City of Granger, Decision 12976 (PECB, 2019)
STATE OF WASHINGTON
BEFORE THE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION
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In the matter of the joint petition of:
City of Granger
and
teamsters local 760
For clarification of an existing bargaining unit.
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CASE 130757-C-18
DECISION 12976 - PECB
ORDER CLARIFYING BARGAINING UNIT
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Richard Salinas, Business Representative, for Teamsters Local 760.
Jose Trevino, Mayor, for the City of Granger.
On July 16, 2018, Teamsters Local 760 (union) and the City of Granger (employer) jointly filed a unit clarification petition concerning police chief and police lieutenant positions working at the employer’s police department. The police chief is currently included in an existing bargaining unit of department heads. The employer recently created the police lieutenant position. The parties assert that the creation of the new police lieutenant position constitutes a change of circumstances that warrants review of the bargaining unit status of the police chief and police lieutenant positions. The parties seek to remove the police chief position from the existing department heads bargaining unit and create a new unit comprised of the police chief and police lieutenant positions because those positions share a community of interest.
Based upon the stipulated facts, it is appropriate to remove the police chief position from the existing department heads bargaining unit and place that position in a newly created bargaining unit with the police lieutenant. Both positions are supervisory positions that share a community of interest and both positions are uniformed positions eligible for interest arbitration as defined by RCW 41.56.030(13)(a) and WAC 391-35-310 that must be in their own separate bargaining unit.
BACKGROUND
The City of Granger is located in the Yakima Valley. The city’s current population is approximately 3,905 people which makes all of the uniformed police officer’s working for the city interest arbitration eligible. RCW 41.56.030(13)(a). The city is governed by an elected mayor and a five-member city council and offers a variety of municipal services, include police services.
The employer’s police department is headed by a police chief and includes approximately six nonsupervisory officers. The police chief is responsible for commanding and overseeing all police department operations and police department personnel. The police chief is currently included in a bargaining unit of department heads that includes the public works director and city clerk-treasurer. The union represents the department heads bargaining unit. It appears that this bargaining unit was created through voluntary recognition.[1]
The union also represents a bargaining unit comprised of all regular full-time and part-time uniformed police officers that includes employees up to the rank of sergeant. The department has not utilized the rank of police lieutenant.
On January 29, 2017, the employer created a new police lieutenant position. The job duties of the Police Lieutenant position include planning, supervising, and reviewing the activities of all police department personnel assigned to patrol operations.
The union has petitioned for the removal of the police chief position from the department heads bargaining unit and the creation of a new supervisory bargaining unit to include the police chief and police lieutenant positions. The employer joins the union in stipulating to the appropriateness of such a unit clarification.
ANALYSIS
Applicable Legal Standard
The determination of appropriate bargaining units is a function delegated to this agency by the legislature. City of Richland, Decision 279-A (PECB, 1978), aff’d, International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 1052 v. Public Employment Relations Commission, 29 Wn. App. 599 (1981), review denied, 96 Wn.2d 1004 (1981). The goal in making bargaining unit determinations is to group together employees who have sufficient similarities (community of interest) to indicate that they will be able to bargain effectively with their employer. Quincy School District, Decision 3962-A (PECB, 1993).
Included in this agency’s authority to determine an appropriate bargaining unit is the power to modify that unit, upon request, through a unit clarification proceeding. University of Washington, Decision 11590 (PSRA, 2012), aff’d, Decision 11590-A (PSRA, 2013); see also Pierce County, Decision 7018-A (PECB, 2001). Unit clarification cases are governed by the provisions of Chapter 391-35 WAC. The general purpose of the unit clarification process is to provide this agency, as well as the parties to a collective bargaining relationship, a mechanism to make changes to an appropriate bargaining unit based upon a change of circumstances. See, e.g., Toppenish School District, Decision 1143-A (PECB, 1981). Unit clarification proceedings can be used to determine the bargaining unit placement of newly-created positions. WAC 391-35-020(1)(a).
Generally, supervisors are not included in the same bargaining units as the employees they supervise. WAC 391-35-340. The exclusion of supervisors from the rank-and-file bargaining unit predates the 2001 codification of WAC 391-35-340. City of Tacoma, Decision 95-A (PECB, 1977); City of Richland, Decision 279-A. Separating supervisors from the rank-and-file bargaining unit avoids the potential for conflicts of interest that would otherwise exist in a combined bargaining unit. WAC 391-35-340.
