Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 45-H.F.No. 1028 
           An act relating to labor; regulating mediation, fact 
          finding, and other functions of the bureau of 
          mediation services; providing for violations of the 
          labor union democracy act; amending Minnesota Statutes 
          1986, sections 179.02, subdivision 2, and by adding a 
          subdivision; 179.07; 179.08; 179.083; 179.22; 179.38; 
          proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, 
          chapter 179; repealing Minnesota Statutes 1986, 
          sections 179.05; 179.23; and 179.24. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 179.02, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  The governor director may, from time to time, 
appoint special mediators to aid in the settlement of particular 
labor disputes or controversies who shall have the same power 
and authority as the director with respect to such dispute and 
such appointment shall be for the duration only of the 
particular dispute.  Such special mediators shall be paid a per 
diem of $75 per day allowance not to exceed that established for 
arbitrators in section 179A.16, subdivision 8, while so engaged 
and their necessary expenses.  The director shall prepare a 
roster of persons qualified to act as such special mediators and 
keep the same revised at all times and available to the governor 
and the public. 
     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 179.02, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
     Subd. 3.  The director shall adopt rules to govern 
proceedings before the director under the provisions of this 
chapter. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 179.07, is 
amended to read: 
    179.07 [LABOR DISPUTE AFFECTING PUBLIC INTERESTS; 
PROCEDURE.] 
    If the dispute is in any industry, business, or institution 
affected with a public interest, which includes, but is not 
restricted to, any industry, business, or institution engaged in 
supplying the necessities of life, safety, or health, so that a 
temporary suspension of its operation would endanger the life, 
safety, health, or well-being of a substantial number of people 
of any community, the provisions of section 179.06 shall apply 
and.  The director of mediation services shall also notify the 
governor who may appoint a fact finding commission composed of 
three members to conduct a hearing and make a report on the 
issues involved and the merits of the respective contentions of 
the parties to the dispute.  If the governor director decides to 
appoint a commission, the governor shall so advise the director 
who shall immediately notify the parties to the labor 
dispute and also inform them of the date of the notification to 
the governor.  The members of such commission shall on account 
of vocations, employment, or affiliations be representatives of 
employees, employers, and the public, respectively.  Such report 
shall be filed with the governor not less than five days before 
the end of the 30-day period hereinafter provided and may be 
published as the governor may determine in one or more legal 
newspapers in the counties where the dispute exists.  If and 
when the governor shall notify director notifies the director 
parties of the decision to appoint a commission, neither party 
to the dispute shall make any change in the situation affecting 
the dispute and no strike or lockout shall be instituted until 
30 days shall have elapsed after the director's notification to 
the governor parties.  In case the governor shall fail If the 
director fails to appoint a commission within five days 
after the notification to the parties, this limitation on the 
parties shall be suspended and inoperative.  If the governor 
shall director thereafter appoint appoints a commission, no 
strike or lockout having been instituted in the meantime, the 
limitation shall again become operative, but in no case for more 
than the original 30-day period.  The 30-day period may be 
extended by stipulation upon the record of the hearing before 
the commission or by written stipulation signed by of the 
parties to the labor dispute and, which shall be filed with the 
director.  The commission shall meet within five days of its 
appointment by the director and conduct the hearings which are 
necessary to render its report on the issues involved and merits 
of the contentions of the parties.  If so extended, The report 
of the commission shall be filed with the governor director not 
less than five days before prior to the end of the extended 
period 30-day period set forth above or any extension thereof.  
The director shall provide copies of the report to the parties 
to the dispute and may make the report public.  
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 179.08, is 
amended to read: 
    179.08 [POWERS OF COMMISSION APPOINTED BY GOVERNOR 
DIRECTOR.] 
