January 20, 2010, Introduced by Senators RICHARDVILLE, GEORGE, BISHOP, JANSEN, CROPSEY, CASSIS and JELINEK and referred to the Committee on Reforms and Restructuring.
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 10 (MCL 423.232, 423.235,
423.236, 423.238, and 423.240).
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 2. (1) Public police and fire departments means any
department of a city, county, village, or township having employees
engaged
as policemen police
officers, or in fire fighting or
subject
to the hazards thereof; , emergency
medical service
personnel
employed by a police or fire department;
, or an
emergency telephone operator employed by a police or fire
department; or a fire authority.
(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 an arbitrator under this act. The commission may waive the
qualifications and training requirements for an individual who has
served as a commission-appointed arbitrator in a labor dispute
before the effective date of the amendatory act that added this
subsection.
Sec. 6. Upon the appointment of the arbitrator, he or she
shall
proceed to act as chairman chair of the panel of
arbitration,
call a hearing, to begin within 15 days, and give reasonable notice
of the time and place of the hearing. The chair shall direct each
party to submit its first offer of settlement on each known
economic issue to the panel not later than the date and time that
the
arbitration hearing commences. 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, a person, labor organization, or governmental unit having a
substantial
interest therein in the
matter may be granted leave to
intervene by the arbitration panel. Any oral or documentary
evidence
and other data deemed relevant by the arbitration panel
considers relevant may be received in evidence. The proceedings
shall be informal. Technical rules of evidence shall 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 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 days
of the time of its commencement. If the parties agree, the
arbitrator may extend the time for the conclusion of the hearing to
no more than 180 days from the time the hearing 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 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. The chair
shall direct each party to submit
its last offer of settlement on each economic issue to the panel by
14 days after the submission of the first offer of settlement under
section 6. 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 any further additional
periods
to which the parties may agree, 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 of the opinion 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 that, 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. 10. A majority decision of the arbitration panel, if
supported by competent, material, and substantial evidence on the
whole record, shall be final and binding upon the parties, and may
be enforced, at the instance of either party or of the arbitration
panel in the circuit court for the county in which the dispute
arose or in which a majority of the affected employees reside. The
commencement of a new municipal fiscal year after the initiation of
arbitration procedures under this act, but before the arbitration
decision,
or its enforcement, shall not be deemed to does not
render
a dispute moot , or to
otherwise impair the jurisdiction or
authority of the arbitration panel or its decision. Increases in
rates of compensation or other benefits may be awarded
retroactively
to the commencement of any period(s) period or
periods in dispute, any other statute or charter provisions to the
contrary notwithstanding. At any time the parties, by stipulation,
may amend or modify an award of arbitration.