Bargaining Update

SUBJECT	DESCRIPTION	STATUS	CASE NAME
Contracts With Union Members	City offered newly-hired officer a pay step immediately upon appointment and promised him a promotion to sergeant three months later.	Mandatory. Employer required to rescind promise to employee.	Dallas Police Employees Association, No. UP-33-08 (Or. ERB 2009).
Discipline	City amended review board ordinance to allow Board members access to non-redacted internal affairs files. Board still had no authority to impose discipline, and could not disclose contents of files.	Not Mandatory. Employer not required to rescind ordinance.	Seattle Police Officers’ Guild, Decision 9957-A (Wash. PERC 2009).
Light Duty	Employer implemented temporary light-duty policy. Under Pennsylvania law, the implementation of temporary light-duty policies is a management right.	Not Mandatory. Employer allowed to maintain policy.	Plains Township Police Officers Association, No. PF-C-09-E (Pa. LRB 2009).
Overtime Assignments	Employer refused to proceed to arbitration on grievance challenging reassignment of corrections officers from their normal assignments to fill vacant posts rather than call in qualified officers to perform those duties on an overtime basis.	Mandatory. Employer required to proceed to arbitration.	County of Union, No. 2010-28 (N.J. PERC 2009).
Staffing	Union proposed continuation of contract clause calling for minimum staffing of four firefighters per shift. Board does not decide whether such a staffing clause itself would be mandatory since Ohio law makes mandatory for bargaining any proposal calling for the renewal of an existing contract clause.	Mandatory. Employer required to bargain over proposal.	Salem Fire Fighters, IAFF Local 283, No. 2008-ULP-09-0380 (Ohio SERB 2009).
Vacation	Employer changed procedures for requesting annual or compensatory leave time, imposing minimum notice requirement and requiring officers to state reasons for wanting to use leave. Under the pre-existing procedures, the employer had a management prerogative to deny requests that would prevent it from meeting its minimum staffing levels.	Mandatory. Employer required to proceed to arbitration.	Township of Hopewell, No. 2010-10 (N.J. PERC 2009).

There are three categories of bargaining topics.

Mandatory. Mandatory subjects must be negotiated if either side raises them during the negotiations process. If a past practice concerns a mandatory subject of bargaining, an employer may not make a change in the practice without first bargaining with the labor organization unless the labor organization has waived its right to negotiate over the subject.

Permissive. Permissive subjects need not be negotiated by either party, but can be negotiated if both sides voluntarily choose to do so. An employer is free to make changes in past practices affecting permissive subjects of bargaining without first bargaining with a labor organization.

Prohibited. Prohibited subjects are excluded from bargaining. A subject is often prohibited if it is “preempted” by another law covering the subject (e.g., a state law might preempt bargaining over the entire subject of pension benefits).