Opinion ID: 900955
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Collective Bargaining Agreements

Text: [¶ 7.] South Dakota law provides public employees with the opportunity to bargain collectively with their employers. SDCL ch 3-18. This process requires public employers to negotiate matters of pay, wages, hours of employment, or other conditions of employment. Sisseton Educ. Ass'n v. Sisseton Sch. Dist. No. 54-8, 516 N.W.2d 301, 303 (S.D.1994) (citing SDCL 3-18-3). Department of Labor conciliation may be requested by either party when an agreement cannot be reached. SDCL 3-18-8.1. If that assistance does not provide a resolution, the parties may ask the Department of Labor to investigate the situation and make a report with settlement recommendations. SDCL 60-10-2. If an agreement is still not reached, the employer is required to impose its final offer, provided that the subject is a mandatory subject of bargaining, the employer has negotiated in good faith and a genuine impasse has been reached. SDCL 3-18-8.2. Accordingly, the employer is not allowed to use its economic power to remove a subject from bargaining, but the employer is also not required to agree with the union's terms. Rather, the employer attempts to achieve its goals by imposing the final offer. This process prevents the union from having a unilateral veto over the terms that the employer desires, from thwarting governmental objectives, and from disturbing the efficiency of governmental operation. This process also prevents the employer from imposing its terms without first negotiating in good faith. Sisseton Educ. Ass'n, 516 N.W.2d at 303.