City of Tacoma, Decision 13205 (PECB, 2020)
STATE OF WASHINGTON
BEFORE THE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION
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In the matter of the petition of: City of Tacoma and PROTEC17 and international brotherhood of electrical workers local 483 For clarification of an existing bargaining unit. |
CASE 132620-C-20 DECISION 13205 - PECB ORDER CLARIFYING BARGAINING UNIT |
Karen Estevenin, Executive Director, for PROTEC17.
Alice Phillips, Business Manager/Financial Secretary, for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 483.
Dylan Carlson, Senior Labor Relations Manager, for the City of Tacoma.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 483 (Local 483) represents a bargaining unit of supervisory employees that work in the Environmental Services Department. PROTEC17 represents a supervisory bargaining unit at the City of Tacoma (employer) that also includes certain employees working in the Environmental Services Department. PROTEC17’s bargaining unit includes employees in the Solid Waste Collection Supervisor and Solid Waste Route Supervisor job classes. City of Tacoma, Decision 5085-B (PECB, 1995). The two Solid Waste Collection Supervisors supervise the Solid Waste Route Supervisors.
During negotiations for the most recent collective bargaining agreement between PROTEC17 and the employer, the parties agreed that the Solid Waste Collection Supervisors should be removed from PROTEC17’s supervisory bargaining unit to avoid continued conflicts of interest with the Solid Waste Route Supervisors. The parties also agreed that Local 483’s supervisory bargaining unit is the appropriate location for the Solid Waste Collection Supervisors. On March 9, 2020, the parties jointly filed a unit clarification petition asking this agency to clarify the Solid Waste Collection Supervisors into Local 483’s supervisory bargaining unit
The parties request to move the Solid Waste Collection Supervisor to Local 483’s supervisory bargaining unit is granted. The parties jointly stipulated that the Solid Waste Collection Supervisors assigns work, evaluates, and disciplines the Solid Waste Route Supervisor job class. The Solid Waste Collection Supervisors also can effectively recommend that a Solid Waste Route Supervisor be promoted, hired, terminated, and adjust grievances raised by the Solid Waste Route Supervisors. Based upon these stipulations, the Solid Waste Collection Supervisors perform a preponderance of the supervisory duties and to include them in the same bargaining unit as the Solid Waste Route Supervisors would create a conflict of interest. Finally, the Solid Waste Collection Supervisors must be placed in Local 483’s bargaining unit to avoid stranding those positions.
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.
Application of Standard
The parties’ joint request to move the Solid Waste Collection Supervisor Local 483’s bargaining unit is granted. The stipulated facts demonstrate that Solid Waste Supervisor is responsible for overseeing and directing the activities of the subordinate Solid Waste Route supervisor, including assigning work, performing employee evaluations, and disciplining the Solid Waste Route Supervisor job class. The Solid Waste Collection Supervisors also effectively recommend that a Solid Waste Route Supervisors be promoted, hired, terminated and also adjust grievances raised by the Solid Waste Route Supervisors. Additionally, they are responsible for enforcing departmental rules and for investigating misconduct. Should the need for discipline arise, the Solid Waste Collection Supervisors 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 a conflict of interest exists between the Solid Waste Collection Supervisors and Solid Waste Route Supervisors and that the positions do not share a community of interest.
In order to avoid conflicts of interest, the Solid Waste Collection Supervisors must be placed in a bargaining unit separate and apart from the employees they supervise. Bargaining units in the employer’s work force have been traditionally organized by grouping similar job classes together. See, e.g., City of Tacoma, Decision 5085-B. If the two Solid Waste Collection Supervisors were allowed to remain unrepresented, they would be the only unrepresented supervisory employees of their level in their department. In this case, a bargaining unit of just two employees in a single job class would unduly fragment the employer’s workforce. The parties agree that the Solid Waste Collection Supervisors shares a community of interest with Local 483’s bargaining unit, which includes employees in the Customer Accounts Supervisor, Fire Electrical Maintenance Supervisor, Traffic Field Operations Supervisor, and Biosolids Supervisor job classes. The community of interest for these positions is based upon their supervisory status and to add the Solid Collections Supervisor to this bargaining unit would not disrupt the existing community of interest.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The City of Tacoma is a public employer within the meaning of RCW 41.56.030(12).
2. PROTEC17 is a bargaining representative within the meaning of RCW 41.56.030(2).
3. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 483 is a bargaining representative within the meaning of RCW 41.56.030(2).
