Source: https://legiscan.com/DE/text/SB8/2019
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 15:22:55+00:00

Document:
Bill Title: An Act To Amend Title 19 And Title 29 Of The Delaware Code And Chapter 280, Volume 81 Of The Laws Of Delaware Relating To Collective Bargaining For State Employees.
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 19 AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE AND CHAPTER 280, VOLUME 81 OF THE LAWS OF DELAWARE RELATING TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOR STATE EMPLOYEES.
(d) “Certification” means official recognition by the Board, following a secret-ballot election or demonstration of majority representation in accordance with § 1311A(e) of this title , that an employee organization is the exclusive representative for all employees in an appropriate bargaining unit.
§ 1311A. Collective bargaining in the state service.
(2) Any items negotiable for state merit employees pursuant to § 5938 of Title 29.
To the extent or where any of these items are covered by existing collective bargaining agreements, the provisions negotiated pursuant to subsection (c) of this section shall supersede those agreements.
(12) Scientists and medical professionals, which is composed of biologists, chemists, agricultural specialists, pharmacists, psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, pathologists and similar occupations.
The Board shall determine the proper assignment of job classifications to bargaining units and the bargaining unit status of individual employees and shall provide for certified bargaining representatives to combine bargaining units or portions of bargaining units of employees they represent within the bargaining unit defined in this section based upon the job classifications of the employees represented.
(b) Each exclusive representative shall bargain for compensation for the members of its exclusive bargaining unit or units in a mutually agreed upon consolidated manner. The exclusive representative shall work with the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources to determine how its exclusive bargaining unit or units shall be consolidated. If the exclusive representative and the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources are unable to reach an agreement regarding the manner in which to consolidate the bargaining unit or units, negotiations will default to the individual bargaining units as certified by the Public Employment Relations Board.
(c) The exclusive bargaining representatives of all of the employees in each individual bargaining unit identified above shall join together in a bargaining coalition to bargain collectively for that unit. Employee organizations that are part of the coalition shall exercise authority over decisions of the coalition proportional to the number of employees exclusively represented in the coalition by the employee organization. To the extent a finalized agreement on compensation items requires legislative approval or the appropriation of funds, the Governor shall recommend the same to the General Assembly for the ensuing fiscal years and the agreement provision requiring such appropriation shall be contingent on the specific appropriation of funds by the General Assembly. In the event the General Assembly fails to appropriate the funds necessary to implement the provision of an agreement, that provision shall be returned to the parties for negotiation or the provision may be implemented to the extent consistent with or limited by appropriations from the General Assembly, at the discretion of the General Assembly. Contracts shall be timed to become effective in accordance with the State’s fiscal year.
(d) Coalition compensation agreements shall not constitute a bar to an election in accordance with § 1311(b) of this title. Such bar shall be established by the noncompensation agreement covering employees in an appropriate unit.
(d) The parties may engage in collective bargaining for compensation simultaneously or separately from collective bargaining for terms and conditions.
(3) The Board determines that notices have been posted, where notices to affected employees are normally posted, for a period of at least 10 calendar days, advising that exclusive recognition will be granted without an election to a named employee organization for such unit.
(e) The negotiation of collective bargaining agreements shall be staggered over a period of time. Such schedule shall be determined by mutual agreement of the Secretary of Human Resources and the exclusive representative of all bargaining units prior to March 1, 2020. Existing collective bargaining agreements regarding compensation will remain in effect until such time as they, by their terms, expire. The grouping of bargaining units in a consolidated manner as contemplated in (b), above, shall be determined in advance of the expiration of the collective bargaining agreements existing as of the date of the enactment of this Act that were originally authorized through 76 Del Laws c 178.
(f) Notwithstanding any provision in this Code to the contrary, collective bargaining pursuant to this section shall commence at least 150 days prior to the expiration date of any current collective bargaining agreement or in the case of a newly certified representative within a reasonable time after certification.
