20.12 - STRIKES PROHIBITED.
20.12 STRIKES PROHIBITED.
1. It shall be unlawful for any public employee or any employee
organization, directly or indirectly, to induce, instigate,
encourage, authorize, ratify or participate in a strike against any
public employer.
2. It shall be unlawful for any public employer to authorize,
consent to, or condone a strike; or to pay or agree to pay any public
employee for any day in which the employee participates in a strike;
or to pay or agree to pay any increase in compensation or benefits to
any public employee in response to or as a result of any strike or
any act which violates subsection 1. It shall be unlawful for any
official, director, or representative of any public employer to
authorize, ratify or participate in any violation of this subsection.
Nothing in this subsection shall prevent new or renewed bargaining
and agreement within the scope of negotiations as defined by this
chapter, at any time after such violation of subsection 1 has ceased;
but it shall be unlawful for any public employer or employee
organization to bargain at any time regarding suspension or
modification of any penalty provided in this section or regarding any
request by the public employer to a court for such suspension or
modification.
3. In the event of any violation or imminently threatened
violation of subsection 1 or 2, any citizen domiciled within the
jurisdictional boundaries of the public employer may petition the
district court for the county in which the violation occurs or the
district court for Polk county for an injunction restraining such
violation or imminently threatened violation. Rules of civil
procedure 1.1501 to 1.1511 regarding injunctions shall apply.
However, the court shall grant a temporary injunction if it appears
to the court that a violation has occurred or is imminently
threatened; the plaintiff need not show that the violation or
threatened violation would greatly or irreparably injure the
plaintiff; and no bond shall be required of the plaintiff unless the
court determines that a bond is necessary in the public interest.
Failure to comply with any temporary or permanent injunction granted
pursuant to this section shall constitute a contempt punishable
pursuant to chapter 665. The punishment shall not exceed five
hundred dollars for an individual, or ten thousand dollars for an
employee organization or public employer, for each day during which
the failure to comply continues, or imprisonment in a county jail not
exceeding six months, or both such fine and imprisonment. An
individual or an employee organization which makes an active good
faith effort to comply fully with the injunction shall not be deemed
to be in contempt.
4. If a public employee is held to be in contempt of court for
failure to comply with an injunction pursuant to this section, or is
convicted of violating this section, the employee shall be ineligible
for any employment by the same public employer for a period of twelve
months. The employee's public employer shall immediately discharge
the employee, but upon the employee's request the court shall stay
the discharge to permit further judicial proceedings.
5. If an employee organization or any of its officers is held to
be in contempt of court for failure to comply with an injunction
pursuant to this section, or is convicted of violating this section,
the employee organization shall be immediately decertified, shall
cease to represent the bargaining unit, shall cease to receive any
dues by checkoff, and may again be certified only after twelve months
have elapsed from the effective date of decertification and only
after a new compliance with section 20.14. The penalties provided in
this section may be suspended or modified by the court, but only upon
request of the public employer and only if the court determines the
suspension or modification is in the public interest.
6. Each of the remedies and penalties provided by this section is
separate and several, and is in addition to any other legal or
equitable remedy or penalty. Section History: Early Form
[C75, 77, 79, 81, § 20.12]
Referred to in § 20.10