While it is impossible to respond to all of the issues raised by the legislation in this short report, we wanted to take some time to address some of the immediate issues, and to give you some advice on what steps you need to be taking now to prepare for the impact of the legislation. The legislation requires most public employees to make contributions to their pension contributions and health insurance premiums.
It also makes various changes to limit collective bargaining for most public employees to only the issue of wages, the increase of which could not exceed a cap based on the Consumer Price Index unless approved by referendum. Unions will also be required to take annual votes to maintain certification, and employers would be prohibited from collecting union dues.
While there has been some debate on this issue, we agree with the majority opinion that non-represented, supervisory public safety employees, such as police chiefs, are not exempt. Employees currently a party to a collective bargaining agreement are also exempt, until that agreement expires. For most employees, this will be 5. The ballot should be so designed as to permit a vote against representation by any candidate named on the ballot.
The findings of the commission, on which a certification is based, shall be conclusive unless reviewed as provided by s. Annually, the commission shall conduct an election to certify the representative of the collective bargaining unit that contains a general municipal employee.
The election shall occur no later than December 1 for a collective bargaining unit containing school district employees and no later than May 1 for a collective bargaining unit containing general municipal employees who are not school district employees. The commission shall certify any representative that receives at least 51 percent of the votes of all of the general municipal employees in the collective bargaining unit. If no representative receives at least 51 percent of the votes of all of the general municipal employees in the collective bargaining unit, at the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, the commission shall decertify the current representative and the general municipal employees shall be nonrepresented.
The commission shall assess and collect a certification fee for each election conducted under this subd. Fees collected under this subd. Except as authorized under par. Paragraph cm does not authorize any strike after an injunction has been issued against such strike under sub. The municipal employer is prohibited from bargaining collectively with a collective bargaining unit containing a general municipal employee with respect to any of the following:.
Any factor or condition of employment except wages, which includes only total base wages and excludes any other compensation, which includes, but is not limited to, overtime, premium pay, merit pay, performance pay, supplemental compensation, pay schedules, and automatic pay progressions.
Except as provided in s. If there is an increase in the consumer price index change, provides for total base wages for authorized positions in the proposed collective bargaining agreement that exceeds the total base wages for authorized positions days before the expiration of the previous collective bargaining agreement by a greater percentage than the consumer price index change.
If there is a decrease in the consumer price index change, provides for total base wages for authorized positions in the proposed collective bargaining agreement that exceeds the total base wages for authorized positions days before the expiration of the previous collective bargaining agreement decreased by a percentage of that expenditure that is equal to the decrease in the consumer price index change.
The municipal employer is prohibited from bargaining collectively with a collective bargaining unit containing a public safety employee with respect to any of the following :. Any labor organization that represents public safety employees which violates sub. This section, except subs. The commission shall assess and collect a filing fee for filing a request that the commission act as an arbitrator to resolve a dispute involving the interpretation or application of a collective bargaining agreement under s.
The commission shall assess and collect a filing fee for filing a request that the commission act as a mediator under s. The commission shall assess and collect a filing fee for filing a request that the commission initiate compulsory, final and binding arbitration under s.
For the performance of commission actions under ss. If any request for the performance of commission actions concerns issues arising as a result of more than one unrelated event or occurrence, each such separate event or occurrence shall be treated as a separate request. The commission shall promulgate rules establishing a schedule of filing fees to be paid under this subsection. The commission may initiate collection proceedings against the respondent party for the payment of the filing fee.
Fees collected under this subsection shall be credited to the appropriation account under s. In fire departments and city and county law enforcement agencies municipal Municipal employers and employees public safety employees, as provided in sub.
The duty to bargain, however, does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or require the making of a concession. The office shall negotiate and administer collective bargaining agreements except that the department of health services, subject to the approval of the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services to use collective bargaining as the method of setting rates for reimbursement of home care providers, shall negotiate and administer collective bargaining agreements entered into with the collective bargaining unit specified in s.
To coordinate the employer position in the negotiation of agreements, the office , or the department of health services with regard to collective bargaining agreements entered into with the collective bargaining unit specified in s. Except with respect to the collective bargaining units unit specified in s.
The legislative branch shall act upon those portions of tentative agreements negotiated by the office that require legislative action. With respect to the collective bargaining units specified in s. With respect to the collective bargaining unit specified in s. The director of the office shall establish and maintain, wherever practicable, consistent employment relations policies and practices throughout the state service.
Employees shall also have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities. A general employee has the right to refrain from paying dues while remaining a member of a collective bargaining unit. It is the legislative intent that in order to foster meaningful collective bargaining, units must be structured in such a way as to avoid excessive fragmentation whenever possible.
