093_HB3396

 
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 1        AN ACT concerning labor relations.

 2        Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section  5.  The  Illinois  Public Labor Relations Act is
 5    amended by changing Section 9 as follows:

 6        (5 ILCS 315/9) (from Ch. 48, par. 1609)
 7        Sec. 9.  Elections; recognition.
 8        (a)  Whenever in accordance with such regulations as  may
 9    be prescribed by the Board a petition has been filed:
10             (1)  by   a  public  employee  or  group  of  public
11        employees or  any  labor  organization  acting  in  their
12        behalf  demonstrating that 30% of the public employees in
13        an appropriate unit (A) wish to be  represented  for  the
14        purposes   of   collective    bargaining   by   a   labor
15        organization   as   exclusive   representative,   or  (B)
16        asserting that the  labor  organization  which  has  been
17        certified  or  is  currently  recognized  by  the  public
18        employer  as  bargaining  representative is no longer the
19        representative of the majority of public employees in the
20        unit; or
21             (2)  by a public employer alleging that one or  more
22        labor  organizations  have  presented  to it a claim that
23        they be recognized as the representative of a majority of
24        the public employees in an appropriate unit,
25    the Board shall investigate such  petition,  and  if  it  has
26    reasonable cause to believe that a question of representation
27    exists,  shall  provide  for  an appropriate hearing upon due
28    notice. Such hearing shall be held  at  the  offices  of  the
29    Board  or such other location as the Board deems appropriate.
30    If it finds upon the record of the hearing that a question of
31    representation  exists,  it  shall  direct  an  election   in
 
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 1    accordance   with  subsection  (d)  of  this  Section,  which
 2    election shall be held not later than 120 days after the date
 3    the petition was filed regardless of  whether  that  petition
 4    was  filed  before  or  after  the  effective  date  of  this
 5    amendatory  Act  of  1987;  provided,  however, the Board may
 6    extend the time for holding an election by an  additional  60
 7    days  if,  upon  motion  by a person who has filed a petition
 8    under this Section or is the  subject  of  a  petition  filed
 9    under  this  Section  and is a party to such hearing, or upon
10    the Board's own motion, the Board finds that good  cause  has
11    been shown for extending the election date; provided further,
12    that nothing in this Section shall prohibit the Board, in its
13    discretion,  from  extending the time for holding an election
14    for so long as may  be  necessary  under  the  circumstances,
15    where  the purpose for such extension is to permit resolution
16    by the Board of an unfair labor practice charge filed by  one
17    of  the  parties to a representational proceeding against the
18    other  based  upon  conduct  which  may  either  affect   the
19    existence  of  a question concerning representation or have a
20    tendency to interfere with a fair and  free  election,  where
21    the  party  filing  the  charge  has  not  filed a request to
22    proceed with the election; and provided further that prior to
23    the expiration of the total  time  allotted  for  holding  an
24    election,  a  person  who  has  filed  a  petition under this
25    Section or is the subject of  a  petition  filed  under  this
26    Section and is a party to such hearing or the Board, may move
27    for  and obtain the entry of an order in the circuit court of
28    the county in which the  majority  of  the  public  employees
29    sought  to  be  represented by such person reside, such order
30    extending the date upon which the  election  shall  be  held.
31    Such  order  shall be issued by the circuit court only upon a
32    judicial finding that there has  been  a  sufficient  showing
33    that  there  is good cause to extend the election date beyond
34    such period and shall require the Board to hold the  election
 
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 1    as   soon   as   is   feasible  given  the  totality  of  the
 2    circumstances. Such 120 day period may  be  extended  one  or
 3    more  times by the agreement of all parties to the hearing to
 4    a date certain without the necessity  of  obtaining  a  court
 5    order.  Nothing  in  this  Section  prohibits  the waiving of
 6    hearings by stipulation for the purpose of a consent election
 7    in conformity with the rules and regulations of the Board  or
 8    an  election  in  a  unit  agreed  upon by the parties. Other
 9    interested  employee  organizations  may  intervene  in   the
10    proceedings   in  the  manner  and  within  the  time  period
11    specified by rules and regulations of the Board.   Interested
12    parties  who  are  necessary  to  the  proceedings  may  also
13    intervene  in  the  proceedings  in the manner and within the
14    time period specified by the rules  and  regulations  of  the
15    Board.
16        (a-5)  The  Board  shall  designate  a representative for
17    purposes of collective  bargaining  when  the  representative
18    demonstrates  a  showing of majority interest by employees in
19    the unit. If the parties to a dispute are  without  agreement
20    on  the  means  to  ascertain the choice, if any, of employee
21    organization  as  their  representative,  the   Board   shall
22    ascertain  the employees' choice of employee organization, on
23    the basis of dues deduction authorization and other evidence,
24    or, if necessary, by conducting an election. If either  party
25    provides   to   the   Board,  before  the  designation  of  a
26    representative, clear and convincing evidence that  the  dues
27    deduction  authorizations,  and other evidence upon which the
28    Board would otherwise rely to ascertain the employees' choice
29    of representative, are fraudulent or  were  obtained  through
30    coercion,  the  Board  shall  promptly  thereafter conduct an
31    election. The Board shall also  investigate  and  consider  a
32    party's  allegations  that  the dues deduction authorizations
33    and other evidence submitted in support of a  designation  of
34    representative without an election were subsequently changed,
 
