[Ord. No. 1449, 1-19-2016]
This Chapter is adopted for the purpose of providing a framework
within which sworn law enforcement personnel employed by the City
of Riverside can exercise their right under Article 1, Section 29
of the Constitution of the State of Missouri to bargain collectively
with the City, through representatives of their own choosing.
[Ord. No. 1449, 1-19-2016]
A. This
Chapter shall apply to all sworn, full-time personnel employed in
the Police Division of the Department of Public Safety.
B. It
is the City's determination that sworn, non-supervisory employees
employed within the Police Division of the Department of Public Safety
constitute the most appropriate unit for the purpose of collective
bargaining. Any election conducted for the purpose of allowing employees
to designate an exclusive bargaining representative, as provided below,
shall take place within this unit subject to the following exclusions:
1. To avoid the division of loyalties and conflicts of interest, supervisory
personnel shall not be included within the same bargaining unit as
employees they supervise. However, the same labor organization may
represent both non-supervisory and supervisory employees in separate
bargaining units. For the purposes of this Section, Corporals, Sergeants,
Captains, Majors, and Chief of Police shall be considered supervisory
personnel.
2. Command level employees shall not be part of any bargaining unit.
For the purposes of this Section, Captains, Majors, and Chief of Police
shall be considered Command level employees.
3. Confidential employees shall not be included within the same bargaining
unit as non-supervisory employees. For the purposes of this Subsection,
the Departmental Administrative Assistant shall be considered a confidential
employee.
4. Police Officers on probationary status are not regular employees
and shall not be included within the bargaining unit until they successfully
complete their probationary status period.
[Ord. No. 1449, 1-19-2016]
A. Any
labor organization wishing to represent employees employed in the
City's Police Division of the Department of Public Safety, in either
a supervisory or non-supervisory bargaining unit, shall present to
the City Administrator or his/her designee cards containing the signatures
of at least thirty percent (30%) of the employees in the unit, indicating
that they wish to select the labor organization in question as their
exclusive bargaining representative for the purpose of collective
bargaining.
B. Upon
receiving such cards, the City Administrator or his/her designee shall
validate the signatures on the cards, and confirm that at least thirty
percent (30%) of the employees in the bargaining unit have signed
cards. If the City Administrator or his/her designee determines that
at least thirty percent (30%) of the employees in the unit have signed
valid cards, the City Administrator or his/her designee shall consult
with the representative of the labor organization that has presented
the cards, and together they shall select a mutually agreeable neutral
third party who shall serve as Election Overseer for the purposes
of conducting a secret ballot on a date mutually agreeable to the
City, the labor organization, and the Election Overseer. The election
shall be held at City Hall, and shall be set for a date falling no
less than four (4) and no more than six (6) weeks after the day upon
which the City Administrator or his/her designee first receives the
cards from the labor organization's representative, unless the City
Administrator or his/her designee, and the representative of the labor
organization all agree upon some other date.
C. Once
an Election Overseer has been selected, he or she shall issue a notice
informing all eligible voters of the date, time, and place of the
election. Such notice shall be distributed to all sworn employees
and shall be posted within the Police Division.
D. From
the time the election notice is first posted until the date of the
election, all employees of the City shall have the right to freely
express their opinions about whether or not the labor organization
should be selected as the exclusive bargaining representative of the
employees in the bargaining unit. However, no employee of the City
and no representative of the labor organization shall attempt to threaten,
intimidate, coerce, or otherwise restrain any eligible voter in the
free exercise of his or her individual choice to support or oppose
the selection of the labor organization in question as the exclusive
bargaining representative of the employees in the bargaining unit.
E. The
election shall be conducted by secret ballot, using such procedures
as the Election Overseer shall determine are appropriate for ensuring
the privacy and security of each employee's vote. Once the poll is
closed, the Election Overseer shall oversee the counting of the ballots.
One (1) representative of the City and one (1) representative of the
labor organization shall have the right to be present during the counting
of the ballots. The Election Overseer may permit additional interested
individuals to attend the vote count, at his or her discretion.
1. The ballots shall read "Do you wish to select (labor organization)
as the exclusive bargaining representative for (description of bargaining
unit) employed within the City of Riverside Police Division of the
Department of Public Safety?" The ballot will include check boxes
for marking "yes" or "no" in response to this question.
2. In the event that more than one (1) labor organization seeks to represent
employees in the unit, and in the event both labor organizations have
obtained signatures from at least thirty percent (30%) of the employees
in the unit stating that they wish to designate the labor organization
as their exclusive bargaining representative, then the ballot shall
read "Do you wish to select (labor organization A), (labor organization
B), or no labor organization as the exclusive bargaining representative
for (description of bargaining unit) employed within the City of Riverside
Police Division of the Department of Public Safety?" The ballot will
then include check boxes for marking: "I wish to select (labor organization
A) as my exclusive bargaining representative;" "I wish to select (labor
organization B) as my exclusive bargaining representative;" and "I
do not wish to select any labor organization as my exclusive bargaining
representative."
3. Any labor organization receiving more than fifty percent (50%) of
the votes of all eligible voters shall be designated and recognized
by the City as the exclusive bargaining representative for all employees
in the bargaining unit.
F. Employees
within the bargaining unit shall have the right to seek to decertify
the labor organization as their exclusive bargaining representative
at any time. If any employee within the bargaining unit presents to
the City Administrator or his/her designee cards bearing the signatures
of at least thirty percent (30%) of the employees within the bargaining
unit stating that those employees no longer wish to be represented
by the labor organization in question, the City Administrator or his/her
designee shall first validate the signatures on the cards.