    (1) The commission appointed by the governor director 
pursuant to the provisions of sections 179.01 to 179.17 section 
179.07 shall have the power to issue subpoenas requiring the 
attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of 
evidence which relates to any matter involved in any such 
hearing, and may by its chair administer oaths and affirmations, 
and may examine witnesses.  Such attendance of witnesses and the 
production of such evidence may be required from any place in 
the state at any designated place of hearing, but whenever 
practical hearings shall be held in a county where the labor 
dispute has arisen or exists; 
    (2) In case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena 
issued under clause (1), the district court of the state for the 
county where the proceeding is pending or in which the person 
guilty of such contumacy or refusal to obey is found, or 
resides, or transacts business, or application by the commission 
shall have jurisdiction to issue to such person an order 
requiring such person to appear before the commission, there to 
produce evidence as so ordered, or there to give testimony 
touching the matter under investigation or in question, and any 
failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by the 
court as a contempt thereof; 
    (3) Any party to or party affected by the dispute may 
appear before the commission in person or by attorney or by 
their representative, and shall have the right to offer 
competent evidence and to be heard on the issues before the 
report of the commission is made.  
    Any commissioners so appointed shall be paid a per diem of 
$75 allowance not to exceed that established for arbitrators in 
section 179A.16, subdivision 8, and their necessary expenses 
while serving.  
     Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 179.083, is 
amended to read: 
    179.083 [JURISDICTIONAL CONTROVERSIES.] 
    Whenever two or more labor organizations adversely claim 
for themselves or their members jurisdiction over certain 
classifications of work to be done for any employer or in any 
industry, or over the persons engaged in or performing such work 
and such jurisdictional interference or dispute is made the 
ground for picketing an employer or declaring a strike or 
boycott against the employer, the director of mediation services 
shall certify that fact to the governor.  Upon receipt of such 
certification the governor may appoint a labor referee to hear 
and determine the jurisdictional controversy.  If the labor 
organizations involved in the controversy have an agreement 
between themselves defining their respective jurisdictions, or 
if they are affiliated with the same labor federation or 
organization which has by the charters granted to the contending 
organizations limited their jurisdiction, the labor referee 
shall determine the controversy in accordance with the proper 
construction of the agreement or of the provisions of the 
charters of the contending organizations.  If there is no 
agreement or charter which governs the controversy, the labor 
referee shall make such decision as, in consideration of past 
history of the organization, harmonious operation of the 
industry, and most effective representation for collective 
bargaining, will best promote industrial peace.  If the labor 
organizations involved in the controversy so desire, they may 
submit the controversy to a tribunal of the federation or labor 
organization which has granted their charters or to arbitration 
before a tribunal selected by themselves, provided the 
controversy is so submitted prior to the appointment by the 
governor of a labor referee to act in the controversy.  After 
the appointment of the labor referee by the governor, or the 
submission of the controversy to another tribunal as herein 
provided, it shall be unlawful for any person or labor 
organization to call or conduct a strike or boycott against the 
employer or industry or to picket any place of business of the 
employer or in the industry on account of such jurisdictional 
controversy.  
     Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 179.22, is 
amended to read: 
    179.22 [LABOR REFEREE.] 
    There is hereby created an office, to be known as labor 
referee.  The governor director may from time to time appoint 
labor referees for particular disputes as hereinafter provided 
under sections 179.18 to 179.25.  Such appointment shall be for 
the duration only of the particular dispute.  Such labor 
referees shall be paid a per diem of $75 per day allowance not 
to exceed that established for arbitrators in section 179A.16, 
subdivision 8, while so engaged, and their necessary expenses.  
When approved by the director, the director of mediation 
services shall cause to be paid, from the appropriation to the 
director, the amount due to the labor referees for services and 
expenses.  
    Sec. 7.  [179.231] [VIOLATIONS.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [DIRECTOR MAY APPOINT REFEREE.] Whenever it 
reasonably appears to the director that a labor organization has 
failed to comply with any of the requirements of sections 179.18 
to 179.25, the director may appoint a labor referee to act in 
the dispute.  
    Subd. 2.  [HEARING.] Within ten days of appointment, the 
labor referee shall fix a time and place for a hearing upon the 
matter and send written notice thereof to the labor 
organization, and its officers who are charged in the complaint, 
the complainant, and to other persons who are parties to the 
dispute. 
