of this
act
includes a person an
individual who provides assistance at
dispatched or observed medical emergencies occurring outside a
recognized medical facility including instances of heart attack,
stroke, injury accidents, electrical accidents, drug overdoses,
imminent childbirth, and other instances where there is the
possibility of death or further injury; initiates stabilizing
treatment or transportation of injured from the emergency site; and
notifies police or interested departments of certain situations
encountered including criminal matters, poisonings, and the report
of contagious diseases. Emergency telephone operator for the
purpose
of this act includes a person an
individual employed
directly by a police or fire department for the purpose of relaying
emergency calls to police, fire, or emergency medical service
personnel.
(3)
This act shall does not apply to persons individuals
employed by a private emergency medical service company who work
under a contract with a governmental unit or personnel working in
an emergency service organization whose duties are solely of an
administrative or supporting nature and who are not otherwise
qualified under subsection (2).
Sec. 3. (1) Whenever in the course of mediation of a public
police or fire department employee's dispute, except a dispute
concerning the interpretation or application of an existing
agreement (a "grievance" dispute), the dispute has not been
resolved to the agreement of both parties within 30 days of the
submission
of the dispute to mediation, or within such any further
additional
periods to which the parties may agree, the employees or
employer may initiate binding arbitration proceedings by prompt
request, therefor,
in writing, to the other, with copy to the
mediator and the employment relations commission.
(2) Upon receipt of a written request for binding arbitration,
the mediator shall, in consultation with the parties, create and
transmit to both parties a list of each of the issues in dispute.
Within 30 days after receipt of the written request, the parties
shall meet with the mediator to present in writing and explain
proposed contract language to resolve each issue, including any
issues previously discussed by the parties but omitted from the
mediator's list, and to engage in any further discussion or
negotiation as the parties agree. Except in cases in which the
parties agree to a longer period because of continuing
negotiations, the mediator shall transmit the final list of issues
in dispute and both parties' proposed contract language to the
employment relations commission for hearing no more than 14 days
after receiving the written proposed contract language. The parties
retain the right to meet and negotiate, with or without the
mediator, to attempt to resolve some or all of the disputed issues
at any time before the arbitration panel issues an award pursuant
to this act.
Sec.
5. (1) Within 7 days of a request from 1 or both parties
receiving a list of issues in dispute and proposed contract
language from the mediator pursuant to section 3, the employment
relations commission shall select from its panel of arbitrators, as
provided
in subsection (2), 3 persons as nominees for impartial
arbitrator
or chairman chair of the arbitration panel. Within 5
days after the selection each party may peremptorily strike the
name of 1 of the nominees. Within 7 days after this 5-day period,
the commission shall designate 1 of the remaining nominees as the
impartial
arbitrator or chairman chair
of the arbitration panel.
(2) The employment relations commission shall establish and
appoint a panel of arbitrators, who shall be known as the Michigan
employment relations commission panel of arbitrators. The
commission shall appoint members for indefinite terms. Members
shall be impartial, competent, and reputable citizens of the United
States and residents of the state, and shall qualify by taking and
subscribing the constitutional oath or affirmation of office. The
commission may at any time appoint additional members to the panel
of arbitrators, and may remove existing members without cause.
Sec. 6. Upon the appointment of the arbitrator, he or she
shall
proceed to act as chairman chair of the panel of
arbitration,
call a hearing, to begin within 15 days, and give reasonable notice
of
the time and place of the hearing. The chairman chair shall
preside over the hearing and shall take testimony. Upon application
and
for good cause shown, and upon such terms and conditions as
that are just, a person, labor organization, or governmental unit
having
a substantial interest therein in
the matter may be granted
leave to intervene by the arbitration panel. Any oral or
documentary
evidence and other data deemed relevant by the
arbitration panel considers relevant may be received in evidence.
The
proceedings shall be are informal. Technical rules of evidence
shall
do not apply and do not impair the competency
of the
evidence. shall
not thereby be deemed impaired. A verbatim record
of the proceedings shall be made, and the arbitrator shall arrange
for the necessary recording service. Transcripts may be ordered at
the
expense of the party ordering them, but the transcripts shall
are
not be necessary for a decision
by the arbitration panel. The
expense
of the proceedings, including a fee to the chairman chair,
established in advance by the labor mediation board shall be borne
equally
by each of the parties to the dispute. and the state. The
delegates, if public officers or employees, shall continue on the
payroll of the public employer at their usual rate of pay. The
hearing conducted by the arbitration panel may be adjourned from
time
to time, but , unless otherwise agreed by the parties, shall
be
concluded within 30 days of the time of its commencement. Its If
the parties agree, the chair may extend the time for the conclusion
of the hearing to no more than 120 days from the time the hearing
commences. The arbitration panel shall not waive the 120-day limit.
The arbitration panel's majority actions and rulings shall
constitute the actions and rulings of the arbitration panel.
