Court Opinion

ID: 9774448
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:21:06.43027+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:08:30.763967
License: Public Domain

ROBERT E. SEILER, Senior Judge,
dissenting.
The principal opinion concludes that when a proposal is submitted pursuant to § 105.520, the public body (here a municipality) has a duty to consider and act on such proposal — to reject, modify or adopt. These are the choices. The principal opinion states the results “will be ... an ordinance ... or something else which governs wages and working conditions ...” How a proposal can be adopted by ordinance which “governs” wages and working conditions and yet has no binding effect is a new and puzzling concept in the law of contracts. All the negotiations which preceded the proposal, the proposal itself, and its adoption all become an exercise in futility. I do not believe the legislature intended such a meaningless outcome of the written instrument which § 105.520 permits to be presented to the governing body for adoption, once it has been adopted, as was done in this case.
I, therefore, respectfully dissent and agree with the court of appeals, western district, that the agreement is binding and enforceable and adopt portions of the western district opinion by Turnage, J., which, without use of quotation marks, states as follows:
The City maintains that under City of Springfield v. Clouse, 356 Mo. 1239, 206 S.W.2d 539 (1947) the City retains the legislative discretion to fix the hours and other conditions of employment of its employees and it may not enter into any contract which in any way infringes upon the total freedom which the City has to set the terms of employment of its employees. The City further argues that the court in State ex rel. Missey v. City of Cabool, 441 S.W.2d 35, 41[6, 7] (Mo.1969), stated that §§ 105.500 to 105.530 are in accord with the constitutional principles previously enumerated in Clouse. The City draws the conclusion that the court in Missey held that a city cannot enter into a binding agreement under § 105.520.
The City’s arguments are not persuasive. The statement in Missey which the City relies upon was referring to the constitutional rights enjoyed by public employees to peaceably organize and assemble for any proper purpose, to speak freely, and to present their views and desires to any public officer or legislative body. The court did not hold in Missey that an agreement made under § 105.520 could not be enforced against the City. On the contrary, the court in Missey, at page 41[6, 7] held §§ 105.500 to 105.530 to be constitutional. The court also answered the argument the City now makes that Clouse prevents the agreement from being binding on the City when it stated at page 41[2-5]:
“The act does not constitute a delegation or bargaining away to the union of the legislative power of the public body, and therefore does no violence to City of Springfield v. Clouse, supra, 206 S.W.2d l.c. 543[4], 545-6[8, 9], because the prior discretion in the legislative body to adopt, modify or reject outright the results of the discussions is untouched. The public employer is not required to agree but is required only to ‘meet, confer and discuss,’ a duty already enjoined upon such employer prior to the enactment of this legislation. City of Springfield v. Clouse, supra, l.c. 542 — 3[1—3]. The act provides only a procedure for communication between the organization selected by public employees and their employer without requiring adoption of any agreement reached.”
The court reiterated its holding in Missey in State ex rel. O’Leary v. Missouri State *365Bd. of Mediation, 509 S.W.2d 84 (Mo. banc 1974), when it quoted from Missey on pages 87 and 88. The court also stated at page 87 that §§ 105.500 to 105.530 had been found to be constitutional in Missey.
The only case which has been cited or located directly addressing the question raised in this matter is Glendale City Employees Association, Inc. v. City of Glendale, 15 Cal.3d 328, 540 P.2d 609, 124 Cal.Rptr. 513 (banc 1975). In Glendale the court stated at 540 P.2d 613, 124 Cal.Rptr. 517[1] that the applicable California statute provided “that after negotiations ‘If agreement is reached by the representatives of the public agency and a recognized employee organization ... they shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of such understanding, which shall not be binding, and present it to the governing body or its statutory representative for determination.’ ”
In holding that an agreement once approved by the public body becomes binding upon it, the court stated at 540 P.2d 614, 124 Cal.Rptr. 518:
“Why negotiate an agreement if either party can disregard its provisions? What point would there be in reducing it to writing, if the terms of the contract were of no legal consequence? Why submit the agreement to the governing body for determination, if its approval were without significance? What integrity would be left in government if government itself could attack the integrity of its own agreement? The procedure established by the act would be meaningless if the end-product, a labor-management agreement ratified by the governing body of the agency, were a document that was itself meaningless.”
This court agrees and adopts the reasoning of the court in Glendale. While the language used in the California statute is slightly different in that it states the agreement shall be submitted to the governing body for determination, the statute involved here has the same meaning when it provides that the results of the discussion with the employees shall be presented to the governing body for adoption, modification or rejection. Thus, the meaning is the same, i.e., the agreement is to be presented to the governing body for its determination of whether or not it shall adopt, modify or reject the results of the discussions.
As cogently stated by the court in Glendale, there would be no point in providing for the results of the discussions between the public body and its employees to be submitted to the governing body if either party could disregard the provisions after they had been approved by both groups. Nor would there be any point in reducing the matters agreed upon to writing if there were to be no binding agreement. In fact, if the agreement is not to be binding upon either party, then the legislature has largely performed a useless act in passing §§ 105.500 to 105.530. Certainly, the submission of the results of the discussions to the governing body for its adoption, as provided in § 105.520, would be completely meaningless if it were held that after adoption the agreement thus made could be disregarded. The legislature clearly intended, as stated in both Missey and O’Leary, to reserve to the City the right to reject or modify the results of any discussions held with its city employees. By reserving this right to the City, the legislature protected the rights of the City as spelled out in Clouse. It is just as clear that the legislature, when it provided that the results of the discussions could be approved by the City, intended that the items thus approved by the City would become binding upon it, otherwise, as already stated, and as stated in Glendale, the provision that these results could be approved by the City would be completely meaningless.
This court holds that when the results of discussions which are held between the City and its employees have been submitted to a city council, the council is free to adopt, modify or reject the same. However, if the City elects to adopt the results of discussions which have been reduced to writing, governing salaries and other conditions of employment as authorized by § 105.510, then the agreement between the City and its employees becomes binding upon both *366parties. The agreement being binding, it then follows that such agreement may be enforced.
The petition in this case alleged an agreement between the City of Moberly and its firefighters which can be enforced. For that reason, the court erred when it dismissed the petition for failure to establish an enforceable contract binding upon the City.
In addition to what Judge Turnage stated above and the authorities cited by him, Peters v. Board of Education of Reorg. Sch. Dist. No. 5, 506 S.W.2d 429 (Mo.1974), supports the plaintiffs. In Peters the court upheld the validity of a written agreement between a teachers association and a school board which set up method for negotiating “revision of new policies” or “development of new policies”. It provided for meetings of a joint negotiation committee composed of board representatives and association representatives and for appointment of a three member factfinding committee to attempt to resolve differences. The agreement provided that any tentative agreements would be submitted for ratification and if approved by both parties should become district policy. Plaintiffs, claiming to represent the association as a class, sought declaratory judgment that the written agreement was valid. The trial court dismissed the petition, but this court reversed and remanded. The effect of the decision is that once the parties reach an agreement it is binding.
I agree with the court of appeals that the judgment should be reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings.