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91_HB0592eng HB0592 Engrossed LRB9100961NTks 1 AN ACT to amend the Illinois Educational Labor Relations 2 Act by changing Section 7. 3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 4 represented in the General Assembly: 5 Section 5. The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act 6 is amended by changing Section 7 as follows: 7 (115 ILCS 5/7) (from Ch. 48, par. 1707) 8 Sec. 7. Recognition of exclusive bargaining 9 representatives - unit determination. The Board is empowered 10 to administer the recognition of bargaining representatives 11 of employees of public school districts, including employees 12 of districts which have entered into joint agreements, or 13 employees of public community college districts, or any State 14 college or university, and any State agency whose major 15 function is providing educational services, making certain 16 that each bargaining unit contains employees with an 17 identifiable community of interest and that no unit includes 18 both professional employees and nonprofessional employees 19 unless a majority of employees in each group vote for 20 inclusion in the unit. 21 (a) In determining the appropriateness of a unit, the 22 Board shall decide in each case, in order to ensure employees 23 the fullest freedom in exercising the rights guaranteed by 24 this Act, the unit appropriate for the purpose of collective 25 bargaining, based upon but not limited to such factors as 26 historical pattern of recognition, community of interest, 27 including employee skills and functions, degree of functional 28 integration, interchangeability and contact among employees, 29 common supervision, wages, hours and other working conditions 30 of the employees involved, and the desires of the employees. 31 Nothing in this Act, except as herein provided,shall HB0592 Engrossed -2- LRB9100961NTks 1 interfere with or negate the current representation rights or 2 patterns and practices of employee organizations which have 3 historically represented employees for the purposes of 4 collective bargaining, including but not limited to the 5 negotiations of wages, hours and working conditions, 6 resolutions of employees' grievances, or resolution of 7 jurisdictional disputes, or the establishment and maintenance 8 of prevailing wage rates, unless a majority of the employees 9 so represented expresses a contrary desire under the 10 procedures set forth in this Act. This Section, however, 11 does not prohibit multi-unit bargaining. Notwithstanding the 12 above factors, where the majority of public employees of a 13 craft so decide, the Board shall designate such craft as a 14 unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. 15 The sole appropriate bargaining unit for academic faculty 16 at the University of Illinois at Springfield shall be the 17 unit that was in existence at Sangamon State University on 18 January 1, 1995. Any decision, rule, or regulation 19 promulgated by the Board that was nullified or voided by 20 Section 50-243 of Public Act 89-4 shall be reinstated. 21The sole appropriate bargaining unit for academic faculty22at the University of Illinois shall be a unit that is23comprised of non-supervisory academic faculty employed more24than half-time and that includes all tenured, tenure-track,25and nontenure-track faculty employed by the board of trustees26of that University in all of its undergraduate, graduate, and27professional schools and degree and non-degree programs,28regardless of current or historical representation rights or29patterns or the application of any other factors. Any30decision, rule, or regulation, promulgated by the Board to31the contrary shall be null and void.32 (b) An educational employer may voluntarily recognize a 33 labor organization for collective bargaining purposes if that 34 organization appears to represent a majority of employees in HB0592 Engrossed -3- LRB9100961NTks 1 the unit. The employer shall post notice of its intent to so 2 recognize for a period of at least 20 school days on bulletin 3 boards or other places used or reserved for employee notices. 4 Thereafter, the employer, if satisfied as to the majority 5 status of the employee organization, shall send written 6 notification of such recognition to the Board for 7 certification. 8 Within the 20 day notice period, however, any other 9 interested employee organization may petition the Board to 10 seek recognition as the exclusive representative of the unit 11 in the manner specified by rules and regulations prescribed 12 by the Board, if such interested employee organization has 13 been designated by at least 15% of the employees in an 14 appropriate bargaining unit which includes all or some of the 15 employees in the unit intended to be recognized by the 16 employer. In such event, the Board shall proceed with the 17 petition in the same manner as provided in paragraph (c) of 18 this Section. 19 (c) A labor organization may also gain recognition as 20 the exclusive representative by an election of the employees 21 in the unit. Petitions requesting an election may be filed 22 with the Board: 23 (1) by an employee or group of employees or any 24 labor organizations acting on their behalf alleging and 25 presenting evidence that 30% or more of the employees in 26 a bargaining unit wish to be represented for collective 27 bargaining or that the labor organization which has been 28 acting as the exclusive bargaining representative is no 29 longer representative of a majority of the employees in 30 the unit; or 31 (2) by an employer alleging that one or more labor 32 organizations have presented a claim to be recognized as 33 an exclusive bargaining representative of a majority of 34 the employees in an appropriate unit and that it doubts HB0592 Engrossed -4- LRB9100961NTks 1 the majority status of any of the organizations or that 2 it doubts the majority status of an exclusive bargaining 3 representative. 4 The Board shall investigate the petition and if it has 5 reasonable cause to suspect that a question of representation 6 exists, it shall give notice and conduct a hearing. If it 7 finds upon the record of the hearing that a question of 8 representation exists, it shall direct an election, which 9 shall be held no later than 90 days after the date the 10 petition was filed. Nothing prohibits the waiving of 11 hearings by the parties and the conduct of consent elections. 12 (d) An order of the Board dismissing a representation 13 petition, determining and certifying that a labor 14 organization has been fairly and freely chosen by a majority 15 of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit, determining 16 and certifying that a labor organization has not been fairly 17 and freely chosen by a majority of employees in the 18 bargaining unit or certifying a labor organization as the 19 exclusive representative of employees in an appropriate 20 bargaining unit because of a determination by the Board that 21 the labor organization is the historical bargaining 22 representative of employees in the bargaining unit, is a 23 final order. Any person aggrieved by any such order issued 24 on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1987 25 may apply for and obtain judicial review in accordance with 26 provisions of the Administrative Review Law, as now or 27 hereafter amended, except that such review shall be afforded 28 directly in the Appellate Court of a judicial district in 29 which the Board maintains an office. Any direct appeal to the 30 Appellate Court shall be filed within 35 days from the date 31 that a copy of the decision sought to be reviewed was served 32 upon the party affected by the decision. 33 No election may be conducted in any bargaining unit 34 during the term of a collective bargaining agreement covering HB0592 Engrossed -5- LRB9100961NTks 1 such unit or subdivision thereof, except the Board may direct 2 an election after the filing of a petition between January 15 3 and March 1 of the final year of a collective bargaining 4 agreement. Nothing in this Section prohibits the negotiation 5 of a collective bargaining agreement covering a period not 6 exceeding 3 years. A collective bargaining agreement of less 7 than 3 years may be extended up to 3 years by the parties if 8 the extension is agreed to in writing before the filing of a 9 petition under this Section. In such case, the final year of 10 the extension is the final year of the collective bargaining 11 agreement. No election may be conducted in a bargaining 12 unit, or subdivision thereof, in which a valid election has 13 been held within the preceding 12 month period. 14 (Source: P.A. 88-1; 89-4, eff. 7-1-95 (eff. date changed from 15 1-1-96 by P.A. 89-24).) 16 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 17 becoming law.