By: Chris Casillas and Jordan L. Jones
In Washington State University, Examiner Whitney held that the University did not refuse to bargain when it reduced the wages of its employees in the Facilities Operations, Custodial Services unit. Examiner Whitney stated that the University’s changes to the bargaining unit’s wages were made in conformance with their current 2013-2015 CBA.
In this case, the Public School Employees of Washington (Union) was certified as the exclusive bargaining representative of all the non-supervisory employees in the Facilities Operations, Custodial Services unit at the Pullman campus on October 10, 2014. Subsequently, on October 14, 2014, the University sent letters to the newly represented employees that 34 of them would be receiving a reduction in their wages by moving them down a step in the salary schedule to conform with the CBA.
The Union filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) stating that the employer refused to bargain in violation of RCW 41.80.110(1)(e) and (a) when it reduced the bargaining unit employees’ wages. Specifically, the Union argued that “the new employees at the Pullman campus were not covered in the initial [CBA] . . . because the employee’s classifications at the Pullman campus were different from those [described in the CBA] at the Tri-Cities campus.” In other words, the Union claimed that the newly certified bargaining unit in Pullman was not considered when the Union bargained the 2013-2015 CBA, and therefore the Union did not waive its right to bargain the wages for these newly represented employees.
The University, on the other hand, argued that the CBA for 2013-2015 applied to this new bargaining unit and that the reduction in wages was made in conformance with the parties’ existing CBA, which stated that the employer was to follow the State’s Higher Educational Salary Schedule. The University contended that the 34 employees now unionized who were in a higher wage grade, step m, had be reduced to step l to follow the State’s salary schedule as outlined in the CBA, which only went to step l. The University further argued that the Union waived its right to re-bargain its wages under the CBA for 2013-2015.
Examiner Whitney stated that while wages are a mandatory subject of bargaining, the Union failed to prove that the University’s change to the employees’ wages was not in conformance with the applicable 2013-2015 CBA, which was following the State’s Higher Educational Salary Schedule. Examiner Whitney noted that the clear language of the CBA indicated that the parties intended the 2013-2015 agreement to include the Pullman campus bargaining unit and that:
The parties agreed to Article 1 – Recognition, Section 1.5, which clearly states that the parties bargained in good faith and waived their right to bargain any subjects covered in the agreement during the term of the agreement.
Examiner Whitney subsequently dismissed the ULP complaint made against the University.
Although not expressly discussed in the opinion, RCW 41.80.080(2)(a) makes clear that if a master collective bargaining agreement is already in effect for an exclusive bargaining representative, any newly certified bargaining unit is to be automatically covered by the agreement already in effect for that representative (this is a unique statutory framework applicable only to State civil service employees). The Recognition provision in the parties’ current collective bargaining agreement effectively memorialized this statutory requirement, which was recognized by the Examiner. By way of comparison, this decision stands in contrast to another Commission decision involving the Fish and Wildlife Officer’s Guild, Decision 11394-B, which was recently overturned on appeal by the King County Superior Court and is pending in front of Division I of the Court of Appeals. While the State’s argument in both cases was similar, by way of contrast, the Fish and Wildlife Officer’s Guild was a new exclusive representative, which the courts have recognized could not be bound by a collective bargaining agreement that it did not bargain over and indicate its consent.
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