Source: https://www.codepublishing.com/AK/Ketchikan/html/Ketchikan02/Ketchikan0206.html
Timestamp: 2019-05-26 00:17:43
Document Index: 57777746

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 4', '§ 5', '§ 6', '§ 7']

Chapter 2.06 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
2.06.010 Declaration of policy.
2.06.015 Definitions.
2.06.020 Collective bargaining rights.
2.06.025 Bargaining units.
2.06.030 Recognition.
2.06.035 Decertification of bargaining representation.
2.06.040 Collective bargaining rules.
(a) The city council finds that joint decision-making is the modern way of administering government. If public employees have been granted the right to share in the decision-making process affecting wages and working conditions, they have become more responsive and better able to exchange ideas and information on operations with their administrators. Accordingly, government is made more effective. The city council further finds that the enactment of positive legislation establishing guidelines for public employment relations is the best way to harness and direct the energies of public employees eager to have a voice in determining their conditions of work, to provide a rational method for dealing with disputes and work stoppages, to strengthen the merit principle where civil service is in effect, and to maintain a favorable political and social environment. The city council declares that it is the public policy of the city to promote harmonious and cooperative relations between government and its employees and to protect the public by assuring effective and orderly operations of government. These policies are to be effectuated by:
(2) Requiring public employers to negotiate with employee organizations for the purpose of entering into written agreements on matters of wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. (Ord. 1299 § 1, 1994)
“City” means the city of Ketchikan and/or the city of Ketchikan doing business as Ketchikan public utilities (utilities).
“Confidential employees” means those employees who, in the course of their duties, assist or act in a confidential capacity to an employee or official who formulates, determines, and effectuates management policies in the field of employer-employee relations.
“General government” means all departments and employees of the city except those which are part of the utilities.
“Managerial employees” means those employees who have significant responsibilities for formulating and administering city policies and programs, including the city and utilities managers and the city clerk and their assistants; department heads, assistant department heads, and division heads.
Regular Employees. For purposes of this chapter, “regular employees” shall mean those employees who have been permanently assigned to work a regularly scheduled, year-round work schedule of 19 hours or more a week. Persons working any other schedule are part-time, seasonal or temporary employees or volunteers.
“Terms and conditions of employment” means the hours of employment, the compensation and fringe benefits, and the effects of the employer’s personnel policies on the working conditions of the employees but does not mean the general policies describing the function and purposes of general government and/or utilities and does not include any matters excluded from the city’s obligation to bargain collectively. (Ord. 1299 § 2, 1994)
Subject to the procedures and limitations set forth in this chapter, those regular general government or utilities employees within the bargaining units defined in KMC 2.06.025 may organize, form, join or assist an organization to bargain collectively with respect to terms and conditions of employment applicable to their respective bargaining units as described in KMC 2.06.025. No regular employee shall be intimidated, restrained, coerced, or discriminated against because of his or her exercise of these rights. Subject to the procedures and limitations set forth in this chapter, the city shall bargain collectively with recognized exclusive collective bargaining representatives on wages, hours, and working conditions for the bargaining units described in KMC 2.06.025. (Ord. 1299 § 3, 1994)
(a) The city shall recognize only the following bargaining units and the following additions to existing bargaining units for the purposes of collective bargaining:
(1) Police. The police employees’ bargaining unit shall consist of all regular employees of the police department, excluding confidential and managerial employees.
(2) Fire and Emergency Medical Services. The fire and emergency medical services employees’ bargaining unit shall consist of all regular employees of the fire department, excluding confidential and managerial employees.
(3) General Government. All other regular general government employees, excluding confidential and managerial employees, shall, upon satisfaction of the conditions as set forth in KMC 2.06.030(c), be added to the bargaining unit currently recognized by the city for general government clerical and public works employees; provided, however, that none of the terms of any collective bargaining agreement with the clerical and public works employees shall apply to employees whose job classifications are added to the existing collective bargaining units unless specifically agreed to by the council following further collective bargaining and a written collective bargaining agreement specifically addressing the wages, hours, and working conditions for those added employees. No bargaining unit other than the existing bargaining unit for general government clerical and public works employees will be recognized by the city for such regular general government employees.
(4) Ketchikan Public Utilities. All regular employees of the utilities, excluding confidential and managerial employees shall, upon satisfaction of the conditions set forth in KMC 2.06.030(d), be added to the appropriate bargaining unit currently recognized by the city for utilities employees; provided, however, that none of the terms of any collective bargaining agreement with the employees shall apply to those employees whose job classifications are added to the existing collective bargaining unit unless specifically agreed to by the council following further collective bargaining and a written collective bargaining agreement specifically addressing the wages, hours, and working conditions for those added employees. No bargaining unit other than the existing bargaining unit for utilities employees will be recognized by the city for such regular utilities employees.