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 1    altered,  withdrawn,  or  withheld  as  a  result of employer
 2    fraud, coercion, or any other unfair labor  practice  by  the
 3    employer. If the Board determines that a representative would
 4    have  had  a  majority interest but for the employer's fraud,
 5    coercion, or unfair labor practice, it  shall  designate  the
 6    representative without conducting an election.
 7        (b)  The  Board  shall  decide  in each case, in order to
 8    assure public employees the fullest freedom in exercising the
 9    rights guaranteed by this Act, a  unit  appropriate  for  the
10    purpose  of collective bargaining, based upon but not limited
11    to  such  factors  as:  historical  pattern  of  recognition;
12    community  of  interest   including   employee   skills   and
13    functions;      degree     of     functional     integration;
14    interchangeability and contact among employees; fragmentation
15    of employee groups;  common  supervision,  wages,  hours  and
16    other  working  conditions of the employees involved; and the
17    desires of the employees.  For purposes of  this  subsection,
18    fragmentation  shall  not  be  the sole or predominant factor
19    used by the Board in determining  an  appropriate  bargaining
20    unit.   Except  with  respect  to non-State fire fighters and
21    paramedics employed by fire departments and  fire  protection
22    districts, non-State peace officers and peace officers in the
23    State  Department  of  State Police, a single bargaining unit
24    determined by the Board may not include both supervisors  and
25    nonsupervisors,  except  for bargaining units in existence on
26    the effective date of this Act.  With  respect  to  non-State
27    fire fighters and paramedics employed by fire departments and
28    fire protection districts, non-State peace officers and peace
29    officers  in  the  State Department of State Police, a single
30    bargaining unit determined by the Board may not include  both
31    supervisors  and  nonsupervisors, except for bargaining units
32    in existence on the effective date of this amendatory Act  of
33    1985.
34        In  cases involving an historical pattern of recognition,
 
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 1    and in cases where the employer has recognized the  union  as
 2    the  sole  and  exclusive  bargaining  agent  for a specified
 3    existing unit, the Board shall find the employees in the unit
 4    then represented by the union pursuant to the recognition  to
 5    be the appropriate unit.
 6        Notwithstanding  the above factors, where the majority of
 7    public employees of  a  craft  so  decide,  the  Board  shall
 8    designate  such  craft as a unit appropriate for the purposes
 9    of collective bargaining.
10        The Board shall not decide that any unit  is  appropriate
11    if  such  unit includes both professional and nonprofessional
12    employees,  unless  a  majority  of  each  group  votes   for
13    inclusion in such unit.
14        (c)  Nothing  in  this Act shall interfere with or negate
15    the current representation rights or patterns  and  practices
16    of  labor  organizations  which have historically represented
17    public employees for the purpose  of  collective  bargaining,
18    including but not limited to the negotiations of wages, hours
19    and working conditions, discussions of employees' grievances,
20    resolution  of  jurisdictional disputes, or the establishment
21    and maintenance of prevailing wage rates, unless  a  majority
22    of   employees  so  represented  express  a  contrary  desire
23    pursuant to the procedures set forth in this Act.
24        (d)  In instances where the employer does not voluntarily
25    recognize a labor organization as  the  exclusive  bargaining
26    representative  for  a  unit  of  employees,  the Board shall
27    determine the majority representative of the public employees
28    in an appropriate collective bargaining unit by conducting  a
29    secret  ballot  election,  except  as  otherwise  provided in
30    subsection (a-5). Within 7 days after the  Board  issues  its
31    bargaining  unit  determination  and direction of election or
32    the execution of a stipulation for the purpose of  a  consent
33    election,  the  public  employer  shall  submit  to the labor
34    organization  the  complete  names  and  addresses  of  those
 