In accordance with this policy, collective bargaining units for employees in the classified service of the state , except employees in the collective bargaining units specified in sub. For purposes of this subsection, affiliation does not include membership in a national, state, county or municipal federation of national or international labor organizations.
The certified representative of supervisors who are not public safety employees may not bargain collectively with respect to any matter other than wages and fringe benefits as provided in s. Any individual employee, or any minority group of employees in any collective bargaining unit, may present grievances to the employer in person, or through representatives of their own choosing, and the employer shall confer with said employee or group of employees in relation thereto if the majority representative has been afforded the opportunity to be present at the conference.
Any adjustment resulting from such a conference may not be inconsistent with the conditions of employment established by the majority representative and the employer. There shall be included on the ballot the names of all labor organizations having an interest in representing the general employees participating in the election.
The commission may exclude from the ballot one who, at the time of the election, stands deprived of his or her rights under this subchapter by reason of a prior adjudication of his or her having engaged in an unfair labor practice. The commission shall certify any representative that receives at least 51 percent of the votes of all of the general employees in the collective bargaining unit.
If no representative receives at least 51 percent of the votes of all of the general employees in the collective bargaining unit, at the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, the commission shall decertify the current representative and the general employees shall be nonrepresented.
The commission shall assess and collect a certification fee for each election conducted under this paragraph. Fees collected under this paragraph shall be credited to the appropriation account under s. In that runoff election, the commission shall drop from the ballot the name of the representative who received the least number of votes at the original election.
The commission shall drop from the ballot the privilege of voting against any representative if the least number of votes cast at the first election was against representation by any named representative. Except as provided in ss. No such change or action affects the continuing duty to bargain collectively with a collective bargaining unit under s.
Professional supervisory or craft personnel may maintain membership in professional or craft organizations; however, as members of such organizations they shall be prohibited from those activities related to collective bargaining in which the organizations may engage.
Where the employer has a good faith doubt as to whether a labor organization claiming the support of a majority of its employees in appropriate collective bargaining unit does in fact have that support, it may file with the commission a petition requesting an election as to that claim. It is not deemed to have refused to bargain until an election has been held and the results thereof certified to it by the commission.
A violation of this paragraph includes, but is not limited to, the refusal to execute a collective bargaining agreement previously orally agreed upon.
Such refusal to bargain shall include, but not be limited to, the refusal to execute a collective bargaining agreement previously orally agreed upon. A petition may specify that a referendum is requested on a maintenance of membership agreement only, in which case the ballot shall be limited to that question.
For a maintenance of membership agreement to be authorized, at least a majority of the eligible public safety employees or supervisors voting in a referendum shall vote in favor of the agreement.
Unless the parties agree to an earlier date, the agreement shall take effect 60 days after certification by the commission that the referendum vote authorized the agreement. The employer shall be held harmless against any claims, demands, suits and other forms of liability made by public safety employees or supervisors or local labor organizations which may arise for actions taken by the employer in compliance with this section.
All such lawful claims, demands, suits and other forms of liability are the responsibility of the labor organization entering into the agreement. Any dispute concerning this paragraph may be submitted to the commission for adjudication. Upon so finding, the commission shall conduct a new referendum. If the continuation of the agreement is not supported in any referendum, it is deemed terminated at the termination of the collective bargaining agreement, or one year from the date of the certification of the result of the referendum, whichever is earlier.
Any of the parties to the agreement, or any public safety employee or supervisor covered thereby, may come before the commission, as provided in s. The employer is prohibited from bargaining on with a collective bargaining unit under s. The commission may get the information from the department of revenue. If the committee approves the tentative agreement, it shall introduce in a bill or companion bills, to be put on the calendar or referred to the appropriate scheduling committee of each house, that portion of the tentative agreement which requires legislative action for implementation, such as salary and wage adjustments, changes in fringe benefits, and any proposed amendments, deletions or additions to existing law.
Such bill or companion bills are not subject to ss. The committee may, however, submit suitable portions of the tentative agreement to appropriate legislative committees for advisory recommendations on the proposed terms.
If the joint committee on employment relations does not approve the tentative agreement, it shall be returned to the parties for renegotiation.
If the legislature does not adopt without change that portion of the tentative agreement introduced by the joint committee on employment relations, the tentative agreement shall be returned to the parties for renegotiation. Agreements covering a collective bargaining unit containing a general employee may not be extended. Except as provided under subch.
The referendum shall occur in April for collective bargaining agreements that begin in July of that year. Implement changes in administrative and personnel structures that are consistent with applicable collective bargaining agreements.
If collectively bargaining with employees of the school district, determine the maximum total base wages expenditure that is subject to collective bargaining under s. Establish rules scheduling the hours of a normal school day. The school board may differentiate between the various elementary and high school grades in scheduling the school day.