(5) The city manager shall, in his/her sole discretion, determine and maintain a list of those job classifications in general government which are confidential or managerial. The utilities general manager, shall, in his/her sole discretion, determine and maintain a list of those job classifications at the utilities which are confidential or managerial. (Ord. 1299 § 4, 1994)
(a) Police. If a majority of the regular employees in the police employees’ bargaining unit sign and file with the city manager a petition requesting that they be represented for collective bargaining purposes by an employee organization, then that employee organization shall, upon certification of the petition by the city manager, be the exclusive collective bargaining representative for all of the regular employees in the police employees’ bargaining unit.
(b) Fire and Emergency Medical Services. If a majority of the regular employees in the fire and emergency medical services employees’ bargaining unit sign and file with the city manager a petition requesting that they be represented for collective bargaining purposes by an employee organization, then that employee organization shall, upon certification of the petition by the city manager, be the exclusive collective bargaining representative for all of the regular employees in the fire and emergency medical services employees’ bargaining unit.
(c) General Government. If a majority of the regular employees of any general government department who are not, but are eligible to be, represented sign a petition requesting that they be included in the existing bargaining unit for general government clerical and public works employees, and that they be represented for collective bargaining purposes by the exclusive collective bargaining representative recognized at the time of the petition by the city for general government clerical and public works employees, then that collective bargaining representative shall be recognized by the city as the exclusive bargaining representative for all of the regular employees holding those classifications upon filing with and certification by the city manager of:
(1) The petition, which, in addition to the request for representation, shall state that the petitioning employees understand that inclusion within the existing bargaining unit does not extend any existing collective bargaining agreement to them, but merely permits future collective bargaining with the city on their wages, hours, and conditions of employment;
(2) A request by the existing bargaining unit representative to expand the existing bargaining unit to include all of the regular employees as defined eligible under KMC 2.06.025(a)(3); and
(3) An agreement by the existing bargaining unit representative to amend the recognition clause and other provisions of its collective bargaining agreement to:
(A) Include the added job classification;
(B) Exclude from representation any employee who is not a regular employee as defined by this chapter.
(d) Ketchikan Public Utilities. If a majority of the regular employees of any utilities division who are not, but are eligible to be, represented sign a petition requesting that they be included in the existing bargaining unit for utility employees, and that they be represented for collective bargaining purposes by the exclusive collective bargaining representative recognized at the time of the petition by the city for utility employees, then that collective bargaining representative shall be recognized by the city as the exclusive bargaining representative for all of the regular employees holding those classifications upon filing with and certification by the utilities general manager of:
(2) A request by the existing bargaining unit representative to expand the existing bargaining unit to include all of the regular employees eligible under KMC 2.06.025(a)(4); and
The city or utilities manager shall determine any issues concerning the validity of the signatures, the duplication of signatures on competing petitions, or the eligibility of any persons to sign the petition. The city or utilities manager may, prior to his/her certification of the petition, permit any employee to remove his/her signature. Recognition shall not become effective until the petition is certified by the city or utilities manager. (Ord. 1299 § 5, 1994)
(a) Within one month from the date a decertification petition is filed with the city or utilities manager, a secret ballot decertification election shall be conducted by a neutral third party mutually selected by the bargaining representative and the city. The decertification petition shall contain:
(1) A statement that the employees signing the petition desire to remove the exclusive bargaining representative for their bargaining unit; and
(2) The signatures of 30 percent or more of all the employees within the bargaining unit. The city or utilities manager, prior to the decertification election, shall permit any employee to remove his/her signature.
(b) Prior to the election, a notice approved by the neutral third party of the time and place of the election shall be posted by the city. Such notices shall be distributed with the employee paychecks. If more than 50 percent of the votes cast favor decertification, the city shall have no further obligation to bargain collectively with the decertified collective bargaining representative, but the terms of any collective bargaining agreement in effect at the time of decertification shall remain in effect until the agreement’s normal date of expiration. The party conducting the election shall determine all questions of eligibility to vote and shall determine all ballot and election controversies. The city or utilities manager shall determine all questions concerning the validity of the petition and signatures. Only currently employed, nonprobationary regular employees who have been represented by the collective bargaining representative may be eligible to vote. Following a vote which decertifies a collective bargaining representative, employees in the bargaining unit may submit a petition under KMC 2.06.030 for representation by a replacement collective bargaining representative. (Ord. 1299 § 6, 1994)
(a) Exclusive Representative. At any one time, no more than one collective bargaining representative may represent any collective bargaining unit, any job classification, or any employee. The city will not recognize any collective bargaining units except those described in KMC 2.06.025. The city will not recognize any collective bargaining representative for employees defined in KMC 2.06.025 unless that representative is certified under KMC 2.06.030 as the exclusive collective bargaining representative for the bargaining unit and represents all of the employees within the bargaining unit. Recognition of a bargaining unit or of an exclusive collective bargaining representative does not extend any existing collective bargaining agreement to employees who are added to the bargaining unit following recognition pursuant to KMC 2.06.030(c) and (d). The city or utilities shall have no obligation to bargain collectively with any bargaining unit or any employees in that unit unless the unit has a recognized exclusive collective bargaining representative.
