PRINTER'S NO. 2136
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
1278
Session of
2018
INTRODUCED BY EICHELBERGER, MARTIN, DiSANTO AND FOLMER,
OCTOBER 25, 2018
REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, OCTOBER 25, 2018
AN ACT
Amending the act of July 23, 1970 (P.L.563, No.195), entitled
"An act establishing rights in public employes to organize
and bargain collectively through selected representatives;
defining public employes to include employes of nonprofit
organizations and institutions; providing compulsory
mediation and fact-finding, for collective bargaining
impasses; providing arbitration for certain public employes
for collective bargaining impasses; defining the scope of
collective bargaining; establishing unfair employe and
employer practices; prohibiting strikes for certain public
employes; permitting strikes under limited conditions;
providing penalties for violations; and establishing
procedures for implementation," in definitions, further
providing for definitions, in employee rights, providing for
payments to employee organizations and resignation from
employee organization; in representation, further providing
for exclusive representation and providing for
recertification; in scope of bargaining, further providing
for membership dues deductions and maintenance of membership
and providing for collection of payments from nonmembers; and
making related repeals.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 301 of the act of July 23, 1970 (P.L.563,
No.195), known as the Public Employe Relations Act, is amended
by adding clauses to read:
Section 301. As used in this act:
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(20) "Nonmember" means a public employe in a collective
bargaining unit who is not a member of the employe organization
that serves as the exclusive representative for the collective
bargaining unit.
(21) "Independent bargaining" or "to bargain independently"
means to bargain between a public employer and a public employe
with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment,
adjustment of grievances or other terms and conditions of
employment without the intervention of an employe organization,
bargaining agent or exclusive bargaining representative.
Independent bargaining shall not:
(i) grant any greater or lesser rights or privileges to
public employes who have chosen to represent themselves in a
unit with an exclusive representative than those public employes
in a unit without an exclusive bargaining representative; or
(ii) grant any greater or lesser duties or obligations for a
public employer to public employes who have chosen to represent
themselves in a unit with an exclusive bargaining representative
than those duties or obligations the public employer owes to
public employes in a unit without an exclusive bargaining
representative.
(22) "Affirmative consent" means a knowing, voluntary and
explicit agreement by a public employe to financially support an
employe organization, and waiver of the employe's right or
privilege not to do so. Affirmative consent shall be provided in
written form and signed by the public employe.
Section 2. The act is amended by adding sections to read:
Section 402. (a) A public employer shall notify, in
writing, all public employes in a collective bargaining unit
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that there is no statutory obligation by nonmembers to make any
payments to the employe organization that serves as the
nonmember's exclusive representative. The notice shall specify
the following:
(1) A payment may not be made to the employe organization
unless the employe affirmatively consents to make the payment.
(2) A payment to the employe organization shall not be
necessary to maintain employment.
(b) The notice required under subsection (a) shall be given
annually and may be given by mailing a letter by first class
mail to the address of the employe organization or other means
deemed appropriate by the board.
(c) Prior to the hiring of a new public employe, the public
employer, when applicable, shall notify the applicant of the
following:
(1) Membership in the employe organization that serves as
the exclusive representative of the collective bargaining unit
is not a condition of employment with the public employer.
(2) The applicant may opt to be a nonmember by not giving
affirmative consent. As a nonmember, the applicant has no
statutory obligation to make a payment to the employe
organization.
Section 403. (a) No collective bargaining agreement entered
into on or after January 1, 2019, may establish conditions for
when a public employe may join or resign from an employe
organization acting as the exclusive representative of a unit.
(b) A public employe may resign from an employe organization
at any time.
(c) Resignation shall become effective thirty days after the
date of mailing a letter by first class mail to the address of
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the employe organization or other means deemed appropriate by
the board.
(d) A stamped receipt from a United States Post Office or
other evidence deemed appropriate by the board shall constitute
proof of mailing.
Section 404. (a) No membership dues or any portion thereof
may be deducted from the wages of a public employe, except on
receipt by the public employer of the affirmative consent of the
employe. Affirmative consent cannot be presumed. To be
effective, the affirmative consent must be freely given and
expressed in writing.
(b) Affirmative consent provided to public employers shall
include the following language:
I recognize that I have a First Amendment right to associate.
My rights provide that I am not compelled to pay an employe
organization as a condition of employment, and I do not have to
sign this waiver. However, I am hereby choosing to associate
with the herein named employe organization and affirmatively
consent to allow my employer to deduct payments to such employe
organization until such time as I choose to revoke this
authorization.
(c) The provision under subsection (b) shall be written in
bold and in all caps and shall be in a font that is equal to or
larger than any other font found in the text of the form. This
waiver shall be a standalone document and shall not be a part of
a document that serves additional purposes or has additional
provisions.
(d) An employe labor organization may present a public
employe with an affirmative consent form on the commencement of
employment, but not more often than annually thereafter. If any
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information related to the waiver or the potential execution of
the affirmative consent is provided to any employe in any form,
representatives of the employer and any relevant union shall be
given the equivalent ability to provide information in the same
format to that employe.
(e) No deadline or any other like requirement may be placed
on the employe for the potential execution of the affirmative
consent.
