Public Act 101-0664
 
HB2275 EnrolledLRB101 06666 AXK 51693 b

    AN ACT concerning education.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act is
amended by changing Section 12 as follows:
 
    (115 ILCS 5/12)  (from Ch. 48, par. 1712)
    Sec. 12. Impasse procedures.
    (a) This subsection (a) applies only to collective
bargaining between an educational employer that is not a public
school district organized under Article 34 of the School Code
and an exclusive representative of its employees. If the
parties engaged in collective bargaining have not reached an
agreement by 90 days before the scheduled start of the
forthcoming school year, the parties shall notify the Illinois
Educational Labor Relations Board concerning the status of
negotiations. This notice shall include a statement on whether
mediation has been used.
    Upon demand of either party, collective bargaining between
the employer and an exclusive bargaining representative must
begin within 60 days of the date of certification of the
representative by the Board, or in the case of an existing
exclusive bargaining representative, within 60 days of the
receipt by a party of a demand to bargain issued by the other
party. Once commenced, collective bargaining must continue for
at least a 60 day period, unless a contract is entered into.
    Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this
Section, if after a reasonable period of negotiation and within
90 days of the scheduled start of the forth-coming school year,
the parties engaged in collective bargaining have reached an
impasse, either party may petition the Board to initiate
mediation. Alternatively, the Board on its own motion may
initiate mediation during this period. However, mediation
shall be initiated by the Board at any time when jointly
requested by the parties and the services of the mediators
shall continuously be made available to the employer and to the
exclusive bargaining representative for purposes of
arbitration of grievances and mediation or arbitration of
contract disputes. If requested by the parties, the mediator
may perform fact-finding and in so doing conduct hearings and
make written findings and recommendations for resolution of the
dispute. Such mediation shall be provided by the Board and
shall be held before qualified impartial individuals. Nothing
prohibits the use of other individuals or organizations such as
the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service or the American
Arbitration Association selected by both the exclusive
bargaining representative and the employer.
    If the parties engaged in collective bargaining fail to
reach an agreement within 45 days of the scheduled start of the
forthcoming school year and have not requested mediation, the
Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board shall invoke
mediation.
    Whenever mediation is initiated or invoked under this
subsection (a), the parties may stipulate to defer selection of
a mediator in accordance with rules adopted by the Board.
    (a-5) This subsection (a-5) applies only to collective
bargaining between a public school district or a combination of
public school districts, including, but not limited to, joint
cooperatives, that is not organized under Article 34 of the
School Code and an exclusive representative of its employees.
        (1) Any time 15 days after mediation has commenced,
    either party may initiate the public posting process. The
    mediator may initiate the public posting process at any
    time 15 days after mediation has commenced during the
    mediation process. Initiation of the public posting
    process must be filed in writing with the Board, and copies
    must be submitted to the parties on the same day the
    initiation is filed with the Board.
        (2) Within 7 days after the initiation of the public
    posting process, each party shall submit to the mediator,
    the Board, and the other party in writing the most recent
    offer of the party, including a cost summary of the offer.
    Seven days after receipt of the parties' offers, the Board
    shall make public the offers and each party's cost summary
    dealing with those issues on which the parties have failed
    to reach agreement by immediately posting the offers on its
    Internet website, unless otherwise notified by the
    mediator or jointly by the parties that agreement has been
    reached. On the same day of publication by the Board, at a
    minimum, the school district shall distribute notice of the
    availability of the offers on the Board's Internet website
    to all news media that have filed an annual request for
    notices from the school district pursuant to Section 2.02
    of the Open Meetings Act. The parties' offers shall remain
    on the Board's Internet website until the parties have
    reached and ratified an agreement.
    (a-10) This subsection (a-10) applies only to collective
bargaining between a public school district organized under
Article 34 of the School Code and an exclusive representative
of its employees.
        (1) For collective bargaining agreements between an
    educational employer to which this subsection (a-10)
    applies and an exclusive representative of its employees,
    if the parties fail to reach an agreement after a
    reasonable period of mediation, the dispute shall be
    submitted to fact-finding in accordance with this
    subsection (a-10). Either the educational employer or the
    exclusive representative may initiate fact-finding by
    submitting a written demand to the other party with a copy
    of the demand submitted simultaneously to the Board.
        (2) Within 3 days following a party's demand for
    fact-finding, each party shall appoint one member of the
    fact-finding panel, unless the parties agree to proceed
    without a tri-partite panel. Following these appointments,
    if any, the parties shall select a qualified impartial
    individual to serve as the fact-finder and chairperson of
    the fact-finding panel, if applicable. An individual shall
    be considered qualified to serve as the fact-finder and
    chairperson of the fact-finding panel, if applicable, if he
    or she was not the same individual who was appointed as the
    mediator and if he or she satisfies the following
    requirements: membership in good standing with the
    National Academy of Arbitrators, Federal Mediation and
    Conciliation Service, or American Arbitration Association
    for a minimum of 10 years; membership on the mediation
    roster for the Illinois Labor Relations Board or Illinois
    Educational Labor Relations Board; issuance of at least 5
    interest arbitration awards arising under the Illinois
    Public Labor Relations Act; and participation in impasse
    resolution processes arising under private or public
    sector collective bargaining statutes in other states. If
    the parties are unable to agree on a fact-finder, the
    parties shall request a panel of fact-finders who satisfy
    the requirements set forth in this paragraph (2) from
    either the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service or
    the American Arbitration Association and shall select a
