HomeMy Public PortalAbout005-2023 - Amending Chapter 33.04 - Employee Collective Bargaining COMMON COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF RICHMOND, INDIANA
ORDINANCE NO. 5-2023
A GENERAL ORDINANCE AMENDING
CHAPTER 33.04: EMPLOYEE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
WHEREAS, Chapter 33.04 of the City of Richmond Code addresses Employee Collective
Bargaining, which ordinance was passed as Ordinance 45-2000; and
WHEREAS, Chapter 33.04 includes provisions pertaining to the "Fact Finding" process which
addresses procedures pertaining to union contract negotiation dispute resolution;
and
WHEREAS, Chapter 33.04 requires that five (5) members be appointed to the Fact Finding
Panel, and requires that such members not be employees of the City or members of
any of its departments, board, or commissions; and
WHEREAS, The above-described prohibitions relative to the Fact Finding Panel does not
include any provisions pertaining to nepotism or prior employment with any
department covered by the bargaining unit participating in the Fact Finding process;
and
WHEREAS, It is in the best interest of the City of Richmond that the Richmond City Code
Chapter 33.04 be amended to provide for certain provisions eliminating the actual
or perceived conflicts of interest associated with nepotism and/or prior employment
with any department covered by the bargaining unit participating in the Fact
Finding process.
NOW, THEREFORE, be it ordained by the Common Council of the City of Richmond that
Chapter 95.11 be amended as follows:
33.04 EMPLOYEE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
(a) General—The City of Richmond shall adhere to.Jndiana law and engage in Permissive
Collective Bargaining. Specifically, each City Administration, through its Mayor and/or
respective boards, may or may not elect to recognize collective bargaining for employees within
any City Department. (It is acknowledged that as of the date of this Code Section revision, such
recognition has been provided to the Police Department, Fire Department, American
Federation of State, County& Municipal Employees, and Public Transportation division of
the Roseview Transit.) In conjunction with this recognition of Indiana law,the City also
recognizes that for the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare, Indiana law does not
allow for the right of any City employee to strike or engage in any work stoppage or slow down.
(b) Procedures to Establish Collective Bargaining - In order to request collective bargaining
or appoint an agent to serve as their exclusive bargaining agent, the following procedures shall
be used by the employees of any City department.
(1) Request for Bargaining Agent—A request for an exclusive bargaining agent may be
commenced by the employees of any City department through a Petition to Initiate Collective
Bargaining presented to the Mayor and signed by at least 30% of the projected covered
employees within that department.
Such petition shall identify the requested bargaining agent(i.e. union) and shall describe the type
of employees to be covered by the representation. It is recognized and acknowledged that no
"supervisory" or"managerial" employee shall be eligible for representation. (For purposes of
this subsection and the definitions of"supervisory" or"managerial" employee, the City shall
adopt those definitions set forth by the National Labor Relation act and federal law; provided, for
purposes of recognition within the fire and police departments, the current contract terms for
applicability shall apply.)
(2) Oversight Panel—Upon receipt of the Petition to Initiate Collective Bargaining, a three
member Oversight Panel shall be appointed to oversee the agent selection process and the
election which shall take place to determine whether an exclusive bargaining agent is desired
and, if so, who is the desired agent. The Panel shall consist of one member appointed by the
Mayor to represent the City Administration; one member appointed by the proposed bargaining
agent(i.e.: union); and a potentially affected employee from the subject department, who shall be
selected by Common Council. All appointments shall be residents of the City and shall serve
without compensation, except for any reimbursement of expenses. All appointments shall be
made within 15 days from receipt of the original Petition. (If more than one union is attempting
to be chosen as the bargaining agent, the selection of the union representative to the Panel must
be agreed upon by all proposed union organizations.)
Upon its appointment, the Oversight Panel shall attempt to monitor all presentation of material
provided to the affected employees either from the proposed bargaining agent and/or the City
officials. It is the intent of this Code section and process that all discussion be open and fair; that
no pressure tactics be taken by either an agent or the City to affect any vote on collective
bargaining; and that absolutely no retaliation be taken or threatened by either the proposed agent,
the City or other employees regarding the selection process.
(3)Election—Within 45 days after receipt of the initial Petition, an election shall take place
among the eligible department employees to determine if an exclusive bargaining agent is
desired and if so, who shall serve as such agent. The specific date,place, and method of voting—
subject to the provisions herein—shall be determined by the Oversight Panel. At least 15 days
prior to the election, the City shall provide to the proposed agent and to all members of the Panel
a list of the names of the eligible employees. In order to be eligible, the employee must be a
fulltime employee within the subject department as of the date of the elections.
