20.17 - PROCEDURES.
20.17 PROCEDURES.
1. The employee organization certified as the bargaining
representative shall be the exclusive representative of all public
employees in the bargaining unit and shall represent all public
employees fairly. However, any public employee may meet and adjust
individual complaints with a public employer. To sustain a claim
that a certified employee organization has committed a prohibited
practice by breaching its duty of fair representation, a public
employee must establish by a preponderance of the evidence action or
inaction by the organization which was arbitrary, discriminatory, or
in bad faith.
2. The employee organization and the public employer may
designate any individual as its representative to engage in
collective bargaining negotiations.
3. Negotiating sessions, strategy meetings of public employers or
employee organizations, mediation and the deliberative process of
arbitrators shall be exempt from the provisions of chapter 21.
However, the employee organization shall present its initial
bargaining position to the public employer at the first bargaining
session. The public employer shall present its initial bargaining
position to the employee organization at the second bargaining
session, which shall be held no later than two weeks following the
first bargaining session. Both sessions shall be open to the public
and subject to the provisions of chapter 21. Hearings conducted by
arbitrators shall be open to the public.
4. The terms of a proposed collective bargaining agreement shall
be made available to the public by the public employer and reasonable
notice shall be given to the public employees by the employee
organization prior to a ratification election. The collective
bargaining agreement shall become effective only if ratified by a
majority of those voting by secret ballot.
5. Terms of any collective bargaining agreement may be enforced
by a civil action in the district court of the county in which the
agreement was made upon the initiative of either party.
6. No collective bargaining agreement or arbitrators' decision
shall be valid or enforceable if its implementation would be
inconsistent with any statutory limitation on the public employer's
funds, spending or budget or would substantially impair or limit the
performance of any statutory duty by the public employer. A
collective bargaining agreement or arbitrators' award may provide for
benefits conditional upon specified funds to be obtained by the
public employer, but the agreement shall provide either for automatic
reduction of such conditional benefits or for additional bargaining
if the funds are not obtained or if a lesser amount is obtained.
7. If agreed to by the parties nothing in this chapter shall be
construed to prohibit supplementary bargaining on behalf of public
employees in a part of the bargaining unit concerning matters
uniquely affecting those public employees or cooperation and
coordination of bargaining between two or more bargaining units.
8. The salaries of all public employees of the state under a
merit system and all other fringe benefits which are granted to all
public employees of the state shall be negotiated with the governor
or the governor's designee on a statewide basis, except those
benefits which are not subject to negotiations pursuant to the
provisions of section 20.9.
9. A public employee or any employee organization shall not
negotiate or attempt to negotiate directly with a member of the
governing board of a public employer if the public employer has
appointed or authorized a bargaining representative for the purpose
of bargaining with the public employees or their representative,
unless the member of the governing board is the designated bargaining
representative of the public employer.
10. The negotiation of a proposed collective bargaining agreement
by representatives of a state public employer and a state employee
organization shall be complete not later than March 15 of the year
when the agreement is to become effective. The board shall provide,
by rule, a date on which any impasse item must be submitted to
binding arbitration and for such other procedures as deemed necessary
to provide for the completion of negotiations of proposed state
collective bargaining agreements not later than March 15. The date
selected for the mandatory submission of impasse items to binding
arbitration shall be sufficiently in advance of March 15 to insure
that the arbitrators' decision can be reasonably made before March
15.
11. a. In the absence of an impasse agreement negotiated
pursuant to section 20.19 which provides for a different completion
date, public employees represented by a certified employee
organization who are teachers licensed under chapter 272 and who are
employed by a public employer which is a school district or area
education agency shall complete the negotiation of a proposed
collective bargaining agreement not later than May 31 of the year
when the agreement is to become effective. The board shall provide,
by rule, a date on which impasse items in such cases must be
submitted to binding arbitration and for such other procedures as
deemed necessary to provide for the completion of negotiations of
proposed collective bargaining agreements not later than May 31. The
date selected for the mandatory submission of impasse items to
binding arbitration in such cases shall be sufficiently in advance of
May 31 to ensure that the arbitrators' decision can be reasonably
made before May 31.
b. If the public employer is a community college, the
following apply:
(1) The negotiation of a proposed collective bargaining agreement
shall be complete not later than May 31 of the year when the
agreement is to become effective, absent the existence of an impasse
agreement negotiated pursuant to section 20.19 which provides for a
different completion date. The board shall adopt rules providing for
a date on which impasse items in such cases must be submitted to
binding arbitration and for procedures for the completion of
negotiations of proposed collective bargaining agreements not later
than May 31. The date selected for the mandatory submission of
impasse items to binding arbitration in such cases shall be
sufficiently in advance of May 31 to ensure that the arbitrators'
decision can be reasonably made by May 31.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (1), the May
31 deadline may be waived by mutual agreement of the parties to the
collective bargaining agreement negotiations. Section History: Early Form
[C75, 77, 79, 81, § 20.17] Section History: Recent Form
89 Acts, ch 296, § 8; 90 Acts, ch 1037, §3; 91 Acts, ch 174, § 3;
92 Acts, ch 1011, § 1; 92 Acts, ch 1212, § 2; 92 Acts, ch 1227, § 11
Referred to in § 20.1, 20.15, 20.22, 273.22, 275.33
State merit system, see chapter 8A, subchapter IV