Court Opinion

ID: 9696057
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:34:41.209784+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:18.121255
License: Public Domain

DOYLE, Justice
(dissenting).
In this case the court was requested to construe the meaning of the term, “other conditions of employment”, as it appears in SDCL 3-18-3:
“Representatives designated or selected for the purpose of formal representation by the majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for such purposes shall be the exclusive representatives of all employees in such unit for the purpose of representation in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, or other conditions of employment; provided that any individual employee, or a group of employees, shall have the right at any time to present grievances to their employer and to have such grievances adjusted without the intervention of the formal representative as long as the adjustment is not inconsistent with the terms of any settlement with the formal representative then in effect, and provided that the formal representative has been given opportunity to be present at such adjustment.” (emphasis supplied)
The majority defines the term to be “conditions of employment which materially affect rates of pay, wages, hours of employment and working conditions”. Applying this definition, they hold that all of the controverted items “are not material items to working conditions or wages and hours”.
*139I first must state that I disagree with the narrow construction placed on the meaning of the term “other conditions of employment”. I feel West Hartford Education Association, Inc. v. DeCourcy, 1972, 162 Conn. 566, 295 A.2d 526, is more to the point than many of the cases cited by the majority, notwithstanding Justice Wollman’s argument in his special concurrence to the contrary.
It is my opinion, even under the majority’s definition, that several of the items are still proper subjects of negotiation. The first item, elementary conferences, certainly affects the working day of a teacher in that under the present system these conferences are held after school hours. Therefore, not only is this item a “condition of employment”, it actually affects the teacher’s “hours of employment”. The second item, teachers’ aides, involves the use of personnel other than teachers to perform such tasks as milk distribution; supervision of playgrounds, corridors, lavatories, sidewalks, buses, health services; the collection of money for such auxiliary fees as locker, activity, milk and picture fees; and clerical functions such as duplicating instructional and other materials and keeping registers and cumulative record cards. The performance of these tasks by a teacher, I believe, clearly relates to and materially affects his conditions of employment. The third item, elementary planning periods, is also in my opinion a negotiable item since it involves whether or not a certain period of time should be set aside during the school day which a teacher may use to plan and prepare for the performance of his teaching responsibilities. Even if this item fails to fit within the category of a “condition of employment” as defined by the majority, I believe it comes under the heading of “hours of employment” since if no time is set aside during the school day, the teacher will be .compelled to use his own time in planning his presentation of educational material to his students. The fourth item, class size, is also negotiable. The impact of the size of a class is a significant factor in regard to a teacher’s work load and as such has a material effect on his “condition of employment”.
Finally, I expressly disapprove of the majority’s discussion of the constitutionality of .SDCL 3-18. Therefore, for the reasons above stated, I dissent.