Mead School District, Decision 10843 (PECB, 2010)
STATE OF WASHINGTON
BEFORE THE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION
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In the matter of the petition of:
MEAD CLASSIFIED PUBLIC EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION
For clarification of an existing bargaining unit of employees of:
MEAD SCHOOL DISTRICT
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CASE 22947-C-10-1424
DECISION 10843 - PECB
ORDER OF DISMISSAL |
Kelly Shea, Executive Director of Human Services, for the Mead School District.
Mike Boyer, UniServ Representative, for the Mead Classified Public Employees Association.
Eric T. Nordlof, General Counsel, for the intervenor, Public School Employees of Washington.
On January 4, 2010, the Mead Classified Public Employees Association (MCPEA) filed a unit clarification petition seeking to add a single position of Administrative Assistant I, Help Desk for Information Service (AAI)[1] to its existing bargaining unit of nonsupervisory maintenance and custodial employees working at Mead School District (employer).[2] Public School Employees of Washington (PSE) moved to intervene, claiming that it represents the disputed position. Hearing Officer Karyl Elinski granted the motion to intervene and conducted a hearing on the matter. MCPEA and PSE filed post-hearing briefs which were considered.
ISSUE: Is a unit clarification appropriate to resolve the matters at issue?
On the basis of the record presented, the applicable rules, statutes, and case precedent, the Executive Director rules that the position at issue is already represented for purposes of collective bargaining, and the petitioner does not have standing to file a unit clarification petition under WAC 391-35-010. The position of AAI has been continuously represented by PSE since it was first created in 2004 as Administrative Assistant II, Help Desk for Information Service (AAII). The position was upgraded to AAI in 2007, and the incumbent retained the position.[3]
APPLICABLE LEGAL STANDARDS
Under RCW 41.56.060, the Commission may determine, modify, or combine appropriate bargaining units. In cases regarding a question of representation, the Commission has the authority to certify, decertify, or change the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit. Toppenish School District, Decision 10394-A (PECB, 2009).
However, WAC 391-35-010 addresses unit clarification cases and specifically limits who may file a unit clarification petition. The rule states that a “petition for clarification of an existing bargaining unit may be filed by the employer, the exclusive representative, or their agents, or by the parties jointly.” Toppenish School District, Decision 10394-A.
ANALYSIS
The petitioner filed its unit clarification case based on its assertion that the AAI position should be placed in its unit of custodians and combined trades employees (including computer technicians). PSE claims that it represents the position at issue. Both the petitioner and PSE deny the existence of a question concerning representation.
PSE was originally certified to represent a unit of all full-time and regular part-time employees in the general job classification of aides, excluding supervisors and confidential employees, and all other employees. Mead School District, Decision 2751 (PECB, 1987). PSE’s collective bargaining agreement, in effect from August 1, 2008 through July 31, 2011, describes its unit as:
all full-time and part-time classified employees in the following general job classifications: Administrative Assistants Level I and II, to be defined as: Educational Secretary, Bookkeeper, Assistant Secretary, Food Service Secretary, Special Services Secretary, Technology Secretary, Warehouse Secretary, Transportation Secretary, Buildings and Grounds Secretary and Substitute-Services Secretary. This Agreement specifically excludes all confidential exempt secretaries.
The positions of AAI and AAII, including Technology Secretary, are specifically included in the existing bargaining unit represented by PSE. Evidence presented at the hearing established that AAI and AAII positions are the same as the Technology Secretary position described in the collective bargaining agreement.
In Mead School District, Decision 3301 (PECB, 1989), the Public Employment Relations Commission certified MCPEA as the exclusive bargaining representative of the following:
All full-time and regular part-time custodial, maintenance and mechanic employees of Mead School District; excluding supervisors, confidential employees, and all other employees of the district.
The current collective bargaining agreement between the employer and the MCPEA, effective from September 1, 2008 through August 31, 2011, defines the bargaining unit as:
All Custodians, and Combined Trades employees (including general maintenance, journey level maintenance, mechanics, warehouse employees, and computer technicians). This excludes all administrative employees, administrative assistants, and other clerical employees.