    fact-finder from such panel in accordance with the
    procedures established by the organization providing the
    panel.
        (3) The fact-finder shall have the following duties and
    powers:
            (A) to require the parties to submit a statement of
        disputed issues and their positions regarding each
        issue either jointly or separately;
            (B) to identify disputed issues that are economic
        in nature;
            (C) to meet with the parties either separately or
        in executive sessions;
            (D) to conduct hearings and regulate the time,
        place, course, and manner of the hearings;
            (E) to request the Board to issue subpoenas
        requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses or
        the production of evidence;
            (F) to administer oaths and affirmations;
            (G) to examine witnesses and documents;
            (H) to create a full and complete written record of
        the hearings;
            (I) to attempt mediation or remand a disputed issue
        to the parties for further collective bargaining;
            (J) to require the parties to submit final offers
        for each disputed issue either individually or as a
        package or as a combination of both; and
            (K) to employ any other measures deemed
        appropriate to resolve the impasse.
        (4) If the dispute is not settled within 75 days after
    the appointment of the fact-finding panel, the
    fact-finding panel shall issue a private report to the
    parties that contains advisory findings of fact and
    recommended terms of settlement for all disputed issues and
    that sets forth a rationale for each recommendation. The
    fact-finding panel, acting by a majority of its members,
    shall base its findings and recommendations upon the
    following criteria as applicable:
            (A) the lawful authority of the employer;
            (B) the federal and State statutes or local
        ordinances and resolutions applicable to the employer;
            (C) prior collective bargaining agreements and the
        bargaining history between the parties;
            (D) stipulations of the parties;
            (E) the interests and welfare of the public and the
        students and families served by the employer;
            (F) the employer's financial ability to fund the
        proposals based on existing available resources,
        provided that such ability is not predicated on an
        assumption that lines of credit or reserve funds are
        available or that the employer may or will receive or
        develop new sources of revenue or increase existing
        sources of revenue;
            (G) the impact of any economic adjustments on the
        employer's ability to pursue its educational mission;
            (H) the present and future general economic
        conditions in the locality and State;
            (I) a comparison of the wages, hours, and
        conditions of employment of the employees involved in
        the dispute with the wages, hours, and conditions of
        employment of employees performing similar services in
        public education in the 10 largest U.S. cities;
            (J) the average consumer prices in urban areas for
        goods and services, which is commonly known as the cost
        of living;
            (K) the overall compensation presently received by
        the employees involved in the dispute, including
        direct wage compensation; vacations, holidays, and
        other excused time; insurance and pensions; medical
        and hospitalization benefits; the continuity and
        stability of employment and all other benefits
        received; and how each party's proposed compensation
        structure supports the educational goals of the
        district;
            (L) changes in any of the circumstances listed in
        items (A) through (K) of this paragraph (4) during the
        fact-finding proceedings;
            (M) the effect that any term the parties are at
        impasse on has or may have on the overall educational
        environment, learning conditions, and working
        conditions with the school district; and
            (N) the effect that any term the parties are at
        impasse on has or may have in promoting the public
        policy of this State.
        (5) The fact-finding panel's recommended terms of
    settlement shall be deemed agreed upon by the parties as
    the final resolution of the disputed issues and
    incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement
    executed by the parties, unless either party tenders to the
    other party and the chairperson of the fact-finding panel a
    notice of rejection of the recommended terms of settlement
    with a rationale for the rejection, within 15 days after
    the date of issuance of the fact-finding panel's report. If
    either party submits a notice of rejection, the chairperson
    of the fact-finding panel shall publish the fact-finding
    panel's report and the notice of rejection for public
    information by delivering a copy to all newspapers of
    general circulation in the community with simultaneous
    written notice to the parties.
    (b) (Blank). If, after a period of bargaining of at least
60 days, a dispute or impasse exists between an educational
employer whose territorial boundaries are coterminous with
those of a city having a population in excess of 500,000 and
the exclusive bargaining representative over a subject or
matter set forth in Section 4.5 of this Act, the parties shall
submit the dispute or impasse to the dispute resolution
procedure agreed to between the parties. The procedure shall
provide for mediation of disputes by a rotating mediation panel
and may, at the request of either party, include the issuance
of advisory findings of fact and recommendations.
    (c) The costs of fact finding and mediation shall be shared
equally between the employer and the exclusive bargaining
agent, provided that, for purposes of mediation under this Act,
if either party requests the use of mediation services from the
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the other party
shall either join in such request or bear the additional cost
of mediation services from another source. All other costs and
expenses of complying with this Section must be borne by the
party incurring them.
    (c-5) If an educational employer or exclusive bargaining
representative refuses to participate in mediation or fact
finding when required by this Section, the refusal shall be
deemed a refusal to bargain in good faith.
    (d) Nothing in this Act prevents an employer and an
exclusive bargaining representative from mutually submitting
to final and binding impartial arbitration unresolved issues
concerning the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement.
(Source: P.A. 97-7, eff. 6-13-11; 97-8, eff. 6-13-11; 98-513,
eff. 1-1-14.)
 
    (115 ILCS 5/4.5 rep.)
    Section 10. The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act is
amended by repealing Section 4.5.
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.