State of Illinois
90th General Assembly
Legislation

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90_HB2884

      115 ILCS 5/7              from Ch. 48, par. 1707
          Amends the  Illinois  Educational  Labor  Relations  Act.
      Eliminates  the provisions added by P.A. 89-4 relative to the
      sole appropriate bargaining unit for academic faculty at  the
      University  of  Illinois  and provides that the sole unit for
      academic faculty at that University's Springfield  campus  is
      the unit that existed at Sangamon State University on January
      1, 1995.  Provides for reinstatement of any decisions, rules,
      or  regulations  of  the Illinois Educational Labor Relations
      Board that were voided by specified provisions of P.A.  89-4.
      Effective immediately.
                                                     LRB9008017THpk
                                               LRB9008017THpk
 1        AN  ACT to amend the Illinois Educational Labor Relations
 2    Act by changing Section 7.
 3        Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 4    represented in the General Assembly:
 5        Section  5.  The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act
 6    is amended by changing Section 7 as follows:
 7        (115 ILCS 5/7) (from Ch. 48, par. 1707)
 8        Sec.   7.    Recognition    of    exclusive    bargaining
 9    representatives  - unit determination. The Board is empowered
10    to administer the recognition of  bargaining  representatives
11    of  employees of public school districts, including employees
12    of districts which have entered  into  joint  agreements,  or
13    employees of public community college districts, or any State
14    college  or  university,  and  any  State  agency whose major
15    function is providing educational  services,  making  certain
16    that   each   bargaining  unit  contains  employees  with  an
17    identifiable community of interest and that no unit  includes
18    both  professional  employees  and  nonprofessional employees
19    unless a  majority  of  employees  in  each  group  vote  for
20    inclusion in the unit.
21        (a)  In  determining  the  appropriateness of a unit, the
22    Board shall decide in each case, in order to ensure employees
23    the fullest freedom in exercising the  rights  guaranteed  by
24    this  Act, the unit appropriate for the purpose of collective
25    bargaining, based upon but not limited  to  such  factors  as
26    historical  pattern  of  recognition,  community of interest,
27    including employee skills and functions, degree of functional
28    integration, interchangeability and contact among  employees,
29    common supervision, wages, hours and other working conditions
30    of  the employees involved, and the desires of the employees.
31    Nothing  in  this  Act,  except  as  herein  provided,  shall
                            -2-                LRB9008017THpk
 1    interfere with or negate the current representation rights or
 2    patterns and practices of employee organizations  which  have
 3    historically   represented  employees  for  the  purposes  of
 4    collective bargaining,  including  but  not  limited  to  the
 5    negotiations   of   wages,   hours  and  working  conditions,
 6    resolutions  of  employees'  grievances,  or  resolution   of
 7    jurisdictional disputes, or the establishment and maintenance
 8    of  prevailing wage rates, unless a majority of the employees
 9    so  represented  expresses  a  contrary  desire   under   the
10    procedures  set  forth  in  this Act.  This Section, however,
11    does not prohibit multi-unit bargaining.  Notwithstanding the
12    above factors, where the majority of public  employees  of  a
13    craft  so  decide,  the Board shall designate such craft as a
14    unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
15        The sole appropriate bargaining unit for academic faculty
16    at the University of Illinois at  Springfield  shall  be  the
17    unit  that  was  in existence at Sangamon State University on
18    January  1,  1995.   Any  decision,   rule,   or   regulation
19    promulgated  by  the  Board  that  was nullified or voided by
20    Section 50-243 of Public Act 89-4 shall be reinstated.
21        The sole appropriate bargaining unit for academic faculty
22    at the University  of  Illinois  shall  be  a  unit  that  is
23    comprised  of  non-supervisory academic faculty employed more
24    than half-time and that includes all  tenured,  tenure-track,
25    and nontenure-track faculty employed by the board of trustees
26    of that University in all of its undergraduate, graduate, and
27    professional  schools  and  degree  and  non-degree programs,
28    regardless of current or historical representation rights  or
29    patterns  or  the  application  of  any  other  factors.  Any
30    decision, rule, or regulation, promulgated by the  Board   to
31    the contrary shall be null and void.
32        (b)  An  educational employer may voluntarily recognize a
33    labor organization for collective bargaining purposes if that
34    organization appears to represent a majority of employees  in
                            -3-                LRB9008017THpk
 1    the unit.  The employer shall post notice of its intent to so
 2    recognize for a period of at least 20 school days on bulletin