The final list of the employees which would be eligible and affected by the vote shall be
determined by the Oversight Panel prior to the election.
The election shall be conducted by secret, written ballot and the choices thereon shall include the
names of the proposed bargaining agents (unions) and the choice not to be represented by any
exclusive agent. The election and counting of ballots shall be conducted by the Oversight Panel.
In order to be presented as an exclusive bargaining agent, a union organization must receive a
majority vote of all eligible employees. If more than one union is involved in a vote and no one
union receives such majority vote, but when taken together, a majority of eligible employees
have requested to be represented by a union, a second vote shall be taken pursuant to the same
provisions herein and the name of any union receiving a vote by a majority of the eligible
employees shall be presented to the City Administration.
(4) Recognition—Upon an affirmative majority vote to have an exclusive bargaining agent, the
Mayor(or statutory board which controls the hiring and selection of the employees within the
subject department) shall determine if recognition is to be given to the successful agent to serve
as the bargaining agent. This decision shall be made within 20 days after the election. Such
recognition shall continue until a decertification vote taken pursuant to the terms herein
establishes that the affected employees no longer wish to be represented by the named bargaining
agent, or until such time Common Council, through normal ordinance procedure, elects not to
recognize an exclusive bargaining agent for the subject affected employees;provided, any future
non-recognition shall have no effect on any contract entered into during the period of
recognition. (It is acknowledged that as of the date of this Code Section revision, such
recognition has been provided to the Police Department, Fire Department, American
Federation of State, County& Municipal Employees, and Public Transportation division of
the Roseview Transit.)
(5) Decertification—Upon a Petition signed by at least 30% of the affected employees, a
decertification of a previously selected bargaining agent may be initiated at any time and the
same process as described above shall be utilized. In order to decertify or remove a previously
selected bargaining agent, an affirmative vote of at least the majority of all eligible employees
shall be required.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, a Petition to Initiate Collective
Bargaining or to decertify a bargaining agent may not be made more than one time in any
calendar year.
(6) "Union Shop"Agreement—Notwithstanding the terms of this Code Section, no provisions of
any contract to be entered into between the City and any City employees or their bargaining
agent shall include the requirement that all affected employees within the subject department
must be a member of the selected union in order to be employed by the City.
(c)Negotiation/Fact-Finding—In the event a bargaining agent has been chosen to represent
certain employees and such agent has been recognized, this subsection shall apply.
(1) Definitions: For the purposes of this subsection,the following definitions shall apply unless
the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning:
(A) "CORPORATE AUTHORITIES"—The proper officials within the City Administration
whose duty it is to establish the wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours, working conditions and other
terms and conditions of employment of members of its various departments, who shall consist of
three members appointed by the Mayor of Richmond.
(B) "FACT-FINDING PANEL"—A panel of five persons, all of whom shall be residents of the
City, two selected by the corporate authorities, with approval of Common Council, and two
selected by the bargaining agent. The fifth member shall be selected by majority vote of the
other four members. The panel members shall not be employees of the City or members of any
of its departments, boards, or commissions. Additionally, no panel member shall be a relative
of any active employee of any department associated with or covered by the Collective
Bargaining Unit engaging in the Fact-Finding process. Further, no panel member shall be
a relative of any member of the Corporate Authority as defined above. For purposes of
this section, "relative" means any of the following: (1) spouse; (2) parent or step-parent; (3)
child or step-child; (4) brother, sister, step-brother, or step-sister; (5) niece or nephew; (6)
aunt or uncle; or (7) daughter-in-law or son-in-law. For purposes of this section, an
adopted child of an individual is treated as a natural child of the individual. Additionally,
the terms "brother" and "sister" includes half-brothers and half-sisters. Finally, no panel
member shall have previously worked directly for any department associated with or
covered by the Collective Bargaining Unit.
(C) "RECOGNIZED BARGAINING AGENT"—Any bargaining agent which has been
established and recognized pursuant to the terms of this Code.
(2) It shall be the obligation of the corporate authorities and the bargaining agent to meet and
bargain in good faith beginning the first day of June prior to the year in which the Contract shall
become effective.
(3) In the event that the bargaining agent and the corporate authorities are unable within 60 days
from and including the date of their first meeting, to reach an agreement on wages, salaries,
hours, working conditions, any and all unresolved issues shall, upon request of the corporate
authorities or the bargaining agent, be submitted to the Fact-finding Panel.