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 1    employees who are determined by the Board to be  eligible  to
 2    participate  in  the  election. When the Board has determined
 3    that a labor organization has been fairly and  freely  chosen
 4    by  a  majority of employees in an appropriate unit, it shall
 5    certify such organization as  the  exclusive  representative.
 6    If  the  Board  determines that a majority of employees in an
 7    appropriate unit has fairly  and  freely  chosen  not  to  be
 8    represented by a labor organization, it shall so certify. The
 9    Board  may  also  revoke  the  certification  of  the  public
10    employee     organizations     as     exclusive    bargaining
11    representatives which have been  found  by  a  secret  ballot
12    election to be no longer the majority representative.
13        (e)  The  Board  shall  not  conduct  an  election in any
14    bargaining unit or any subdivision  thereof  within  which  a
15    valid  election  has  been  held  in  the  preceding 12-month
16    period.  The Board shall determine who is eligible to vote in
17    an election and shall establish rules governing  the  conduct
18    of  the  election  or  conduct  affecting  the results of the
19    election.  The  Board  shall  include  on  a  ballot   in   a
20    representation  election  a  choice of "no representation". A
21    labor organization currently representing the bargaining unit
22    of  employees  shall  be  placed  on  the   ballot   in   any
23    representation  election.  In  any election where none of the
24    choices on the ballot receives a majority, a runoff  election
25    shall  be  conducted  between  the  2  choices  receiving the
26    largest number of valid votes cast in the election.  A  labor
27    organization  which  receives a majority of the votes cast in
28    an election shall be certified  by  the  Board  as  exclusive
29    representative of all public employees in the unit.
30        (f)  Nothing   in   this   or  any  other  Act  prohibits
31    recognition  of  a  labor  organization  as   the   exclusive
32    representative  by a public employer by mutual consent of the
33    employer and the labor organization, provided that the  labor
34    organization represents a majority of the public employees in
 
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 1    an  appropriate  unit.  Any  employee  organization  which is
 2    designated or selected by the majority of  public  employees,
 3    in  a  unit of the public employer having no other recognized
 4    or certified  representative,  as  their  representative  for
 5    purposes  of collective bargaining may request recognition by
 6    the public employer in writing.  The  public  employer  shall
 7    post  such request for a period of at least 20 days following
 8    its receipt thereof on bulletin boards or other  places  used
 9    or reserved for employee notices.
10        (g)  Within   the  20-day  period  any  other  interested
11    employee organization may petition the Board  in  the  manner
12    specified  by  rules  and  regulations of the Board, provided
13    that  such  interested   employee   organization   has   been
14    designated by at least 10% of the employees in an appropriate
15    bargaining  unit  which includes all or some of the employees
16    in the unit recognized by the employer.  In such  event,  the
17    Board  shall  proceed with the petition in the same manner as
18    provided by paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Section.
19        (h)  No election shall be directed by the  Board  in  any
20    bargaining  unit  where  there is in force a valid collective
21    bargaining agreement.  The Board,  however,  may  process  an
22    election  petition  filed between 90 and 60 days prior to the
23    expiration of the date  of  an  agreement,  and  may  further
24    refine,  by  rule  or  decision,  the  implementation of this
25    provision.  No  collective  bargaining  agreement   bars   an
26    election  upon  the  petition  of persons not parties thereto
27    where more than 3 years have elapsed since the effective date
28    of the agreement.
29        (i)  An order of the Board  dismissing  a  representation
30    petition,   determining   and   certifying   that   a   labor
31    organization  has been fairly and freely chosen by a majority
32    of employees in an appropriate bargaining  unit,  determining
33    and  certifying that a labor organization has not been fairly
34    and  freely  chosen  by  a  majority  of  employees  in   the
 
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 1    bargaining  unit  or  certifying  a labor organization as the
 2    exclusive  representative  of  employees  in  an  appropriate
 3    bargaining unit because of a determination by the Board  that
 4    the   labor   organization   is   the  historical  bargaining
 5    representative of employees in  the  bargaining  unit,  is  a
 6    final  order.   Any person aggrieved by any such order issued
 7    on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1987
 8    may apply for and obtain judicial review in  accordance  with
 9    provisions  of  the  Administrative  Review  Law,  as  now or
10    hereafter amended, except that such review shall be  afforded
11    directly in the Appellate Court for the district in which the
12    aggrieved  party  resides  or  transacts business. Any direct
13    appeal to the Appellate Court shall be filed within  35  days
14    from  the  date  that  a  copy  of  the decision sought to be
15    reviewed was served upon the party affected by the decision.
16    (Source: P.A. 87-736; 88-1.)