(f) The following is prohibited in any communication or
action that is in any manner related to the potential execution
of the affirmative consent:
(1) Requiring any employe to attend a meeting with the
purpose of influencing the decision of an employe to execute or
not execute the affirmative consent.
(2) Requesting any employe to announce the employe's
decision to execute or not to execute the affirmative consent at
any particular place or time.
(3) Any communication by any means directed at an employe's
home.
(4) Any communication directed in any manner, direct or
indirect, to any person other than the employe himself or
herself or other employes of the same employer.
(5) The promise or provision of any inducement or thing of
value, other than a description of membership benefits in the
union in question.
(6) The threat of any negative action of any kind,
including, but not limited to, placement on a public list or
exclusion from any benefit, event or activity that is a part of
the employe's employment.
Section 3. Section 606 of the act is amended to read:
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Section 606. (a) Representatives selected by public
employes in a unit appropriate for collective bargaining
purposes shall be the exclusive representative of all the
employes in such unit that have not chosen to independently
bargain to bargain on wages, hours, terms and conditions of
employment[: Provided, That any]. Any individual employe or a
group of employes shall have the right at any time to [present
grievances to their employer and to have them adjusted]
independently bargain without the intervention of the bargaining
representative. [as long as the adjustment is not inconsistent
with the terms of a collective bargaining contract then in
effect: And, provided further, That the bargaining
representative has been given an opportunity to be present at
such adjustment.]
(b) Public employes shall have the right to independently
bargain in the employes' relations with the public employer.
(c) No provision of any agreement between an employe
organization and a public employer or any other public policy
shall impose representation by an employe organization on public
employes who are not members of that organization and have
chosen to bargain independently. Nothing in any collective
bargaining agreement shall limit a public employe's ability to
negotiate with the employe's public employer or adjust the
employe's grievances directly with the employe's public
employer, nor shall a resolution of any such negotiation or
grievance be controlled or limited by the terms of a collective
bargaining agreement.
(d) There shall be not more than one exclusive bargaining
representative designated by the board pursuant to the
provisions of this act as the representative of the public
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employes in an appropriate collective bargaining unit.
(e) No provision of any agreement between an employe
organization and a public employer or any other public policy
shall impose any wages or conditions of employment for members
of an employe organization that are linked or contingent on
wages or conditions of employment to public employes who are not
members of an employe organization.
Section 4. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 608. (a) The board shall conduct periodic
recertification elections using a secret ballot vote among the
public employes in a collective bargaining unit to determine if
the majority of the employes desire to continue representation.
(b) The board shall conduct recertification elections on
expiration of a collective bargaining agreement, but not less
than every three years.
(c) To meet the recertification requirement, continuation of
the employe organization's status as the representative shall be
favored in a secret ballot election conducted by the board by
more than fifty per cent of the public employes in the
collective bargaining unit.
(d) If public employes vote to end representation under
subsection (c), the current representative's duties, including
collection of dues, fees and grievance arbitration, shall
terminate, provided that the collective bargaining agreement
shall remain in effect with respect to wages, hours and
conditions of employment.
(e) If public employes do not recertify the public employes'
current representative under subsection (c), public employes in
the unit may certify a new representative in accordance with
this section so long as the public employes are not included
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with a substantially similar or affiliated representative to the
decertified representative for two years from the date of
decertification.
(f) The board shall assess and collect a fee from each
representative participating in an election conducted under this
section for the purpose of paying for the election as follows:
(1) For a bargaining unit of one to one hundred members, a
fee of two hundred dollars ($200).
(2) For a bargaining unit of one hundred one to two hundred
fifty members, a fee of three hundred fifty dollars ($350).
(3) For a bargaining unit of two hundred fifty-one to five
hundred members, a fee of five hundred dollars ($500).
(4) For a bargaining unit of five hundred one to one
thousand members, a fee of seven hundred fifty dollars ($750).
(5) For a bargaining unit of one thousand one to three
thousand members, a fee of one thousand five hundred dollars
($1,500).
(6) For a bargaining unit of more than three thousand
members, a fee of two thousand dollars ($2,000).
Section 5. Section 705 of the act is amended to read:
Section 705. Membership dues deductions and maintenance of
membership are proper subjects of bargaining with the proviso
that as to the latter, the payment of dues and assessments while
members, may be the only requisite employment condition[.],
provided that on and after January 1, 2019, maintenance of
membership shall not be a proper subject of bargaining and no
collective bargaining agreement entered into on or after January
1, 2019, may contain the provision.
Section 6. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 706. A public employer may not collect through a
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wage deduction any form of payment from a nonmember to an
employe organization.
Section 7. Repeals are as follows:
(1) The General Assembly declares that the repeals under
paragraph (2) are necessary to effectuate the addition of
sections 301(20), 402 and 706 of the act.
(2) The following acts and parts of acts are repealed:
(i) Section 2215 of the act of April 9, 1929
(P.L.177, No.175), known as The Administrative Code of
1929.
(ii) The act of June 2, 1993 (P.L.45, No.15), known
as the Public Employee Fair Share Fee Law, is repealed.
Section 8. This act shall take effect in 30 days.
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