(f) Exclusive bargaining representatives may bargain for different pay rate increases for their individual bargaining units, provided, however, that the compensation for any given bargaining unit or units may not exceed the pay ranges for the respective pay grades, as established in the annual appropriations act.
(g) Notwithstanding anything in this section to the contrary, a bargaining unit created pursuant to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, shall not bargain for compensation as defined herein until all of the eligible employees in such unit are represented by an exclusive bargaining representative. Nothing contained in this subsection shall be interpreted to deny bargaining for any items negotiable for state merit employees pursuant to § 5938 of Title 29.
(c) The rules adopted or amended by the Board under the following sections shall apply to any employee in the classified service represented by an exclusive bargaining representative or covered by a collective bargaining agreement under Chapter 13 of Title 19, except in the case of collective bargaining agreements reached pursuant to § 1311A of Title 19: §§ 5915 through 5921, 5933, 5935 5935, and 5937 of this title.
(d) The rules adopted or amended by the Board under the following sections shall not apply to any employee in the classified service represented by an exclusive bargaining representative to the extent the subject thereof is covered in whole or in part by a collective bargaining agreement under Chapter 13 of Title 19: §§ 5922 through 5925 of this title, except where transfer is between agencies or where change is made in classification or pay grade, grade; §§ 5926 through 5928 of this title, except where an employee laid off by 1 agency is reemployed by another, another; and §§ 5929 through 5932, 5934 5934, and 5936 of this title.
(e) The Secretary or the Secretary’s designee and the Board shall meet with the exclusive bargaining representative at reasonable times to negotiate in good faith with respect to any rule to be adopted or amended under §§ 5915 through 5921, 5933, 5935 5935, and 5937 of this title and, to the extent the subject thereof is not covered in whole or in part by a collective bargaining agreement under Chapter 13 of Title 19, §§ 5922 through 5932, 5934 5934, and 5936 of this title.
Section 8. MERIT SYSTEM AND MERIT COMPARABLE SALARY SCHEDULES.
(a) All provisions of subsections (a) (1), (b), (c) (c), and (i) through (l) of this section shall not apply to those Merit System employees who are covered by a final collective bargaining agreement under 19 Del. C. § 1311A. The effective dates of agreements pursuant to 19 Del. C. § 1311A shall occur simultaneously with the fiscal year following final agreement between the State of Delaware and ratification of that agreement by the respective certified bargaining unit, provided funds are appropriated in Section 1 of this Act for said agreements. All pay changes, in future agreements, shall become effective on the first day of a full pay cycle. Section 1 of this Act makes no appropriation, and no subsequent appropriation shall be made during the fiscal year, for any compensation items as defined in 19 Del. C. § 1311A reached as a result of negotiations, mediation mediation, or interest arbitration. Should a bargaining agreement not be finalized by December 1 or May 1 of each fiscal year, employees represented by the bargaining unit negotiating said agreement shall receive compensation pursuant to the provisions of this section until such time as an agreement takes effect. A final bargaining agreement shall be defined as an agreement between the State of Delaware and a certified bargaining unit, which is not retroactive and in which the agreement’s completion is achieved through ratification by the respective bargaining unit, mediation m ediation, or binding interest arbitration.
Section 5. This Act takes effect on January 1, 2020.
This Act eliminates the set bargaining unit classifications established in 19 Del. C. § 1311A(b) and allows exclusive representatives of bargaining units to work with the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources to organize or consolidate bargaining units in a manner in which they can agree for purposes of collective bargaining. It also eliminates the requirement that exclusive bargaining representatives of exclusive bargaining units form a coalition for collective bargaining. The Act eliminates the provision allowing for an employee organization to seek to be certified for unrepresented employees. The Act provides that parties may engage in collective bargaining for compensation in conjunction with or separately from collective bargaining for terms and conditions. It requires that the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements be staggered over time while providing that collective bargaining agreements currently in place remain in place until they expire by their own terms. While the Act allows for exclusive representatives to bargain for different pay rate increases, it prohibits the compensation of bargaining units from exceeding the pay ranges for each pay grade as established each year in the appropriations act. In addition, it retains the existing scope of bargaining contained in 19 Del.C. Section 1311A(a).
Finally, this Act makes technical revisions to conform with the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

References: § 1311

§ 1311
 § 5938
 § 1311
 § 5938
 § 1311
 § 1311
 § 1311
 § 1311
 § 1311