    Subd. 3.  [APPEARANCE; EVIDENCE.] A party to or party 
affected by the dispute may appear at the hearing before the 
labor referee in person, by attorney, or by other 
representative.  The party has the right to offer competent 
evidence and to be heard on the issues before an order is made 
by the referee.  Within 30 days of the close of the hearing, the 
referee shall prepare and file with the director findings of 
fact and an order sustaining or dismissing the charges.  If the 
charges are sustained, a labor organization may be suspended 
from acting as the representative of employees by the director 
until the basis for the failure to comply with the requirements 
of sections 179.18 to 179.25 has been removed as provided in 
subdivision 4.  The director shall suspend a labor organization 
which does not act affirmatively to remove the basis of 
sustained charges within 30 days of the filing of the referee's 
order with the director. 
    Subd. 4.  [REMOVAL OF SUSPENSION.] A labor organization 
which has had charges sustained against it under this section, 
whether suspended from acting as the representative of employees 
or not, may remove the basis for the charges or suspension by 
applying to the director and submitting proof that the basis for 
the charges has been removed or corrected.  Upon receipt of the 
application, the director shall notify all parties to the 
hearing before the referee of the filing of the application.  If 
within 20 days after providing notice, written objection by one 
of the parties to the removal of the basis or suspension is 
received by the director, the matter shall be referred for 
additional investigation by a referee under this section.  If no 
objection is so filed, the director shall provide written notice 
of the removal of the basis for the original complaint and 
remove any suspension imposed. 
    Subd. 5.  [POWERS OF LABOR REFEREE.] A labor referee 
appointed by the director under this section shall have the same 
powers as provided to commissions under section 179.08. 
    Sec. 8.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 179.38, is 
amended to read: 
    179.38 [ARBITRATION MANDATORY.] 
    In the event of the existence of any labor dispute which 
cannot be settled by negotiation between the charitable hospital 
employers and their employees, either such employers or 
employees may petition and avail themselves of the provisions of 
sections 179.01 to 179.17, insofar as sections are not 
inconsistent with the provisions of sections 179.35 to 179.39.  
If such dispute is not settled within ten days after submission 
to mediation, any unsettled issue of maximum hours of work, 
minimum hourly wage rates, and other conditions of employment 
concerning union security shall, upon service of written notice 
by either party upon the other party and the director of 
mediation services, be submitted to the determination of a board 
of arbitrators whose determination shall be final and binding 
upon the parties.  The board of arbitrators shall be selected 
and proceed in the following manner, unless otherwise agreed 
between the parties:  the employers shall appoint one 
arbitrator, the employees shall appoint one arbitrator, and the 
two arbitrators so chosen shall appoint a third arbitrator who 
shall act as chair and who shall receive reasonable compensation 
for the work; but if said arbitrators are unable to agree upon 
the appointment of such third arbitrator within five days after 
submission to arbitration, the governor director shall submit 
five names to the parties and the parties shall select the third 
arbitrator, who shall act as chair, from the five submitted by 
the governor director.  The selection of the third arbitrator 
shall be by the process of elimination, with the parties taking 
turns at striking names from the list of five submitted by 
the governor director, until only one name remains.  If the 
parties are unable to agree with respect to which party shall 
take the first turn for the purpose of striking a name, it shall 
be decided by the flip of a coin.  Each party shall be 
responsible for compensating the arbitrator of their choice, and 
the parties shall share equally the compensation paid to the 
third arbitrator.  The board of arbitrators shall serve as a 
temporary arbitration tribunal and shall have the powers 
provided for commissioners under section 179.08.  The board of 
arbitrators shall make its determination with all due diligence 
and shall file a copy of its report with the director of 
mediation services.  
     Sec. 9.  [REPEALER.] 
     Minnesota Statutes 1986, sections 179.05, 179.23, and 
179.24 are repealed. 
    Approved April 30, 1987