Through its petition for unit clarification, MCPEA seeks to include the AAI position in its bargaining unit of computer technicians, and maintenance and custodial workers. As background, the AAI position evolved from the AAII position that was first created in August 2004 and placed in the PSE bargaining unit. Carol Hatcher is the first and only person who has ever held the position. The primary responsibilities of the position are to provide secretarial support to the employer’s information systems department, and to assist the employer’s computer users with computer problems, either directly by telephone, or by dispatching technicians when Hatcher is unable to solve a problem. The job description for the AAII position specifies that it is part-time (six hours per day, 210 days per year) and enumerates the remaining duties: answering phones, responding to help line calls, troubleshooting basic computer software problems, maintaining work orders for hardware repair, working cooperatively with staff, assisting with walk-in inquiries, maintaining cell phones, entering data and maintaining inventory and warranties, checking out loaner equipment, servicing the copier, and providing general office support and “other assignments as needed.”
The record is abundantly clear that PSE has long represented, and continues to represent, the position at issue. The fact that PSE intervened in this matter in order to defend the integrity of its bargaining unit does not create a “dispute,” nor does it create a situation where an unrepresented or newly created unrepresented position is claimed by two unions. West Valley School District, Decision 9949-A (PECB, 2008).
CONCLUSION
Because the position at issue is already represented for purposes of collective bargaining by PSE, the petitioner lacks standing to file a unit clarification petition. WAC 391-35-010. The petitioner’s unit clarification petition is hereby dismissed.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The Mead School District is a school district operated under Title 28A RCW, and is a “public employer” within the meaning of RCW 41.56.020 and RCW 41.56.030(1).
2. Mead Classified Public Employees Association, a bargaining representative within the meaning of RCW 41.56.030(3), is the exclusive bargaining representative of:
all Custodians, and Combined Trades employees (including general maintenance, journey level maintenance, mechanics, warehouse employees, and computer technicians.) This excludes all administrative employees, administrative assistants, and other clerical employees.
3. Public School Employees of Washington, a bargaining representative within the meaning of RCW 41.56.030(3), is the exclusive bargaining representative of:
all full-time and part-time classified employees in the following general job classifications: Administrative Assistants Level I and II, to be defined as: Educational Secretary, Bookkeeper, Assistant Secretary, Food Service Secretary, Special Services Secretary, Technology Secretary, Warehouse Secretary, Transportation Secretary, Buildings and Grounds Secretary and Substitute-Services Secretary. This Agreement specifically excludes all confidential exempt secretaries.
4. The Administrative Assistant II, Help Desk for Information Service position was first created in 2004 and was placed in the PSE bargaining unit at that time.
5. In 2007, the employer promoted Carol Hatcher, the incumbent Administrative Assistant II, Help Desk for Information Service, to a newly-created Administrative Assistant I, Help Desk for Information Service position.
6. The petitioner is not, and has never been, the exclusive representative of the position at issue.
7. PSE is the collective bargaining representative of the Administrative Assistant I, Help Desk for Information position.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. The Public Employment Relations Commission has jurisdiction in this matter under Chapter 41.56 RCW and Chapter 391-35 WAC.
2. MCPEA does not have standing to file a unit clarification petition regarding the Administrative Assistant I or II, Help Desk for Information Service position pursuant to WAC 391-35-010.
ORDER
1. PSE’s motion to strike MCPEA’s post-hearing brief is denied.
2. The unit clarification petition filed by the Mead Classified Employees Association is hereby dismissed. The Administrative Assistant I, Help Desk for Information Service position shall continue to be included in the bargaining unit represented by Public School Employees of Washington.
Issued at Olympia, Washington, on the 13th day of September, 2010.
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION
CATHLEEN CALLAHAN, Executive Director
This order will be the final order of the
agency unless a notice of appeal is filed
with the Commission under WAC 391-35-210.
[1] The petition in this matter also raised an issue concerning division of the bargaining unit into maintenance and custodial groups. That matter was docketed as Case 22946-C-10-1423, and is not relevant to the issue in this case. Although still pending, the division of the bargaining unit was not litigated by the parties in this proceeding and, therefore, will not be addressed in this decision.
[2] After the parties filed post-hearing briefs, PSE filed a motion to strike MCPEA’s brief, claiming that it was not timely filed. The proof of service attached to MCPEA’s brief indicates that MCPEA served its post-hearing brief on PSE by U.S. Mail on June 21, 2010, as agreed to by PSE, MCPEA, and the Hearing Officer. This agreement was set forth in the hearing transcript. PSE’s motion to strike is denied.
[3] Unless noted otherwise, AAI and AAII refer only to the position at issue: Administrative Assistant I or II, Help Desk for Information Service.