 3    boards or other places used or reserved for employee notices.
 4    Thereafter,  the  employer,  if  satisfied as to the majority
 5    status of  the  employee  organization,  shall  send  written
 6    notification   of   such   recognition   to   the  Board  for
 7    certification.
 8        Within the 20  day  notice  period,  however,  any  other
 9    interested  employee  organization  may petition the Board to
10    seek recognition as the exclusive representative of the  unit
11    in  the  manner specified by rules and regulations prescribed
12    by the Board, if such interested  employee  organization  has
13    been  designated  by  at  least  15%  of  the employees in an
14    appropriate bargaining unit which includes all or some of the
15    employees in the  unit  intended  to  be  recognized  by  the
16    employer.   In  such  event, the Board shall proceed with the
17    petition in the same manner as provided in paragraph  (c)  of
18    this Section.
19        (c)  A  labor  organization  may also gain recognition as
20    the exclusive representative by an election of the  employees
21    in  the  unit.  Petitions requesting an election may be filed
22    with the Board:
23             (1)  by an employee or group  of  employees  or  any
24        labor  organizations  acting on their behalf alleging and
25        presenting evidence that 30% or more of the employees  in
26        a  bargaining  unit wish to be represented for collective
27        bargaining or that the labor organization which has  been
28        acting  as  the exclusive bargaining representative is no
29        longer representative of a majority of the  employees  in
30        the unit; or
31             (2)  by  an employer alleging that one or more labor
32        organizations have presented a claim to be recognized  as
33        an  exclusive  bargaining representative of a majority of
34        the employees in an appropriate unit and that  it  doubts
                            -4-                LRB9008017THpk
 1        the  majority  status of any of the organizations or that
 2        it doubts the majority status of an exclusive  bargaining
 3        representative.
 4        The  Board  shall  investigate the petition and if it has
 5    reasonable cause to suspect that a question of representation
 6    exists, it shall give notice and conduct a  hearing.   If  it
 7    finds  upon  the  record  of  the  hearing that a question of
 8    representation exists, it shall  direct  an  election,  which
 9    shall  be  held  no  later  than  90  days after the date the
10    petition  was  filed.   Nothing  prohibits  the  waiving   of
11    hearings by the parties and the conduct of consent elections.
12        (d)  An  order  of  the Board dismissing a representation
13    petition,   determining   and   certifying   that   a   labor
14    organization has been fairly and freely chosen by a  majority
15    of  employees  in an appropriate bargaining unit, determining
16    and certifying that a labor organization has not been  fairly
17    and   freely  chosen  by  a  majority  of  employees  in  the
18    bargaining unit or certifying a  labor  organization  as  the
19    exclusive  representative  of  employees  in  an  appropriate
20    bargaining  unit because of a determination by the Board that
21    the  labor  organization   is   the   historical   bargaining
22    representative  of  employees  in  the  bargaining unit, is a
23    final order.  Any person aggrieved by any such  order  issued
24    on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1987
25    may  apply  for and obtain judicial review in accordance with
26    provisions of  the  Administrative  Review  Law,  as  now  or
27    hereafter  amended, except that such review shall be afforded
28    directly in the Appellate Court of  a  judicial  district  in
29    which the Board maintains an office. Any direct appeal to the
30    Appellate  Court  shall be filed within 35 days from the date
31    that a copy of the decision sought to be reviewed was  served
32    upon the party affected by the decision.
33        No  election  may  be  conducted  in  any bargaining unit
34    during the term of a collective bargaining agreement covering
                            -5-                LRB9008017THpk
 1    such unit or subdivision thereof, except the Board may direct
 2    an election after the filing of a petition between January 15
 3    and March 1 of the final  year  of  a  collective  bargaining
 4    agreement.  Nothing in this Section prohibits the negotiation
 5    of  a  collective  bargaining agreement covering a period not
 6    exceeding 3 years.  A collective bargaining agreement of less
 7    than 3 years may be extended up to 3 years by the parties  if
 8    the  extension is agreed to in writing before the filing of a
 9    petition under this Section.  In such case, the final year of
10    the extension is the final year of the collective  bargaining
11    agreement.    No  election  may  be conducted in a bargaining
12    unit, or subdivision thereof, in which a valid  election  has
13    been held within the preceding 12 month period.
14    (Source: P.A. 88-1; 89-4, eff. 7-1-95 (eff. date changed from
15    1-1-96 by P.A. 89-24).)
16        Section  99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect upon
17    becoming law.

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