24 Pa. Commw. 337 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1976
Opinion by
This is an appeal by the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties/Pennsylvania Association of Higher Education (APSCUF/PAHE) from a final order of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB)
APSCUF does not challenge any of the findings of fact of the PLRB, which disclose the following pertinent information. APSCUF is an “employe organization” or union under the provisions of PERA and recognized as the exclusive bargaining representative for all faculty members employed by the Commonwealth in its institu
“The President or his designee shall meet monthly with a committee appointed by APSCUF/PAHE for the purpose of discussing matters of educational policy and development as well as matters related to the implementation of this Agreement.”
At Indiana University both APSCUF and the University selected teams to represent their respective positions for “meet and discuss” purposes. During 1973, the University experienced a budgetary crisis in that its anticipated income was more than a million dollars less than its anticipated expenses and, therefore, at a February 23, 1973, meet and discuss session, it was disclosed by the University’s team that a University Committee was studying reallocation of the faculty after which it would make a report and recommendations on certain subjects including one pertinent to this decision, i.e., sabbatical replacements. Under the previous University policy when a teacher left his or her post on a sabbatical leave another individual with similar qualifications was hired or transferred to teach the same courses in the same department.
There followed several meet and discuss sessions of the two groups and, although it is quite clear that APSCUF presented some suggestions on budget cutting and made inquiries about the subject of sabbatical leave, the budget committee of the University (on which the President of APSCUF had placed a nonvoting observer) recommended a freeze on sabbatical replacements. At the April 17, 1973, meet and discuss session, APSCUF was informed officially of the budget committee’s recommendation. Additional meet and discuss sessions were
This proceeding was commenced on May 8, 1973, when APSCUF filed an unfair practices charge with the PLRB alleging that the Commonwealth (Indiana University) had violated Section 1201(a)(9) of PERA, 43 P.S. §1101.1201 (a) (9), which reads:
“(a) Public employers, their agents or representatives are prohibited from:
“(9) Refusing to comply with the requirements of ‘meet and discuss’.”
APSCUF contends that the University’s meet and discuss team did not meet and discuss “in good faith” because of an implied promise to meet with the APSCUF team before a final resolution was made on the recommendations to the President of the University on the subject (among others) of the sabbatical replacements. APSCUF further contends that it was never consulted prior to the formulation of the decision by the University’s team.
Since none of the factual findings of the PLRB are in dispute, we must review only the legal conclusions which the PLRB reached, based on those findings. Albert Einstein Medical Center v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, 17 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 91, 330 A.2d 264 (1975).
Three additional sections of PERA are involved which read as follows:
Section 701. “Collective bargaining is the performance of the mutual obligation of the public employer and the representative of the public employes*341 to meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith, with respect to wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment, or the negotiation of an agreement or any question arising thereunder and the execution of a written contract incorporating any agreement reached but such obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or require the making of a concession.” 43 P.S. §1101.701. (Emphasis added.)
Section 702. “Public employers shall not be required to bargain over matters of inherent managerial policy, which shall include but shall not be limited to such areas of discretion or policy as the functions and programs of the public employer, standards of services, its overall budget, utilization of technology, the organizational structure and selection and direction of personnel. Public employers, however, shall be required to meet and discuss on policy matters affecting wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment as well as the impact thereon upon request by public employe representatives.” 43 P.S. §1101.702. (Emphasis added.)
Section 301. “ ‘Meet and discuss’ means the obligation of a public employer upon request to meet at reasonable times and discuss recommendations submitted by representatives of public employes: Provided, That any decisions or determinations on matters so discussed shall remain with the public employer and be deemed final on any issue or issues raised.” 43 P. S. §1101.301 (17). (Emphasis added.)
A reading of the briefs provides the interesting revelation that APSCUF and the PLRB are in agreement on almost everything except the result reached by the PLRB. The parties agree on all of the following matters. (1) They are in agreement on the facts. (2) They are in agreement that “good faith collective bargaining” is a phrase of art in labor law. (3) They are in agreement
However, the parties disagree on the application of these agreed principles to the uncontested facts of this case. From a reading of its brief and from argument, APSCUF appears to seek from this Court an academic dissertation on semantics. APSCUF insists over and over again that the public employer under PERA must “meet and discuss in good faith.” The PLRB argues that al
APSCUF would have us, through this opinion, set forth the parameters within which the parties must meet and discuss. This we cannot do, because each case must be decided upon its individual facts. If the evidence proves that a public employer has met and discussed in bad faith, has reached its conclusion on the issues before the meet and discuss session, refuses to attend a meet and discuss session, refuses to listen to the employes, or fails to provide an opportunity for the employes to persuade, then we would have little difficulty in concluding
The parties to a meet and discuss session must not be guilty of bad faith, and this implies good faith insofar as it pertains to fairness and sincerity, but it does not imply good faith as that term is used as a phrase of art in collective bargaining.
The officials of the University not only met the standards mentioned above for a meet and discuss session, they went beyond what was required. The University went to great lengths to provide meet and discuss sessions more often than was required by the collective bargaining agreement. A representative chosen by the president of the union was invited to sit in on all of the administration’s budget committee meetings as a nonvoting observer, which provided the union with vital information which could be used by the union in its meet and discuss sessions. If any further proof was necessary that the University carried out the legislative intent regarding meet and discuss sessions, the record proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that after the budget committee made its recommendations contrary to the desires of the union’s meet and discuss team, the administration of the University changed its proposed budget and deviated from the budget committee recommendation so as
ORDER
And Now, this 19th day of April, 1976, the order of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board in the above-captioned matter, dated July 11, 1975, is affirmed.
. By order dated December 18, 1975, the petition of the Bureau of Labor Relations, Intervening Appellee, to withdraw was granted and the Bureau was deleted as a party in this appeal.