Opinion ID: 2053330
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: city of decatur

Text: Having determined that waiver did not preclude the appellate court from considering AFSCME's home rule argument and does not preclude this court from so doing, we begin our analysis of AFSCME's arguments with a review of the facts involved and the reasoning which this court employed in City of Decatur v. American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees, Local 268 (1988), 122 Ill.2d 353, 119 Ill.Dec. 360, 522 N.E.2d 1219. At issue in that case was the City of Decatur's obligation to bargain collectively over a proposal by AFSCME that the city's employees be permitted to submit disciplinary grievances to arbitration. The city had refused to bargain over the proposal on the ground that it had no duty to bargain over disciplinary matters that fell within the scope of its municipal civil service system. The voters of the city had adopted a civil service system, by referendum, pursuant to article 10, division 1, of the Illinois Municipal Code (Ill.Rev.Stat. 1985, ch. 24, pars. 10-1-1 through 10-1-48). The dispute in City of Decatur, like that here, centered on section 7 of the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act (Ill.Rev.Stat. 1987, ch. 48, par. 1607), which provides, inter alia: The duty `to bargain collectively' shall also include an obligation to negotiate over any matter with respect to wages, hours and other conditions of employment, not specifically provided for in any other law or not specifically in violation of the provisions of any law. If any other law pertains, in part, to a matter affecting the wages, hours and other conditions of employment, such other law shall not be construed as limiting the duty `to bargain collectively' and to enter into collective bargaining agreements    which either supplement, implement, or relate to the effect of such provisions in other laws. (Emphasis added.) Ill.Rev.Stat.1987, ch. 48, par. 1607. The City of Decatur had taken the position that its duty to bargain was limited by the language in section 7 of the Act highlighted above. Specifically, it asserted that the proposal for final and binding arbitration of disciplinary grievances would supplant certain statutory civil service provisions, which it had adopted, and would therefore constitute a matter specifically provided for in another law. City of Decatur, 122 Ill.2d at 359, 119 Ill.Dec. 360, 522 N.E.2d 1219. On appeal to this court, the court first rejected an interpretation of section 7 of the Act by the State Labor Relations Board which effectively eliminated any potential conflict between any other statute and the bargaining duty prescribed by the Act in favor of the duty to bargain. Nevertheless, the court held that, indeed, the City of Decatur had a duty to bargain with AFSCME over its arbitration proposal. City of Decatur, 122 Ill.2d at 361-62, 119 Ill.Dec. 360, 522 N.E.2d 1219. The court so held in reliance upon: (1) the public policy of the State `to grant public employees full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives    for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours and other conditions of employment or other mutual aid or protection.' ( City of Decatur, 122 Ill.2d at 364, 119 Ill.Dec. 360, 522 N.E.2d 1219, quoting Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 48, par. 1602); (2) the optional, rather than mandatory, nature of the civil service system adopted by the city and the city's power, as a home rule authority, to unilaterally alter, amend or eliminate any of the terms of that system ( City of Decatur, 122 Ill.2d at 365-66, 119 Ill.Dec. 360, 522 N.E.2d 1219, citing Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 24, par. 10-1-43); and (3) the legislature's preference for arbitration as a means of dispute resolution, as expressed in section 8 of the Act ( City of Decatur, 122 Ill.2d at 366, 119 Ill.Dec. 360, 522 N.E.2d 1219). Applying the rationale of City of Decatur to the case sub judice, we hold that the county is obligated to bargain with AFSCME over the effects of requiring the three computer operators involved in this case to take the proposed civil service examination.