(b) Description of Collective Bargaining. The city’s or utilities’ duty to engage in collective bargaining requires only that it meet at reasonable times with the recognized exclusive collective bargaining representative for each bargaining unit and negotiate in good faith for a written collective bargaining agreement with that representative on wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment applicable to the bargaining unit it represents. The city or utilities is under no obligation to bargain or meet with individual employees or other employee groups. Nothing in this chapter shall require the city or utilities to make any concession, to reach any agreement, or to agree to any proposal made by an exclusive collective bargaining representative. Nothing in this chapter obligates the city or utilities to continue collective bargaining during the term of a collective bargaining agreement. However, if positions are added to a bargaining unit during the term of the collective bargaining agreement, the city and the bargaining representative will negotiate over wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment applicable to the positions added to the bargaining unit.
(c) Nonnegotiable Subjects. Nothing in this chapter shall obligate the city to bargain collectively on matters which are primarily matters of city legislation, budgeting, management, policy unrelated to labor relations or wages and working conditions, or goals. Matters excluded from the city’s obligation to bargain collectively include, but are not limited to:
(1) The type and scope of work to be performed by any city employee;
(2) The type of services to be provided and the manner in which services are to be provided;
(3) The goals, objectives, functions, structure and supervision of departments, divisions, offices or parts thereof, of general government;
(4) The introduction of new, or different services, methods, equipment or facilities;
(5) The decision to lay off, subcontract, or recall employees (however, this shall not preclude bargaining on the effects of such decisions on employees);
(6) The decision to expand, reduce, sell, transfer, convey, contract for, eliminate, or change in any way the operations of general government, any department, division, office or part thereof (however, this shall not preclude bargaining on the effects of such decisions on employees);
(7) The direction, supervision, assignment, scheduling, and number of employees;
(8) The establishment and changing of standards of behavior or performance, staffing levels, job qualifications, and job descriptions;
(9) The kind, type, location and use of city owned equipment or facilities; provided, that the city does not require use of unsafe equipment or unsafe operation of equipment;
(10) The methods, means, materials, and equipment to be used by any employee; provided, that the city does not require use of unsafe equipment or unsafe operation of equipment;
(11) The decision to use new or different methods, means, materials, or equipment; provided, that the city does not require use of unsafe equipment or unsafe operation of equipment.
Nothing shall require the city to bargain collectively on any matter preempted by federal or state law or matters which are primarily matters of city legislation, budgeting, management, or goals.
(d) PERA Inapplicable. Nothing in this chapter nor in any collective bargaining agreement entered into by the city shall be interpreted as a waiver of the city’s exemption from the Public Employment Relations Act (AS 23.40.070 through 23.40.260 and any amendments or successor statutes) or regulations adopted thereto, or as an agreement by the city to extend the Public Employment Relations Act or any regulations adopted thereto to the city, its employees, their collective bargaining representatives or their bargaining units. The intent of this chapter is to establish a repealable system of collective bargaining separate from and independent of the Public Employment Relations Act.
(e) Repeal. Upon repeal of the ordinance codified in this chapter, all rights which the ordinance codified in this chapter extended to employees in job classifications which were not covered by a collective bargaining agreement executed prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter shall terminate. The repeal, modification, or amendment of the ordinance codified in this chapter and the effects of such repeal are not subject to collective bargaining. Following such repeal, modification, or amendment of the ordinance codified in this chapter, however, the city and any recognized employee organizations shall continue to be bound by all the terms and conditions of any collective bargaining agreements then in effect for their remaining term. Reasonable written notice shall be given to each affected employee organization of any repeal, modification, or amendment proposed by the city and/or utilities managers to be adopted by the council for the purpose of consulting with them on the proposed action. Each organization shall be given the opportunity to meet with the council prior to such adoption. Nothing in this chapter shall be interpreted to either expand or limit any right of the city to terminate collective bargaining for employees who were already covered by collective bargaining agreements prior to the effective date of this chapter.
(f) Excluded Employees. Confidential and managerial employees; employees who are not regular employees; temporary employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement, part-time and seasonal employees; volunteers including persons classified as volunteers in the fire department regardless of any compensation paid to them; and persons employed pursuant to employment contracts shall be excluded from the provisions of this chapter. None of the rights granted employees by this chapter shall extend to such excluded employees. The city shall have no obligation to bargain collectively with such employees or volunteers or their representatives.
(g) New Job Classifications. Whenever any new job classification is created, the city manager or utilities manager shall determine whether employees hired or promoted to that job classification shall be included within a bargaining unit described in KMC 2.06.025. Within 60 days from the date an employee is first hired or promoted into the new classification, the exclusive collective bargaining representative for a bargaining unit may appeal the manager’s decision through the appropriate procedure in the collective bargaining agreement.
(h) Effective Date for Labor Agreement. No collective bargaining agreement applicable to those employees whose job classifications are defined in KMC 2.06.025 shall become effective prior to January 1, 1995. (Ord. 1299 § 7, 1994)