The equivalent of such days, as defined in s. Costs Payroll costs for represented employees shall be based upon the costs of wages of any collective bargaining agreements covering such employees for the previous school year. If, as of the time specified by the department for filing the report, the school district has not entered into a collective bargaining agreement for any portion of the previous school year with the recognized or certified representative of any of its employees and the school district and the representative have been required to submit final offers under s.
The school district shall amend the annual report to reflect any change in such costs as a result of any award or settlement under s. Any such amendment shall be concurred in by the certified public accountant licensed or certified under ch. If the department of administration sells or contracts for the operation of any plant under s. The administrator shall withhold action on the selection and certification process for filling the position.
The secretary of administration shall review the position to determine that sufficient funds exist for the position and that the duties and responsibilities of the proposed position reflect the intent of the legislature as established by law or in budget determinations, the intent of the joint committee on finance acting under s.
The administrator may not proceed with the selection and certification process until the secretary of administration has authorized the position to be filled.
If an employee is covered under a collective bargaining agreement under subch. The director, after receiving recommendations from the board of regents, shall submit to the joint committee on employment relations a proposal for adjusting compensation and employee benefits for employees under ss.
The proposal shall include the salary ranges and adjustments to the salary ranges for the university senior executive salary groups 1 and 2 established under s. The proposal shall be based upon the competitive ability of the board of regents to recruit and retain qualified faculty and academic staff, data collected as to rates of pay for comparable work in other public services, universities and commercial and industrial establishments, recommendations of the board of regents and any special studies carried on as to the need for any changes in compensation and employee benefits to cover each year of the biennium.
Paragraph b and sub. The proposal as approved by the joint committee on employment relations and the governor shall be based upon a percentage of the budgeted salary base for such employees under ss. VII of ch. Such employees may not be considered permanent employees and do not qualify for tenure, vacation, paid holidays, sick leave, performance awards, or the right to compete in promotional examinations.
Subject to sub. Notwithstanding pars. Before discharging an employee, the appointing authority shall provide the employee notice of the action and shall furnish to the employee in writing the reasons for the action.
The appointing authority shall provide the employee an opportunity to respond to the reasons for the discharge. However, nothing in this subchapter affects any right of an employee to pursue a grievance procedure under a collective bargaining agreement under subch.
Eight voting members of the board of directors constitute a quorum for the purpose of conducting the business and exercising the powers of the authority, notwithstanding the existence of any vacancy.
The members of the board of directors specified under sub. The board of directors may take action upon a vote of a majority of the members present, unless the bylaws of the authority require a larger number. I of ch. Appointments to and promotions in the authority shall be made according to merit and fitness. Subject to subs. In this subsection and subs. Here's what's in the infrastructure bill:.
Read More. Funding for roads and bridges. The White House says it would be the single, largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system, which started in the s. The investments would focus on climate change mitigation , resilience, equity and safety for all users, including cyclists and pedestrians.
It would direct funding for safety efforts involving highways, trucks, and pipeline and hazardous materials. It will fund planning, design, demolition and reconstruction of street grids, parks or other infrastructure. Money for transit and rail.
The funds would repair and upgrade existing infrastructure, make stations accessible to all users, bring transit service to new communities and modernize rail and bus fleets, including replacing thousands of vehicles with zero-emission models, according to the White House. The funds would eliminate Amtrak's maintenance backlog, modernize the Northeast Corridor line and bring rail service to areas outside the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, according to the White House.
Still, it would be the largest federal investment in public transit in history and in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak 50 years ago, according to the White House. Broadband upgrade. Here's what that could look like. It also aims to help lower the price households pay for internet service by requiring federal funding recipients to offer a low-cost affordable plan, by creating price transparency and by boosting competition in areas where existing providers aren't providing adequate service.
A major advantage of design-bid-build is that agencies are familiar with this traditional way of building things. The main disadvantage is that it requires a three-way relationship — with the government working with both the designer and the builder, and the designer and builder also working together — that heightens the potential for conflict during the project. And that can sometimes lead to increased costs.
A professional services firm named Dewberry designed the project — winning engineering awards as well as praise for avoiding negative impacts on local residents and businesses — and the separate construction firm was Corman Kokosing. In the design-build procurement process , potential contractors bid to do both the design and construction of the infrastructure as a single package. The main advantage of this type of contract is the direct relationship between the contractor and the government.
The designer and construction firm work together as a unified project team, which may significantly decrease project completion time. However, design-build also requires a high level of expertise in drafting design and construction specifications from the government, because decisions need to be made early in the process, and changes may lead to an increase in costs.
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