HB-4522, As Passed Senate, June 29, 2011

SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL NO. 4522

     A bill to amend 1969 PA 312, entitled

"An act to provide for compulsory arbitration of labor disputes in

municipal police and fire departments; to define such public

departments; to provide for the selection of members of arbitration

panels; to prescribe the procedures and authority thereof; and to

provide for the enforcement and review of awards thereof,"

by amending sections 2, 5, 6, 8, and 9 (MCL 423.232, 423.235,

423.236, 423.238, and 423.239).

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

     Sec. 2. (1) Public As used in this act, "public police and or

fire departments department employee" means any department employee

of a city, county, village, or township, having employees or of any

authority, district, board, or any other entity created in whole or

in part by the authorization of 1 or more cities, counties,

villages, or townships, whether created by statute, ordinance,

contract, resolution, delegation, or any other mechanism, who is

House Bill No. 4522 as amended June 28, 2011

engaged as policemen a police officer, or in fire fighting or

subject to the hazards thereof; , emergency medical service

personnel employed by a public police or fire department; , or an

emergency telephone operator, but only if directly employed by a

public police or fire department. Public police and fire department

employee does not include any of the following:

     (a) An employee of a community college.

     (b) An employee of a metropolitan district created under 1939

PA 147, MCL 119.51 to 119.62.

     (c) An emergency telephone operator employed by a 911

authority or consolidated dispatch center.

<<(d) An employee of an authority that is in existence on June 1,

2011, unless the employee is represented by a bargaining

representative on that date or a contract in effect on that date

specifically provides the employee with coverage under this act. An

exclusion under this subdivision terminates if the authority

composition changes to include an additional governmental unit or

portion of a governmental unit. This subdivision does not apply to

terminate an exclusion created under subdivisions (a) to (c).

>>

     (2) "Emergency medical service personnel" for purposes of this

act includes a person who provides assistance at dispatched or

observed medical emergencies occurring outside a recognized medical

facility including instances of heart attack, stroke, injury

accidents, electrical accidents, drug overdoses, imminent

childbirth, and other instances where there is the possibility of

death or further injury; initiates stabilizing treatment or

transportation of injured from the emergency site; and notifies

police or interested departments of certain situations encountered

including criminal matters, poisonings, and the report of

contagious diseases. "Emergency telephone operator" for the purpose

of this act includes a person employed by a police or fire

department for the purpose of relaying emergency calls to police,

fire, or emergency medical service personnel.

     (3) This act shall does not apply to persons employed by a

private emergency medical service company who work under a contract

with a governmental unit or personnel working in an emergency

service organization whose duties are solely of an administrative

or supporting nature and who are not otherwise qualified under

subsection (2).

     Sec. 5. (1) Within 7 days of a request from 1 or both parties,

the employment relations commission shall select from its panel of

arbitrators, as provided in subsection (2), 3 persons as nominees

for impartial arbitrator or chairman of the arbitration panel.

Within 5 days after the selection each party may peremptorily

strike the name of 1 of the nominees. Within 7 days after this 5-

day period, the commission shall designate 1 of the remaining

nominees as the impartial arbitrator or chairman of the arbitration

panel.

     (2) The employment relations commission shall establish and

appoint a panel of arbitrators, who shall be known as the Michigan

employment relations commission panel of arbitrators. The

commission shall appoint members for indefinite terms. Members

shall be impartial, competent, and reputable citizens of the United

States and residents of the state, and shall qualify by taking and

subscribing the constitutional oath or affirmation of office. The

commission may at any time appoint additional members to the panel

of arbitrators, and may remove existing members without cause.

     (3) The employment relations commission shall establish the

qualifications and training that are necessary for an individual to

serve as the chair of an arbitration panel under this act. The

commission may waive the qualifications and training requirements

for an individual who has served as a commission-appointed chair of

an arbitration panel in an arbitration proceeding under this act

before the effective date of the amendatory act that added this

subsection.

     Sec. 6. Upon the appointment of the arbitrator, he shall

proceed to The arbitrator shall act as chairman chair of the panel

of arbitration, call and begin a hearing , to begin within 15 days

after appointment, and give reasonable notice of the time and place

of the hearing. The chairman chair shall preside over the hearing

and shall take testimony. Upon application and for good cause

shown, and upon such terms and conditions as that are just, the

arbitration panel may grant leave to intervene to a person, labor

organization, or governmental unit having a substantial interest

therein may be granted leave to intervene by the arbitration panel.

