HB 601 -- Good Faith Employee Negotiations

Sponsor:  Lowe (44)

This bill requires the Commissioner of the Office of
Administration to appoint a chief negotiator to represent the
state in negotiations and administer all labor contracts entered
into by the state.

Public employees may refuse to join an employee organization and
refuse to pay any fees, dues, assessments, or service fees except
to the extent that agreements between the public body and the
employee organization require, as a condition of employment, the
payment of service fees in an amount not to exceed the dues
payable by an organization member.  The representative of the
employee organization, as a requirement for receiving service
fees from nonparticipating employees, is required to provide
certain safeguards with respect to the payment of the service
fees.  Certain public employees are excluded from the
requirements of the bill.

Requirements for the formation and the function of public
employee bargaining units are specified.  Certain statewide
bargaining units and the corresponding occupations included in
the units are specified in the bill.  Final determination of the
appropriate placement of occupational classifications in the
units is vested in the State Board of Mediation in the Department
of Labor and Industrial Relations.  Contested board rulings will
be resolved by a state hearing officer in the Department of Labor
and Industrial Relations.

The state board is required to adopt rules and regulations for
the certification and decertification of bargaining
representatives, impasse procedures, grievance procedures,
payment of fees, hearings, and enforcement of good faith
negotiation rights.

The bill makes it unlawful for public employees to strike or for
the representative of any public body to authorize or participate
in any strike.  Procedures for obtaining an injunction
restraining a violation of the strike prohibition or imminently
threatened violation of the strike prohibition are established.

Persons in violation of the strike prohibition who are held to be
in contempt of court for noncompliance with a court order may be
immediately discharged from employment, forfeit all seniority
rights, be barred from employment by the same employer for 12
months, or any combination of the sanctions.  If an employee
organization or any of its officers are held to be in contempt of
court for failure to follow a court order, the employee
organization will be decertified as the exclusive bargaining
representative and will cease to receive financial support from
its members.

If requested negotiations reach an impasse, either participating
party may request the state board to appoint a mutually agreed
upon mediator.  The bill specifies mediation procedures, time
requirements, and factors to be considered by the mediator in
negotiations between the parties.

Any final agreement requiring appropriations by the employing
public body is subject to all applicable laws and will be
addressed in the budget submitted by the Governor and follow the
required appropriations process.

Any employee organization and public employer may sue or be sued
as an entity under the provisions of the bill.

Missouri House of Representatives
94th General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated July 25, 2007 at 11:19 am