17        Section 10.  The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act
18    is amended by changing Section 7 as follows:

19        (115 ILCS 5/7) (from Ch. 48, par. 1707)
20        Sec.   7.    Recognition    of    exclusive    bargaining
21    representatives  - unit determination. The Board is empowered
22    to administer the recognition of  bargaining  representatives
23    of  employees of public school districts, including employees
24    of districts which have entered  into  joint  agreements,  or
25    employees of public community college districts, or any State
26    college  or  university,  and  any  State  agency whose major
27    function is providing educational  services,  making  certain
28    that   each   bargaining  unit  contains  employees  with  an
29    identifiable community of interest and that no unit  includes
30    both  professional  employees  and  nonprofessional employees
31    unless a  majority  of  employees  in  each  group  vote  for
32    inclusion in the unit.
 
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 1        (a)  In  determining  the  appropriateness of a unit, the
 2    Board shall decide in each case, in order to ensure employees
 3    the fullest freedom in exercising the  rights  guaranteed  by
 4    this  Act, the unit appropriate for the purpose of collective
 5    bargaining, based upon but not limited  to  such  factors  as
 6    historical  pattern  of  recognition,  community of interest,
 7    including employee skills and functions, degree of functional
 8    integration, interchangeability and contact among  employees,
 9    common supervision, wages, hours and other working conditions
10    of  the employees involved, and the desires of the employees.
11    Nothing  in  this  Act,  except  as  herein  provided,  shall
12    interfere with or negate the current representation rights or
13    patterns and practices of employee organizations  which  have
14    historically   represented  employees  for  the  purposes  of
15    collective bargaining,  including  but  not  limited  to  the
16    negotiations   of   wages,   hours  and  working  conditions,
17    resolutions  of  employees'  grievances,  or  resolution   of
18    jurisdictional disputes, or the establishment and maintenance
19    of  prevailing wage rates, unless a majority of the employees
20    so  represented  expresses  a  contrary  desire   under   the
21    procedures  set  forth  in  this Act.  This Section, however,
22    does not prohibit multi-unit bargaining.  Notwithstanding the
23    above factors, where the majority of public  employees  of  a
24    craft  so  decide,  the Board shall designate such craft as a
25    unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
26        The sole appropriate bargaining unit for academic faculty
27    at the University  of  Illinois  shall  be  a  unit  that  is
28    comprised  of  non-supervisory academic faculty employed more
29    than half-time and that includes all  tenured,  tenure-track,
30    and nontenure-track faculty employed by the board of trustees
31    of that University in all of its undergraduate, graduate, and
32    professional  schools  and  degree  and  non-degree programs,
33    regardless of current or historical representation rights  or
34    patterns  or  the  application  of  any  other  factors.  Any
 
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 1    decision, rule, or regulation, promulgated by the  Board   to
 2    the contrary shall be null and void.
 3        (b)  An  educational employer may voluntarily recognize a
 4    labor organization for collective bargaining purposes if that
 5    organization appears to represent a majority of employees  in
 6    the unit.  The employer shall post notice of its intent to so
 7    recognize for a period of at least 20 school days on bulletin
 8    boards or other places used or reserved for employee notices.
 9    Thereafter,  the  employer,  if  satisfied as to the majority
10    status of  the  employee  organization,  shall  send  written
11    notification   of   such   recognition   to   the  Board  for
12    certification.
13        Within the 20  day  notice  period,  however,  any  other
14    interested  employee  organization  may petition the Board to
15    seek recognition as the exclusive representative of the  unit
16    in  the  manner specified by rules and regulations prescribed
17    by the Board, if such interested  employee  organization  has
18    been  designated  by  at  least  15%  of  the employees in an
19    appropriate bargaining unit which includes all or some of the
20    employees in the  unit  intended  to  be  recognized  by  the
21    employer.   In  such  event, the Board shall proceed with the
22    petition in the same manner as provided in paragraph  (c)  of
23    this Section.
24        (c)  A  labor  organization  may also gain recognition as
25    the exclusive representative by an election of the  employees
26    in  the  unit.  Petitions requesting an election may be filed
27    with the Board:
28             (1)  by an employee or group  of  employees  or  any
29        labor  organizations  acting on their behalf alleging and
30        presenting evidence that 30% or more of the employees  in
31        a  bargaining  unit wish to be represented for collective
32        bargaining or that the labor organization which has  been
33        acting  as  the exclusive bargaining representative is no
34        longer representative of a majority of the  employees  in
 