Any in the matter. The arbitration panel may receive into evidence

any oral or documentary evidence and other data deemed relevant by

the arbitration panel may be received in evidence. it considers

relevant. The proceedings shall be informal. Technical rules of

evidence shall do not apply and do not impair the competency of the

evidence. shall not thereby be deemed impaired. A verbatim record

of the proceedings shall be made, and the arbitrator shall arrange

for the necessary recording service. Transcripts may be ordered at

the expense of the party ordering them but the transcripts shall

are not be necessary for a decision by the arbitration panel. The

expense of the proceedings, including a fee to the chairman, chair,

established in advance by the labor mediation board Michigan

employment relations commission shall be borne equally by each of

the parties to the dispute. and the state. The delegates, if public

officers or employees, shall continue on the payroll of the public

employer at their usual rate of pay. The hearing conducted by the

arbitration panel may be adjourned from time to time, but , unless

otherwise agreed by the parties, shall be concluded within 30 and

any posthearing briefs filed within 180 days of the time of its

commencement. after it commences. Its majority actions and rulings

shall constitute the actions and rulings of the arbitration panel.

     Sec. 8. At or before the conclusion of the hearing held

pursuant to section 6, the The arbitration panel shall identify the

economic issues in dispute , and direct each of the parties to

submit , within such time limit as the panel shall prescribe, to

the arbitration panel and to each other its last offer of

settlement on each economic issue before the beginning of the

hearing. The determination of the arbitration panel as to the

issues in dispute and as to which of these issues are economic

shall be is conclusive. The arbitration panel, within 30 days after

the conclusion of the hearing, or such further additional periods

to which the parties may agree, within up to 60 additional days at

the discretion of the chair, shall make written findings of fact

and promulgate a written opinion and order. upon the issues

presented to it and upon the record made before it, and shall mail

or otherwise deliver a true copy thereof to the parties and their

representatives and to the employment relations commission. As to

each economic issue, the arbitration panel shall adopt the last

offer of settlement which, in the opinion of the arbitration panel,

more nearly complies with the applicable factors prescribed in

section 9. The findings, opinions and order as to all other issues

shall be based upon the applicable factors prescribed in section 9.

This section as amended shall be applicable only to arbitration

proceedings initiated under section 3 on or after January 1, 1973.

     Sec. 9. (1) Where there is no agreement between the parties,

or where there is an agreement but If the parties have no

collective bargaining agreement or the parties have an agreement

and have begun negotiations or discussions looking to a new

agreement or amendment of the existing agreement, and wage rates or

other conditions of employment under the proposed new or amended

agreement are in dispute, the arbitration panel shall base its

findings, opinions, and order upon the following factors: , as

applicable:

(a) The financial ability of the unit of government to pay.

All of the following shall apply to the arbitration panel's

determination of the ability of the unit of government to pay:

     (i) The financial impact on the community of any award made by

the arbitration panel.

     (ii) The interests and welfare of the public.

     (iii) All liabilities, whether or not they appear on the balance

sheet of the unit of government.

     (iv) Any law of this state or any directive issued under the

local government and school district fiscal accountability act,

2011 PA 4, MCL 141.1501 to 141.1531, that places limitations on a

unit of government's expenditures or revenue collection.

     (b) (a) The lawful authority of the employer.

(c) (b) Stipulations of the parties.

     (c) The interests and welfare of the public and the financial

ability of the unit of government to meet those costs.

     (d) Comparison of the wages, hours, and conditions of

employment of the employees involved in the arbitration proceeding

with the wages, hours, and conditions of employment of other

employees performing similar services and with other employees

generally in both of the following:

     (i) In public Public employment in comparable communities.

     (ii) In private Private employment in comparable communities.

     (e) Comparison of the wages, hours, and conditions of

employment of other employees of the unit of government outside of

the bargaining unit in question.

(f) (e) The average consumer prices for goods and services,

commonly known as the cost of living.

(g) (f) The overall compensation presently received by the

employees, including direct wage compensation, vacations, holidays,

and other excused time, insurance and pensions, medical and

hospitalization benefits, the continuity and stability of

employment, and all other benefits received.

(h) (g) Changes in any of the foregoing circumstances during

the pendency of while the arbitration proceedings are pending.

(i) (h) Such other factors, not confined to the foregoing,

which Other factors that are normally or traditionally taken into

consideration in the determination of wages, hours, and conditions

of employment through voluntary collective bargaining, mediation,

fact-finding, arbitration, or otherwise between the parties, in the

public service, or in private employment.

     (2) The arbitration panel shall give the financial ability of

the unit of government to pay the most significance, if the

determination is supported by competent, material, and substantial

evidence.