1. If the City Administrator or his/her designee confirms that at least
thirty percent (30%) of the employees in the bargaining unit have
signed decertification cards, the City Administrator or his/her designee
shall consult with the designated representative of the labor organization
to select a mutually acceptable Election Overseer, who will conduct
an election pursuant to the procedures set out above. Such election
shall take place at least four (4) weeks after the City Administrator
or his/her designee receives the decertification cards and no later
than six (6) weeks after the City Administrator or his/her designee
receives the decertification cards. Notice of such election shall
be distributed to all employees within the bargaining unit and posted
within the Police Division of the Department of Public Safety.
2. If more than fifty percent (50%) of the employees in the bargaining
unit cast votes to terminate the labor organization's representation
of the employees in the bargaining unit, the labor organization shall
immediately cease to represent the employees in the bargaining unit.
3. In the event of the decertification of the exclusive bargaining representative
of the employees in any bargaining unit within the Police Division
of the Department of Public Safety, all terms and conditions of employment
existing at the time of decertification shall remain in place until
such time as those terms or conditions of employment are altered by
the Board of Aldermen.
G. No
more than one (1) election shall take place in any bargaining unit
within the same twelve-month period. Once an election takes place,
the City Administrator or his/her designee shall not accept cards
from labor organizations or employees within the bargaining unit seeking
another election for one (1) full calendar year after the date of
the election.
[Ord. No. 1449, 1-19-2016]
A. Within
four (4) weeks after a labor organization is certified as the exclusive
bargaining representative for the employees in a bargaining unit as
set out above, representatives of the City, designated by the City
Administrator, and representatives of the labor organization, selected
by the labor organization, shall meet and begin bargaining for an
agreement covering the wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions
of employment for the employees within the bargaining unit.
B. Both
sides shall bargain in good faith, and make an earnest effort to reach
a mutually acceptable agreement, but neither side shall be required
to offer any particular concession or withdraw any particular proposal.
C. The
City shall not pay any union representative for time spent participating
in collective bargaining or preparing for collective bargaining, except
to the extent the person in question is an employee of the City and
elects to use accrued paid time off to cover the time so spent.
D. If
the parties reach an agreement, management shall present the agreement
to the Board of Aldermen for approval or rejection.
E. After
the first agreement between the City and the labor organization is
adopted, bargaining for renewal agreements shall take place annually.
Such bargaining must be completed to allow sufficient time for submission
and approval of a City budget by the Board of Aldermen. The parties
may elect to bargain non-economic terms for longer periods [e.g.,
three (3) years or five (5) years], but all economic provisions of
the agreement shall be adopted on a year-to-year basis only.
[Ord. No. 1449, 1-19-2016]
A. Labor
agreements negotiated between the parties may cover wages, benefits,
and all other terms and conditions of employment for employees within
the bargaining unit, subject to the following limitations.
1. No labor agreement shall provide any outside person or entity with
authority to interpret the labor agreement, resolve grievances, award
damages, or otherwise determine personnel matters within the City.
2. No labor agreement shall require any employee of the City, who does
not wish to become a member of the labor organization, to pay any
dues or fee of any kind to the labor organization in question. It
is understood that, in the event an employee elects not to join and
pay regular dues to a labor organization that represents the employee,
the labor organization will continue to represent the employee as
a member of the bargaining unit, but the employee will not enjoy any
of the rights or benefits that arise from membership in the labor
organization itself.
3. Every labor agreement shall include a provision reserving to management
the right to hire, promote, assign, direct, transfer, schedule, discipline,
and discharge employees, so long as those rights are not exercised
in a way that conflicts with any express provision of the labor agreement.
Every labor agreement shall also include a provision reserving to
management the right to make, amend, and rescind reasonable work rules
and standard operating procedures, so long as such work rules and
standard operating procedures do not conflict with any express provision
of the labor agreement.
4. Every labor agreement shall expressly prohibit all strikes and picketing
of any kind. Every labor agreement shall include a provision acknowledging
that any employee who engages in any strike or concerted refusal to
work, or who pickets over any personnel matter shall be subject to
immediate termination of employment.
5. Any labor agreement may include a provision stating that City employees
who are representatives of a labor organization that has been designated
as the exclusive bargaining representative of a unit of employees
within the City that includes the employee in question, will be paid
for on-duty time spent meeting with management to conduct union business,
so long as such meeting does not prevent the employee from performing
his or her regular duties. Every labor agreement must provide that,
aside from such meetings between union representatives and members
of management, City employees who serve as representatives of a labor
organization must refrain from conducting the business of the labor
organization while they are on duty.
[Ord. No. 1449, 1-19-2016]
A. In
the event of a budget shortfall, the Board of Aldermen shall have
the right to require the modification of the economic terms of any
labor agreement.
B. Should
the Board of Aldermen deem it necessary to modify the economic terms
of any labor agreement, it shall so notify the relevant labor organization,
and shall provide a period of thirty (30) days during which the City
and the labor organization shall bargain in good faith over any necessary
adjustments to the economic terms of the agreement.
C. If,
at the end of the thirty-day period, the parties have been unable
to agree upon modifications that meet the Board of Aldermen's requirements,
the Board of Aldermen shall have the right to make necessary adjustments
on its own authority.
[Ord. No. 1449, 1-19-2016]
A. If
the State of Missouri passes any law governing collective bargaining
for law enforcement personnel, then to the extent this Chapter is
inconsistent with the Missouri Statute, this Chapter shall be superseded
in whole or in part by such Statute.
B. If
any court of competent jurisdiction shall declare any provision of
this Chapter to be unenforceable under any State or Federal Statute,
regulation, or other authority, that portion shall be stricken from
the Chapter, but all other portions of the Chapter shall remain in
effect.