Sec. 8. At a hearing held pursuant to section 6, the
arbitrator shall address the merits of only those issues identified
by the mediator and submitted to the employment relations
commission under section 3. At or before the conclusion of the
hearing, held
pursuant to section 6, the arbitration panel shall
identify the economic issues in dispute, and direct each of the
parties
to submit, within such a time limit as the panel shall
prescribe
the chair prescribes, to the arbitration panel chair and
to each other its last offer of settlement on each economic issue.
The
determination of the arbitration panel as to the issues in
dispute
and as to which of these the issues
are economic shall be
is
conclusive. The arbitration panel,
within 30 days after the
conclusion
of the hearing, or such further additional periods to
which
the parties may agree, Within
30 days of the conclusion of
the hearing, or if the parties agree to an extension, within 90
days of the conclusion of the hearing, the arbitration panel shall
make written findings of fact and promulgate a written opinion and
order upon the issues presented to it and upon the record made
before
it, and shall mail or otherwise deliver a true copy thereof
of the opinion to the parties and their representatives and to the
employment relations commission. As to each economic issue, the
arbitration
panel shall adopt the last offer of settlement which
that, in the opinion of the arbitration panel, more nearly complies
with the applicable factors prescribed in section 9. The findings,
opinions, and order as to all other issues shall be based upon the
applicable
factors prescribed in section 9. This section as amended
shall
be applicable only to arbitration proceedings initiated under
section
3 on or after January 1, 1973.
Sec.
9. (1) Where there is no agreement between the parties,
or
where there is an agreement but the parties If the parties do
not have an agreement or have begun negotiations or discussions
looking
to a new agreement or amendment of the existing agreement,
and wage rates or other conditions of employment under the proposed
new or amended agreement are in dispute, the arbitration panel
shall base its findings, opinions, and order upon the following
factors, as applicable:
(a) The interests and welfare of the public and the financial
ability of the unit of government to pay. In determining the
ability of the unit of government to pay, the arbitration panel
shall not consider unused millage or assessment capacity but shall
consider all of the following:
(i) The financial impact on the community of any award made by
the arbitration panel over a minimum of 5 years from the date of
the award.
(ii) All liabilities, whether or not they appear on the balance
sheet of the unit of government.
(b) (a)
The lawful authority of the employer.
(c) (b)
Stipulations of the parties.
(c)
The interests and welfare of the public and the financial
ability
of the unit of government to meet those costs.
(d) Comparison of the wages, hours, and conditions of
employment of the employees involved in the arbitration proceeding
with the wages, hours, and conditions of employment of other
employees performing similar services and with other employees
generally in both of the following:
(i) In public Public employment in
comparable communities.
(ii) In private Private employment in
comparable communities.
(e) The pay and benefits of other employees of the unit of
government outside of the bargaining unit in question.
(f) (e)
The average consumer prices for
goods and services,
commonly known as the cost of living.
(g) (f)
The overall compensation presently
received by the
employees, including direct wage compensation, vacations, holidays
and other excused time, insurance and pensions, medical and
hospitalization benefits, the continuity and stability of
employment, and all other benefits received.
(h) (g)
Changes in any of the foregoing
circumstances during
the
pendency of while the arbitration proceedings are pending.
(i) (h)
Such other factors, not confined to the foregoing,
which
Other factors that are normally or traditionally taken into
consideration in the determination of wages, hours, and conditions
of employment through voluntary collective bargaining, mediation,
fact-finding, arbitration, or otherwise between the parties, in the
public service, or in private employment.
(2) The arbitration panel shall afford weight to the factors
listed in subsection (1), as follows:
(a) A determination that the unit of government does not have
the financial ability to pay shall be a fundamental concern.
(b) The internal comparable pay and benefits under subsection
(1)(e) shall be given more significance than that of the external
comparables under subsection (1)(d).
(3) An arbitration award shall not require an increase in the
total economic cost to the local unit of government that exceeds
the lesser of the total percentage increase in the local unit of
government's general fund revenue, excluding reappropriation of
fund equity, or the increase in the percentage change in the
consumer price index, over the contract period. As used in this
subsection, "consumer price index" means the most comprehensive
index of consumer prices available for this state from the bureau
of labor statistics of the United States department of labor.
Sec. 10. A majority decision of the arbitration panel, if
supported by competent, material, and substantial evidence on the
whole record, shall be final and binding upon the parties, and may
be enforced, at the instance of either party or of the arbitration
panel in the circuit court for the county in which the dispute
arose or in which a majority of the affected employees reside. The
commencement of a new municipal fiscal year after the initiation of
arbitration procedures under this act, but before the arbitration
decision,
or its enforcement, shall not be deemed to does not
render
a dispute moot , or to
otherwise impair the jurisdiction or
authority
of the arbitration panel or its decision. Increases Not
withstanding any other statute or charter provisions to the
contrary, increases in rates of compensation or other benefits may
be
awarded retroactively to the commencement of any period(s)
period
or periods in dispute. ,
any other statute or charter
provisions
to the contrary notwithstanding. At
any time the
parties, by stipulation, may amend or modify an award of
arbitration.