LABOR LAW UPDATEWashington State Public Transportation SymposiumAugust 26, 2013

Road Map

• Public Employment Relations Commission Developments– Duty to Bargain Issues– What Must Be Bargained– Bad Faith Bargaining Examples– Other ULPs

• Interest Arbitration Developments• Bargaining Trends

Duty to Bargain

• Grievance procedures, including arbitration, survive expiration of a contract (Community Transit)

• When is impasse reached? (Washington State Fish & Wildlife) (NOTE: unilateral implementation not available for public transit in Washington)

• “Me Too” or parity clauses (Kelso)

Duty to Bargain (cont.)

• When can a board legitimately not ratify a TA’d agreement? (Kitsap County)

• What happens when an agreement with one union implicates options for another unit? (Kitsap Transit)

Mandatory Subjects of Bargaining

• Status of a management rights clause (City of Bellevue)

• Insistence on each party responsible for own attorneys’ fees in arbitration (King County FD 36)

• Changes to overtime availability (City of Everett)

• Change from fully-funded insurance to self-insurance (Kitsap County)

Mandatory Subjects (cont.)

• Parking rates (King County)• Uttering the word “safety” is not enough

(Clark County)• Reorganizations and waiver by inaction

(Bainbridge Island)• Dependent verification for health insurance

(King County)

Mandatory Subjects (cont.)

• Layoffs – decision and effects bargaining (Yakima)

• Use of health insurance reserves (Spokane County)

Bad Faith Bargaining Examples

• Skimming or contracting out bargaining unit work (Washington State Univ.)

• Duty to provide information (Univ. of Washington)– Relevance standard– No obligation to create records– Inadvertent mistake = no defense

Other Unfair Labor Practices

• Interference violations– Back channel “venting” still legal (State Office of

Fin. Mgmt.)– Shop steward communications limits• Is it “irresponsible and abusive?”• What is the normal culture of the workplace? (Univ. of

Washington)

– When can an employer communicate directly with employees? (Columbia Basin College)

Interest Arbitration Developments

• More transit cases in interest arb. pipeline than ever before (Intercity, C-TRAN, Everett, Spokane, KC-Metro, Kitsap, Community)

• Post-recession interest arbitration “themes”– Express recognition of unprecedented economic

challenges– If money awarded, usually in base wage only– Unwilling to take bold steps with wide ramifications– 100% Employer-paid insurance is a “dinosaur”

• Review recent interest arbitration awards

Bargaining Trends/Big Issues

• Perception that agencies have fully recovered• Difficulty in accepting new reality of insurance• Implications of Affordable Health Care Act• Desire for parity or reduced spread between

fixed route and paratransit wages• Unwillingness to consider flexibility in how to

cover work

Thank You