Delaware General Assembly

Signed 3/28/00

The General Assembly has ended, the current status is the final status.

6/22/99

Oberle

Reps. Lofink, Houghton, Mulrooney, Plant, Scott, Viola, D.P. Williams, Keeley
Sen. McDowell, DeLuca, Henry, McBride, Vaughn, Connor

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS ACT.

This Bill adds a new provision to the Public Employment Relations Act to provide a procedure for more effective dispute resolution procedures for issues that arise in negotiating a collective bargaining agreement. Under the current law, there are provisions for fact-finding. However, the finding of facts and the fact-finder's recommendations are not binding. The public employees and the public employer can ignore the recommendations. Without a final and binding dispute resolution procedure, negotiations become a matter of who can hold out the longest. As public employees are prohibited from striking, they do not have an effective way to combat the public employer's tactic of ignoring the recommendations of the fact-finder. This does not serve the public interest in having the terms and conditions of employment resolved in an efficient and fair manner and allow collective bargaining to affect the morale and level of service to the public. With the more effective dispute resolution procedure provided by this bill, both the parties will have a much greater incentive to arrive at a voluntary agreement. The bill provides that the decision of the interest arbitrator is to be adopted in its entirety by the Public Employment Relations Board. This will allow an appeal of the decision just as if it is any other order of the Public Employment Relations Board to the Court of Chancery. The decision would be reviewed as any other agency hearing decision on the basis of being either contrary to law or not supported by substantial evidence.

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Takes effect upon being signed into law

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