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 1        the unit; or
 2             (2)  by  an employer alleging that one or more labor
 3        organizations have presented a claim to be recognized  as
 4        an  exclusive  bargaining representative of a majority of
 5        the employees in an appropriate unit and that  it  doubts
 6        the  majority  status of any of the organizations or that
 7        it doubts the majority status of an exclusive  bargaining
 8        representative.
 9        The  Board  shall  investigate the petition and if it has
10    reasonable cause to suspect that a question of representation
11    exists, it shall give notice and conduct a  hearing.   If  it
12    finds  upon  the  record  of  the  hearing that a question of
13    representation exists, it shall  direct  an  election,  which
14    shall  be  held  no  later  than  90  days after the date the
15    petition  was  filed.   Nothing  prohibits  the  waiving   of
16    hearings by the parties and the conduct of consent elections.
17        (c-5)  The  Board  shall  designate  a representative for
18    purposes of collective  bargaining  when  the  representative
19    demonstrates  a  showing of majority interest by employees in
20    the unit. If the parties to a dispute are  without  agreement
21    on  the  means  to  ascertain the choice, if any, of employee
22    organization  as  their  representative,  the   Board   shall
23    ascertain  the employees' choice of employee organization, on
24    the basis of dues deduction authorization and other evidence,
25    or, if necessary, by conducting an election. If either  party
26    provides   to   the   Board,  before  the  designation  of  a
27    representative, clear and convincing evidence that  the  dues
28    deduction  authorizations,  and other evidence upon which the
29    Board would otherwise rely to ascertain the employees' choice
30    of representative, are fraudulent or  were  obtained  through
31    coercion,  the  Board  shall  promptly  thereafter conduct an
32    election. The Board shall also  investigate  and  consider  a
33    party's  allegations  that  the dues deduction authorizations
34    and other evidence submitted in support of a  designation  of
 
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 1    representative without an election were subsequently changed,
 2    altered,  withdrawn,  or  withheld  as  a  result of employer
 3    fraud, coercion, or any other unfair labor  practice  by  the
 4    employer. If the Board determines that a representative would
 5    have  had  a  majority interest but for the employer's fraud,
 6    coercion, or unfair labor practice, it  shall  designate  the
 7    representative without conducting an election.
 8        (d)  An  order  of  the Board dismissing a representation
 9    petition,   determining   and   certifying   that   a   labor
10    organization has been fairly and freely chosen by a  majority
11    of  employees  in an appropriate bargaining unit, determining
12    and certifying that a labor organization has not been  fairly
13    and   freely  chosen  by  a  majority  of  employees  in  the
14    bargaining unit or certifying a  labor  organization  as  the
15    exclusive  representative  of  employees  in  an  appropriate
16    bargaining  unit because of a determination by the Board that
17    the  labor  organization   is   the   historical   bargaining
18    representative  of  employees  in  the  bargaining unit, is a
19    final order.  Any person aggrieved by any such  order  issued
20    on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1987
21    may  apply  for and obtain judicial review in accordance with
22    provisions of  the  Administrative  Review  Law,  as  now  or
23    hereafter  amended, except that such review shall be afforded
24    directly in the Appellate Court of  a  judicial  district  in
25    which the Board maintains an office. Any direct appeal to the
26    Appellate  Court  shall be filed within 35 days from the date
27    that a copy of the decision sought to be reviewed was  served
28    upon the party affected by the decision.
29        No  election  may  be  conducted  in  any bargaining unit
30    during the term of a collective bargaining agreement covering
31    such unit or subdivision thereof, except the Board may direct
32    an election after the filing of a petition between January 15
33    and March 1 of the final  year  of  a  collective  bargaining
34    agreement.  Nothing in this Section prohibits the negotiation
 
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 1    of  a  collective  bargaining agreement covering a period not
 2    exceeding 3 years.  A collective bargaining agreement of less
 3    than 3 years may be extended up to 3 years by the parties  if
 4    the  extension is agreed to in writing before the filing of a
 5    petition under this Section.  In such case, the final year of
 6    the extension is the final year of the collective  bargaining
 7    agreement.    No  election  may  be conducted in a bargaining
 8    unit, or subdivision thereof, in which a valid  election  has
 9    been held within the preceding 12 month period.
10    (Source: P.A. 88-1; 89-4, eff. 7-1-95 (eff. date changed from
11    1-1-96 by P.A. 89-24).)

12        Section  99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect upon
13    becoming law.