2023 Iowa Code › Title I - STATE SOVEREIGNTY AND MANAGEMENT › Chapter 20 - PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS (COLLECTIVE BARGAINING) › Section 20.17 - Procedures.

20.17 Procedures.
1. The employee organization certified as the bargaining representative shall be the exclusive representative of all public employees in the bargaining unit and shall represent all public employees fairly. However, any public employee may meet and adjust individual complaints with a public employer. To sustain a claim that a certified employee organization has committed a prohibited practice by breaching its duty of fair representation, a public employee must establish by a preponderance of the evidence action or inaction by the organization which was arbitrary, discriminatory, or in bad faith.
2. The employee organization and the public employer may designate any individual as its representative to engage in collective bargaining negotiations.
3. Negotiating sessions, strategy meetings of public employers, mediation, and the deliberative process of arbitrators shall be exempt from the provisions of chapter 21. However, the employee organization shall present its initial bargaining position to the public employer at the first bargaining session. The public employer shall present its initial bargaining position to the employee organization at the second bargaining session, which shall be held no later than two weeks following the first bargaining session. Both sessions shall be open to the public and subject to the provisions of chapter 21. Parties who by agreement are utilizing a cooperative alternative bargaining process may exchange their respective initial interest statements in lieu of initial bargaining positions at these open sessions. Hearings conducted by arbitrators shall be open to the public.
4. The terms of a proposed collective bargaining agreement shall be made available to the public by the public employer and reasonable notice shall be given to the public employees by the employee organization prior to a ratification election. The collective bargaining agreement shall become effective only if ratified by a majority of those voting by secret ballot.
5. Terms of any collective bargaining agreement may be enforced by a civil action in the district court of the county in which the agreement was made upon the initiative of either party.
6. A collective bargaining agreement or arbitrator’s award shall not be valid or enforceable if its implementation would be inconsistent with any statutory limitation on the public employer’s funds, spending, or budget or would substantially impair or limit the performance of any statutory duty by the public employer. A collective bargaining agreement or arbitrator’s award may provide for benefits conditional upon specified funds to be obtained by the public employer, but the agreement shall provide either for automatic reduction of such conditional benefits or for additional bargaining if the funds are not obtained or if a lesser amount is obtained.
7. If agreed to by the parties nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit supplementary bargaining on behalf of public employees in a part of the bargaining unit concerning matters uniquely affecting those public employees or cooperation and coordination of bargaining between two or more bargaining units.
8. a. The salaries of all public employees of the state under a merit system and all other subjects within the scope of negotiations pursuant to the provisions of section 20.9 regarding public employees of the state shall be negotiated with the governor or the governor’s designee on a statewide basis, except those subjects excluded from the scope of negotiations pursuant to the provisions of section 20.9, subsection 3.
b. For the negotiation of such a proposed, statewide collective bargaining agreement to become effective in the year following an election described in section 39.9, a ratification election referred to in section 20.17, subsection 4, shall not be held, and the parties shall not request arbitration as provided in section 20.22, subsection 1, until at least two weeks after the date of the beginning of the term of office of the governor in that year as prescribed in the Constitution of the State of Iowa. On or after the beginning of the term of office of the governor in that year as prescribed in the Constitution of the State of Iowa, the governor shall have the authority to reject such a proposed statewide collective bargaining agreement. If the governor does so, the parties shall commence collective bargaining in accordance with section 20.17. Such negotiation shall be complete not later than March 15 of that year, unless the parties mutually agree to a different deadline. The board shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A providing for alternative deadlines for the completion of the procedures provided in sections 20.17, 20.19, 20.20, and 20.22 for negotiation of such statewide collective bargaining agreements in such years, which deadlines may be waived by mutual agreement of the parties.
9. The negotiation of a proposed collective bargaining agreement by representatives of a state public employer and a state employee organization shall be complete not later than March 15 of the year when the agreement is to become effective. The board shall provide, by rule, a date on which any impasse item must be submitted to binding arbitration and for such other procedures as deemed necessary to provide for the completion of negotiations of proposed state collective bargaining agreements not later than March 15. The date selected for the mandatory submission of impasse items to binding arbitration shall be sufficiently in advance of March 15 to ensure that the arbitrator’s award can be reasonably made before March 15.
10. a. In the absence of an impasse agreement negotiated pursuant to section 20.19 which provides for a different completion date, public employees represented by a certified employee organization who are teachers licensed under chapter 272 and who are employed by a public employer which is a school district or area education agency shall complete the negotiation of a proposed collective bargaining agreement not later than May 31 of the year when the agreement is to become effective. The board shall provide, by rule, a date on which impasse items in such cases must be submitted to binding arbitration and for such other procedures as deemed necessary to provide for the completion of negotiations of proposed collective bargaining agreements not later than May 31. The date selected for the mandatory submission of impasse items to binding arbitration in such cases shall be sufficiently in advance of May 31 to ensure that the arbitrator’s award can be reasonably made by May 31.
b. In the absence of an impasse agreement negotiated pursuant to section 20.19 which provides for a different completion date, public employees represented by a certified employee organization who are employed by a public employer which is a community college shall complete the negotiation of a proposed collective bargaining agreement not later than May 31 of the year when the agreement is to become effective. The board shall provide, by rule, a date on which impasse items in such cases must be submitted to binding arbitration and for such other procedures as deemed necessary to provide for the completion of negotiations of proposed collective bargaining agreements not later than May 31. The date selected for the mandatory submission of impasse items to binding arbitration in such cases shall be sufficiently in advance of May 31 to ensure that the arbitrator’s award can be reasonably made by May 31.
c. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs “a” and “b”, the May 31 deadline may be waived by mutual agreement of the parties to the collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
[C75, 77, 79, 81, §20.17]
89 Acts, ch 296, §8; 90 Acts, ch 1037, §3; 91 Acts, ch 174, §3; 92 Acts, ch 1011, §1; 92 Acts, ch 1212, §2; 92 Acts, ch 1227, §11; 2010 Acts, ch 1165, §19 – 22; 2017 Acts, ch 2, §10, 11, 26, 27
Referred to in §20.1, 20.15, 20.22, 273.22, 275.33
State merit system, see chapter 8A, subchapter IV
For provisions relating to applicability of 2017 amendments to collective bargaining agreements and procedures under this chapter before, on, or after February 17, 2017, see
2017 Acts, ch 2, §26, 27