4. PROTEC17 represents a bargaining unit of employees working for the employer’s Environmental Services Department that is currently described as follows:
All full-time and regular part-time employees working at the City of Tacoma in the following job classes: Animal Control & Compliance Supervisor; Building Maintenance Supervisor; Carpenter Crew Leader; Chief Surveyor; Code Inspector Supervisor; Construction Inspection Supervisor; Construction Manager; Forensic Services Supervisor; Grounds Maintenance Supervisor; LID Representative, Senior; Painter Crew Leader; Parking Enforcement Supervisor; Permit Specialist, Senior; Recovery & Transfer Center Supervisor; Road Use Compliance Supervisor; Sewer Transmission Systems Maintenance Supervisor; Solid Waste Collection Supervisor; Solid Waste Route Supervisor; Street Maintenance Supervisor; Utility Services Supervisor; WWTP Operations Supervisor; and Utility Services Representative, Senior; Excluding: confidential employees and all other employees.
5. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 483 represents a bargaining unit currently described as:
All full-time and regular part-time employees working at the City of Tacoma in the following job classes: Customer Accounts Supervisor, Fire Electrical Maintenance Supervisor, Traffic Field Operations Supervisor, and Biosolids Supervisor; excluding: confidential employees and all other employees.
6. The Solid Waste Supervisor in the bargaining unit described in finding of fact 4 is responsible for overseeing and directing the activities of the subordinate Solid Waste Route Supervisor also described in finding of fact 4, including assigning work, performing employee evaluations, and disciplining the Solid Waste Route Supervisor job class. The Solid Waste Collection Supervisors also effectively recommend that a Solid Waste Route Supervisor be promoted, hired, terminated, and also adjust grievances raised by the Solid Waste Route Supervisors. Additionally, they are responsible for enforcing departmental rules and for investigating misconduct. Should the need for discipline arise, the Solid Waste Collection Supervisors participate on behalf of the employer in all disciplinary actions as well as any grievances that result from the disciplinary process.
7. The Solid Waste Collection Supervisors shares a community of interest with Local 483’s bargaining unit, which includes employees in the Customer Accounts Supervisor, Fire Electrical Maintenance Supervisor, Traffic Field Operations Supervisor, and Biosolids Supervisor job classes. The community of interest for these positions is based upon their supervisory status and to add the Solid Collections Supervisor to this bargaining unit would not disrupt the existing community of interest.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. The Public Employment Relations Commission has jurisdiction in this matter pursuant to chapter 41.56 RCW and chapter 391-35 WAC.
2. Based upon findings of fact 4 and 6, the Solid Waste Collection Supervisor exercises supervisory authority over the Solid Waste Route Supervisor. This exercise of authority creates a conflict of interest that disrupts the community of interest between these positions.
3. Based upon findings of fact 4, 5, and 7, the Solid Waste Collection Supervisor shares a community of interest with the bargaining unit described in finding of fact 4.
ORDER
1. The Solid Waste Collection Supervisor shall be removed from the supervisory bargaining unit described in finding of fact 4. That bargaining unit shall be redefined as follows:
All full-time and regular part-time employees working at the City of Tacoma in the following job classes: Animal Control & Compliance Supervisor; Building Maintenance Supervisor; Carpenter Crew Leader; Chief Surveyor; Code Inspector Supervisor; Construction Inspection Supervisor; Construction Manager; Forensic Services Supervisor; Grounds Maintenance Supervisor; LID Representative, Senior; Painter Crew Leader; Parking Enforcement Supervisor; Permit Specialist, Senior; Recovery & Transfer Center Supervisor; Road Use Compliance Supervisor; Sewer Transmission Systems Maintenance Supervisor; Solid Waste Route Supervisor; Street Maintenance Supervisor; Utility Services Supervisor; WWTP Operations Supervisor; and Utility Services Representative, Senior; Excluding: confidential employees and all other employees.
PROTEC17 shall continue to represent this bargaining unit.
2. The Solid Waste Collection Supervisor shall be added to the bargaining unit described in finding of fact 5. That bargaining unit shall be redefined as follows:
All full-time and regular part-time employees working at the City of Tacoma in the following job classes: Customer Accounts Supervisor, Fire Electrical Maintenance Supervisor, Traffic Field Operations Supervisor, Biosolids Supervisor, and Solid Waste Collection Supervisor; excluding: confidential employees and all other employees.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 483 shall continue to represent this bargaining unit.
ISSUED at Olympia, Washington, this 9th day of June, 2020.
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.