While the quote, “The men certainly don’t have to work there; if they are dissatisfied, they can leave. That is every man’s right,” has been paraphrased by some in our area regarding the negotiations between the city of Toledo and Teamsters Local 20, it was first said in 1915. It was stated by J.P. Morgan when testifying before the Federal Relations Commission and reported by the Boston  Evening Transcript on Feb. 2, 1915. Almost 100 years later, though collective bargaining laws have changed a great deal since then, some of the attitudes have not.

I asked  Sherrie J. Passmore, executive director of the State Employment Relations Board (SERB), “What is fact-finding?”

Passmore said, “Fact-finding is a dispute settlement created under the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Chapter 4117. It is designed to resolve contract negotiations utilizing a neutral third party, who conducts an informal hearing in which the parties present evidence and arguments to the neutral as to why the contract should be modified.”

The city of Toledo and Teamsters opted for an alternative dispute process, which means they did not use a fact-finder through SERB. It’s called a mutually agreed alternate dispute settlement (MADs).

While SERB is not actively involved in the current negotiations, Passmore said, “They can get back into the statutory process by filing a motion with SERB.”

According to the Ohio Administrative Code,  the joint motion “must contain a commitment by the parties to complete the statutory procedure without deviation and without re-institution of an alternate dispute settlement procedure.”

There are standardized fact-finding guidelines and SERB has requirements for those seeking to be listed on their “SERB Roster of Neutrals.” Paul Gerhart is not on its roster, but since the city and the Teamsters opted for a MADs, they were free to pick any fact-finder mutually agreed upon. Gerhart has been a fact-finder in Toledo union/management disputes in the past.

There are six criteria listed in the ORC to be considered when making a recommendation, three of which are:

1. Past collectively bargained agreements, if any, between the parties;

2. Comparison of the unresolved issues relative to the employees in the bargaining unit with those issues related to other public and private employees doing comparable work, giving consideration to factors peculiar to the area and classification involved;

3. The interests and welfare of the public, the ability of the public employer to finance and administer the issues proposed and the effect of the adjustments on the normal standard of public service.

The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association states in a 2009 AFSMCE Local 11 AFL-CIO publication, that “fact-finding is a poor substitute for direct negotiations because of the uncertainty of involving an outsider. There is no prioritizing. There is no grouping of issues. There is no give-and-take. The fact-finder can pick either management’s position, the union’s position, or a compromise in between.”

A fact-finder report automatically goes into effect if it is not rejected by a three-fifths majority vote of the  legislative body or the membership of the public employee organization.  As we saw in Toledo, all it takes is one side to reject, no matter the majority of the other party in support, the recommendations are still rejected.

Once it’s rejected, if it’s a union that is not allowed to strike, like public safety workers, a conciliator selection process would start.

In the case of Teamsters Local 20, they can return back to discussions,  jointly motion SERB with the City or they can issue a 10-day strike notice.

Fact-finding is just one part of the collective bargaining process, while it can create an agreement when there is no rejection, a rejection does not automatically mean a strike will take place. Sometimes it just means a return to the negotiating table, something else that has been happening time and time again in union/management relationships.

Toledo Free Press contributor Lisa Renee Ward operates the political blog GlassCityJungle.com.

Tags: City of Toledo, Glass City Jungle, Shredding the Curtain

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 26th, 2010 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Glass City Jungle, Opinion, Shredding the Curtain.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.