This is a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 (transferred to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Third Judicial Department by order of the Supreme Court at Special Term, entered in Albany County) to review a determination of the Public Employment Relations Board which found that the City School District of the City of Oswego had committed unfair labor practices in violation of paragraph (d) of subdivision 1 of section 209-a of the Civil Service Law.
The question presented in the instant proceeding is whether the decision and order of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) of March 6,1972 determining that the petitioner committed an improper employer practice by unilaterally modifying the length of the work year of certain of its administrative employees and directing the petitioner to negotiate with their representative on such modifications is based on a correct interpretation of the law and is supported by substantial evidence. On February 16, 1971, while negotiating a contract for the year July 1, 1971 to June 30, 1972 with the respondent Association of Administrative Personnel of the Enlarged City
Petitioner’s position essentially is that establishment of the length of the work year of its employees is within the exclusive province of the petitioner, 11 a fundamental governmental decision, bottomed on subdivisions 3 and 5 of section 2503 of the Education Law”. It is further contended that, since such decision relates to the manner and means by which it will render educational services to the public and was motivated solely by a desire to reduce operating costs and not by a desire to compromise or embarrass the respondent association, it is not a mandatory subject of collective negotiation. We cannot agree. Section 204 of the Civil Service Law requires public employers to negotiate the terms and conditions of employment with the organization recognized or certified to represent their employees. “ The term £ terms and conditions of employment ’ means salaries, wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment ” (Civil Service Law, § 201, subd. 4). The length of the work year is a function of hours of work and thus a 6 £ term of employment ” and a public employer is required to negotiate with its employees concerning all terms and conditions of employment unless a specific statutory provision prohibits negotiations on a particular item (Board of Educ., Union Free School Dist. No. 3, Town of Huntington v. Associated Teachers of Huntington, 30 N Y 2d 122, 129). There is no statutory provision in the Education Law prohibiting a collective bargaining agreement dealing with the length of the work year. Boards of education are granted powers sufficiently broad to -include the power to agree upon the length of the work year of their administrative employees. (See Education Law, § 2503, subds. 1, 3, 5; § 1709, subds. 1, 16, 33; § 1604, subds. 8, 30.) We cannot agree with the petitioner’s assertion to the effect that the holding in Huntington is not here applicable because a basic policy decision or fyasic management decision
The determination should be confirmed, and the petition dismissed, with costs.
Herlihy, P. J., Staley, Jr., Sweeney and Kane, JJ., concur.
Determination confirmed, and petition dismissed, with costs.