In certain situations, employees that may otherwise share a community of interest must be in separate bargaining units due to the separate impasse resolution procedures established for them. Employees defined as “uniformed personnel” under RCW 41.56.030(13) are eligible for interest arbitration. Because uniformed personnel have separate and different impasse procedures, they cannot be in the same bargaining unit as nonuniformed personnel who are not eligible for interest arbitration. WAC 391-35-310; Chelan Public Hospital District 2, Decision 11395 (PECB, 2012).
Application of Standard
The parties’ joint request to move the police chief from the department heads bargaining unit into a new unit with the police lieutenant is granted because the police chief and police lieutenant are uniformed employees who must be in a bargaining unit with other uniformed employees. WAC 391-35-310. The creation of the new police lieutenant position also constitutes a change of circumstances that warrants review of the existing department heads bargaining unit and the continued appropriateness of including the police chief in that bargaining unit.
The stipulated facts demonstrate that both the police chief and police lieutenant positions are responsible for overseeing and directing the activities of subordinate police department employees. The police chief and police lieutenant develop departmental policies and goals and recommend priorities and objectives and assist in the implementation of new policies and directives. Additionally, they are responsible for enforcing departmental rules and for investigating officer misconduct. Should the need for discipline arise, the police chief and police lieutenant participate on behalf of the employer in all disciplinary actions as well as any grievances that result from the disciplinary process. These facts demonstrate that the two positions share a community of interest as both positions are the only positions in the employer’s workforce responsible for overseeing the operation of the police department.
Furthermore, these facts demonstrate the police chief and police lieutenant possess a separate community from the rank-and-file officers. The rank-and-file officers take direction from the police chief and police lieutenant and are required to follow their directions. They do not participate in the development of department policies and are not responsible for the implementation of those policies. In order to avoid conflicts of interest, the police chief and police lieutenant are placed in their own bargaining unit separate and apart from the department heads and uniformed officers bargaining units.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The City of Granger (employer) is a public employer within the meaning of RCW 41.56.030(12).
2. Teamsters Local 760 is a bargaining representative within the meaning of RCW 41.56.030(2).
3. The union represents a bargaining unit of the employer’s department heads. That bargaining unit is currently described as follows:
All full-time and part-time department heads employed by the City of Granger, including city clerk treasurer, public works director, and police chief, and excluding all other positions.
4. The union also represents a nonsupervisory bargaining unit of uniformed law enforcement personnel. That bargaining unit is currently described as follows:
All regular full-time and regular part-time uniformed police officers and police sergeants of the City of Granger, excluding administrative supervisors, confidential employees, and all other employees of the City of Granger.
5. The job duties of the police chief position include commanding and overseeing all police department operations and police department personnel, which includes the members of the nonsupervisory uniformed officers unit.
6. On January 29, 2017, the employer created a new police lieutenant position. The job duties of the position include planning, supervising, and reviewing the activities of all police department personnel assigned to patrol operations, which includes the members of the nonsupervisory uniformed officers unit.
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. Based upon findings of fact 5-6, a change of circumstances has occurred, and it is appropriate for the police chief and police lieutenant to be placed in a new bargaining unit together.
ORDER
The department heads bargaining unit represented by Teamsters Local 760 is modified to remove the police chief position and shall be described as:
All full-time and part-time department heads employed by the City of Granger, including city clerk treasurer and public works director and excluding all other employees.
A new bargaining unit represented by Teamsters Local 760 is created and shall be described as:
All supervisory police employees employed by the City of Granger, including the police chief and police lieutenant positions and excluding uniformed police officers, police sergeants, and all other employees.
ISSUED at Olympia, Washington, this 1st day of March, 2019.
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION
MICHAEL P. SELLARS, 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] Historically, all of the employees in the employer’s workforce were included in a single bargaining unit, including the police officers and police chief. Town of Granger, Decision 2634 (PECB, 1987). This bargaining unit configuration was appropriate at the time of certification because the population of the town did not exceed 2,500 people and therefore the police officers and police chief were not interest arbitration eligible. See also City of Winlock, Decision 4056 (PECB, 1992), aff’d, City of Winlock, Decision 4056-B (PECB, 1993). Once the population of the city reached 2,500 persons, all of the officers and police chief became interest arbitration eligible employees. RCW 41.56.030(13). Arguably, the police chief should have been removed from the department heads bargaining unit when that position became interest arbitration eligible. In 2005, the police were placed in their own bargaining unit but no agency decision explains how the police officers were removed from the existing all-employees bargaining unit configuration. See City of Granger, Decision 8977-A (PECB, 2005) (certifying the nonsupervisory police officers’ bargaining unit).