AN ACT CONCERNING THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES.

This bill provides collective bargaining rights to two groups of state employees who cannot collectively bargain under current law: (1) managers and (2) Legislative Branch employees of the State Capitol Police.

It also creates the title “bureau head” and exempts bureau heads from collective bargaining.

The bill changes the definition of “supervisor” under the state labor relations act, so that it applies to more employees. The change would exclude more employees from collective bargaining.

The bill permits state managers, who are currently exempt from collective bargaining, to unionize. It also provides criteria for determining when some managers would be considered bureau heads and excludes them from collective bargaining.

It defines a “bureau head” as anyone who heads a major division of the state and reports to the head or deputy head of the state entity (i. e. , state agency, commission, or institution, and any board of trustees of a state university).

The bill also limits how many managerial employees can be reclassified as bureau heads. It allows an agency to have (1) one bureau head or (2) bureau heads numbering up to 0. 5% of its permanent, full-time employees, whichever is greater. This means an agency with 200 or fewer permanent, full-time employees can have, at most, one bureau head.

It bars the Executive and Judicial branches from having a total number of bureau heads that exceed 0. 5% of each branch's permanent, full-time employees but does not include a limit for the Legislative Branch.

Under the bill, if the number of an agency's major divisions exceeds the number of bureau heads allowed, a major division head who has a greater number of permanent, full-time employees must be designated a bureau head before one who has fewer employees.

Under current law, the Legislative Branch is excluded from state employee collective bargaining. The bill expands the definition of “employee” to include employees of the Office of State Capitol Police below the rank of lieutenant, thus giving these employees collective bargaining rights.

It also expands the definition of “employer” to include the Legislative Branch but only for purposes of negotiating with the Office of State Capitol Police. Apparently this is intended to include an employee organization of capitol police since the law contemplates an employee organization negotiating on behalf of employees and not the office for which the employees work.

It also specifies that when a union is designated as the exclusive representative of an employee unit in the Legislative Branch, the executive director of the Joint Committee on Legislative Management, or her representative, must represent the employer in bargaining.

The bill changes the definition of supervisors under the state Labor Relations Act (Chapter 561). The act provides collective bargaining rights for a small group of private sector employees. It covers private workplaces where the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has chosen not to assert its jurisdiction. Since the NLRB has asserted its jurisdiction over more employers in recent decades, it leaves the state labor act with a small jurisdiction (currently it only covers a few nonprofits including libraries and transit districts).

By changing the definition of “supervisor” under the Labor Relations Act so it applies to more employees, the bill excludes more employees from collective bargaining.

Under current law a supervisor must have the authority to hire, transfer, suspend, fire, promote, or take other action regarding an employee. Under the bill, an employee must have the title of supervisor to be exempted from collective bargaining. The bill makes actually having the authority to take supervisory action optional for the purpose of determining whether the employee may collectively bargain.

It also removes the requirement that if the supervisor recommends hiring, firing, or other action that this action not be routine or clerical, but must require the individual's independent judgment.

Under the state employee collective bargaining law (CGS §§ 5-270-280), an “employee organization” means any lawful association, labor organization, federation, or council having as a primary purpose the improvement of wages, hours, and other conditions of employment among state employees. The law gives employees the right to join an employee organization in order to bargain collectively. When the Labor Relations Board designates such an organization as the representative of the majority of employees in an appropriate unit, the organization:

1. must be recognized by the employer as the exclusive bargaining agent for the employees of the unit,

2. must be given the right to act for and negotiate agreements covering all unit employees and must represent the interests of all employees without discrimination,

3. has the duty to fairly represent all unit employees.

The House referred the bill (File 577) to the Appropriations Committee on April 17. The Committee favorably voted the substitute language on April 23 that narrowed the scope of collective bargaining for Legislative Branch employees so it only applies to Capitol Police employees.

sHB 6534 (File 555) permits the State Board of Labor Relations to recognize a public employee union as the exclusive representative of an employee unit when a majority of employees sign a union, authorization card.

Yea

Nay

(03/10/2009)

Yea

Nay

(03/25/2009)

Yea

Nay

(04/23/2009)