Striking is not deemed to be an acceptable method of dispute resolution under the Taylor Law. According to Section 209, an impasse is deemed to exist if the parties fail to achieve agreement at least one hundred twenty days prior to the end of the fiscal year of the public employer. Specific provisions of Section 209 pertain to certain, select public employment bodies, such as police and fire unions, which must submit directly to binding arbitration because of the vital nature of the services they provide. The PERB can assist resolution by appointing mediators, and if this fails, it can create a fact-finding board with the power to make recommendations. If an impasse is still manifest the dispute is shifted to the chief executive officer of the government involved and to the employee organization involved.
Union security
Public employees are allowed to unionize by law (and, indeed, it could be argued that the financial terms of the Taylor Law encourage them to do so).
Unfair labor practices
The PERB has broad authority over the recognizing, organizing, and negotiations process, and can step in at any time to counteract what it sees as improper labor practices by employers or employees. While it cannot determine the final settlement that is reached, it can determine what the mandatory bargaining issues are, and step in if it believes either side is negotiating in bad faith.
Question: What is the difference between states that have no collective bargaining...
States have the right to define what constitutes collective bargaining. Recently, the state of Wisconsin gained a great deal of negative press because of its decision to strip most state workers of their collective bargaining rights. Policies vary between states as to the right to have 'closed shop' or mandatory union membership and dues within certain professions, and also the right of all classes of public employees to engage in collective bargaining.
For example, in New York State, public employees have collective bargaining rights, but certain classes of employees deemed to be essential personnel, such as police and firefighters must submit to mandatory arbitration before other classes of employees must. New York State employees, although they are not allowed to strike, are allowed to engage in comprehensive collective bargaining on most workplace issues and also to extract what effectively amounts to a penalty for non-membership. This is in contrast to other states, where the rights of unions to bargain may be quite limited and where unions may not be permitted to enforce workers to belong to a union or to extract a penalty for non-membership.