(4) The Fact-finding Panel shall be selected within 15 days from the date of request referred to in
(3) above. The bargaining agent and the corporate authorities shall each select and name two
fact-finders and shall immediately thereafter notify each other in writing of the names and
addresses of the persons so selected. The four fact-finders so selected and names, shall, within
five days from and after the expiration of the 15 day period hereinbefore mentioned, select and
name a fifth person. This person shall serve as Chairperson of the Fact-finding Panel.
Reasonable fees and necessary expenses of arbitration shall be borne equally by the bargaining
agent and the City.
(5) The Fact-finding Panel shall, acting through its Chairperson, call a hearing within five days
after the date of the appointment of the Chairperson, and shall, acting through its Chairperson,
give at least seven days notice in writing to each of the other four fact-finders, the bargaining
agent, and the corporate authorities of the time and place of the hearing. The hearing shall be
informal and the rules of evidence prevailing in judicial proceedings shall not be binding. Any
and all documentary evidence and other data deemed relevant by the fact-finders may be
received in evidence. The Fact-finding Panel shall have access to all books, records, and other
evidence relative or pertinent to the issues presented to them for the purpose of determining the
facts and the submitting of recommendations. The hearing conducted by the Fact-finding Panel
shall have access to all books, records, and other evidence relative or pertinent to the issues
presented to them for the purpose of determining the facts and the submitting of
recommendations. The hearing conducted by the Fact-finding Panel shall be concluded within
10 days of the time of commencement, and within five days after the conclusions of the hearings,
the Panel shall make written findings and written recommendations upon the issues presented, a
copy of which shall be presented to the bargaining agent and the corporate authorities at a public
meeting. Any hearings held by the Fact-finding Panel must be open at all times for the purpose
of permitting members of the public to observe and record them. Any findings and
recommendations they make are public record open to public inspection provided by any
applicable statute relating to fact-finding in connection with public collective bargaining.
(6) The Fact-finding Panel shall conduct the hearing and render their decisions upon the basis of
a prompt,peaceful, and just settlement of wage or hour disputes between the bargaining agent
and the corporate authorities. The fact, among others, to be given weight by the Fact-finding
Panel shall include but not be limited to:
(A) Interest and welfare of the general public and taxpayers, including:
(i) The fiscal status of the City, in light of anticipated and realized expenditures and revenues.
(ii) Comparison of wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours, working conditions, and other terms and
conditions of employment among public employees of the City; and similar public employees in
other Indiana cities of similar size.
(iii) The City's pension fund obligations.
(B) Comparison of wages, rates, or hourly conditions of public employment with prevailing
wage rates of hourly conditions in private industry and commerce for similar positions and skill
levels, together with all other benefits as pensions, insurance, and so forth.
(C) Comparison of peculiarities of employment in regard to other trades or professions,
specifically:
(i) Hazards of employment
(ii) Physical qualifications
(iii) Educational qualifications
(iv) Mental qualifications
(v) Job training and skills
(7) The Corporate authorities shall, within five days after the receipt of the formal report of the
Fact-finding Panel, establish final negotiation meetings with the bargaining agent for a final
effort to resolve issues. Absent an agreed resolution, the recommendations of the Fact-finding
Panel shall then be submitted to Common Council, which shall vote on the recommendations of
the Fact-finding Panel. The recommendations of the Fact-finding Panel shall become effective
upon a majority vote of the Common Council approving the recommendations. If Common
Council does not approve the recommendations of the Fact-finding Panel, then the
recommendations are to be re-submitted to the Fact-finding Panel and shall follow the process
set forth in Paragraph(5) above and, this paragraph, Paragraph (7),until a majority vote of
Common Council is obtained.
(8) All matters which have been agreed upon by the parties, excepting budgetary items which
must be passed by ordinance of the Common Council, shall be reduced to writing and shall be
effective for the period agreed by the parties.
Effective Date:
This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage and adoption by
the Common Council of the City of Richmond, Indiana.
•
Passed and adopted this 6i day of _ 2023, by the Common Council of the City
of Richmond, Indiana.
, President
Jeff asW. -
(Karen Chasteen, IAMC, MMC)
PRESENTED to the Mayor of the City of Richmond,Indiana,this/f day o
2023, at 9:00 a.m.
clerk
(Karen Chasteen, IAMC, MMC)
APPROVED by me, David M. Snow, Mayor of the City of Richmond, Indiana, this tr..
day
of ��A1uol-!41 , 2023, at 9*Yra-.-. 6:Or A,.
Mayor
avid M. n
ATTE T_
(Karen Chasteen, IAMC, MMC)