Opinion ID: 2606328
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: The Public Employee's Collective Bargaining Process

Text: RCW 41.56.030(4) of the Washington Public Employees' Collective Bargaining Act defines collective bargaining: Collective bargaining means the performance of the mutual obligations of the public employer and the exclusive bargaining representative to meet at reasonable times, to confer and negotiate in good faith, and to execute a written agreement with respect to grievance procedures and collective negotiations on personnel matters, including wages, hours and working conditions, which may be peculiar to an appropriate bargaining unit of such public employer, except that by such obligation neither party shall be compelled to agree to a proposal or be required to make a concession unless otherwise provided in this chapter. Id. (emphasis added). In this process, the parties come to the bargaining table as equals trying to resolve differences through a give and take process. Harry T. Edwards, The Developing Labor Relations Law in the Public Sector, 10 Duq.L.Rev. 357, 366 (1972). The Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA), RCW 41.56, like the NLRA, regulates the subjective conduct and motivations of the parties in a collective bargaining situation, but expressly refrains from mandating any result or procedure for achieving final resolution of an intractable bargaining dispute. Stuart S. Mukamal, Unilateral Employer Action Under Public Sector Binding Interest Arbitration, 6 J.L. & Com. 107, 113-14 (1986) (discussing the NLRA). The resolution of disputes is left to the parties themselves, subject to intervention by PERC or the courts only when the conduct of a party indicates a refusal to bargain in good faith, which Mukamal has defined as an absence of a sincere desire to reach agreement. Id. at 114. The mandate of the statute extends only to the state of mind with which each party approaches the negotiating table and considers the proposals advanced by the other. While negotiating tactics designed to obstruct the bargaining process and/or to avoid conclusion of an agreement are proscribed steadfast, even stubborn disagreement in support of fixed positions on items in dispute has consistently been regarded ... as permissible bargaining conduct so long as the basis and manner of disagreement do not conflict with the subjective duty to bargain in good faith. Id. at 114. With regard to the topics about which the employer and the union representative bargain, issues that address wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment are mandatory subjects about which the parties must bargain. Klauder v. San Juan County Deputy Sheriffs' Guild, 107 Wash.2d 338, 341, 728 P.2d 1044 (1986); see also N.L.R.B. v. Wooster Div. of Borg-Warner, 356 U.S. 342, 349, 78 S.Ct. 718, 722, 2 L.Ed.2d 823 (1958) (examining NLRA). On the other hand, the parties need not bargain on other matters which are referred to as permissive or nonmandatory issues including those that address the procedures by which wages, hours and the other terms and conditions of employment are established. Klauder, 107 Wash.2d at 341-42, 728 P.2d 1044. Consequently, it is an unfair labor practice for a party to bargain to impasse over a nonmandatory or permissive subject. Id. [1] An impasse is reached where, after a reasonable period of good faith negotiation, the parties have reached their final positions but remain at odds over one or more bargaining subjects. V PERR, Spokane County, PECB dec. 2167 at 15 (Dec. 3, 1985). In the event of an impasse in negotiations with uniformed personnel, we have a public policy in the state of Washington against strikes by uniformed personnel as a means of settling their labor disputes. RCW 41.56.430; see also Wilkinson, supra at 239 (Unlike the NLRA, [the Washington statute] expressly state[s] that the right to strike is not granted.). Upon a declaration of impasse either the union or the employer may submit the dispute to PERC, which appoints a mediator. RCW 41.56.440. If, after a reasonable period of negotiations and mediation, the parties remain at impasse, then an interest arbitration panel is created to resolve the dispute. [2] RCW 41.56.450. During the pendency of the interest arbitration panel, existing wages, hours and other conditions of employment remain in effect. RCW 41.56.470. The decision of the arbitration panel is final and binding on the parties. RCW 41.56.480.