STATE
CODE AGENCIES EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, AN UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATION, APPELLEE
V.
DEPARTMENT
OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS, STATE OF
NEBRASKA
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, AN UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATION,
APPELLEE
V.
DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION, STATE OF
STATE
CODE AGENCIES EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, AN UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATION, APPELLEE
V.
DEPARTMENT
OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, STATE OF
STATE
CODE AGENCIES EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, AN UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATION, APPELLEE
V.
DEPARTMENT
OF PUBLIC WELFARE, STATE OF
219
Filed
March 22, 1985, Nos. 84-429, 84-588, 84-589, 84-636
Commission of Industrial Relations:
Jurisdiction. The Commission of Industrial Relations, pursuant to Neb. Rev.
Stat. §§ 48-801 et seq. (Reissue 1984), does have jurisdiction, that is,
authorized power, to resolve industrial disputes between agencies or departments
of the State of Nebraska and their employees.
Appeal from the
Paul L. Douglas, Attorney General, and Sharon
M. Lindgren, for appellants Department of Public Institutions et al.
Theodore L. Kessner of Crosby, Guenzel,
Davis, Kessner & Kuester, for appellees State Code Agencies et al.
KRIVOSHA, C.J., BOSLAUGH, WHITE, HASTINGS,
CAPORALE, SHANAHAN, and GRANT, JJ.
SHANAHAN, J.
Four separate
appeals from the Commission of Industrial Relations (CIR) have been consolidated
due to their community of question, whether the CIR has jurisdiction to
establish wages for employees of state agencies. The CIR established salaries
for agency employees and entered an order accordingly. There is no issue
concerning the correctness of the CIR's determination; rather, the question
relates only to the authority of the CIR to establish salaries for the employees
of state agencies.
Each of the
petitioners-appellees, as admitted by the respondents, is certified as the
exclusive bargaining agent for the bargaining unit involved in these
proceedings, namely, teachers employed in schools operated by a particular state
agency. The units consist of teachers employed at the Nebraska Center for
Children and Youth (Department of Public Welfare), at the Youth Development
Centers in Geneva and Kearney and the Nebraska Center for Women in York
(Department of Correctional Services), at the Lincoln Regional Center and
Beatrice State Developmental Center (Department of Public Institutions), and at
the Nebraska School for the Visually Handicapped and Nebraska School for the
Deaf (State Department of Education).
All actions
involved the 1983-84 contract year except proceedings involving the Department
of Public Welfare, which relate to the contract year 1982-83. The appropriations
bills for the contract years in question limited the amount payable in salaries
or wages but did not designate the specific salary or wage attaching to any
particular employment in the departments or agencies.
Unable to
reach an agreement with the agency regarding base salary and salary schedule
index factors, the petitioners requested the CIR to "resolve the industrial
dispute including the establishment of wages and other terms, tenure and
conditions of employment for the teaching employees . . . ." Each
respondent answered and alleged that the respective agency "has no power or
authority over the pay increases granted to the employees represented by the
petitioner since the pay raises for such employees are established by
legislation enacted by the Nebraska Unicameral." As a separate defense,
each agency claimed that "the [CIR] lacks jurisdiction to order the
respondent to provide its employees with benefits different than those
authorized by statute or by a legislative enactment." In each case the CIR
held that it had jurisdiction to resolve the dispute between the agency and
employees and ordered salary adjustments and increases for the particular year
involved in the proceeding.
The respondent
agencies contend that the CIR does not have jurisdiction to resolve the dispute
regarding salary or wages to be paid employees of a state agency.
Respondents
argue that the Legislature's appropriation bills for the fiscal years 1982-83
and 1983-84 have established the salary of agency employees so that any dispute
about salary cannot be resolved within the framework of the statutes pertaining
to the CIR. Resolution of such dispute, according to the state agencies, is a
matter of negotiation with the Nebraska Legislature, not proceedings before the
CIR.
In Transport
Workers of America v. Transit Auth. of City of Omaha, 205 Neb. 26, 31-32, 286 N.W.2d 102, 106 (1979), we stated:
The public policy of the CIR is expressed in section 48-802, R.R.S. 1943, of the
Act and points out that the Act is intended to provide public employees who do
not otherwise have the right to strike an opportunity to mediate and arbitrate
matters of employment which have not yet been agreed to by the employer.
By providing for a forum in which a public employer and a public employee may
discuss future wages, hours, and conditions of employment or terms of employment
without interruption of necessary public service, the Legislature has sought to
protect "its citizens from any dangers, perils, calamities, or catastrophes
which would result" from interruption or termination of public service. §
48-802, R.R.S. 1943.
(Emphasis supplied.) Neb. Rev. Stat. §
48-810 (Reissue 1984) provides:
All industrial disputes involving governmental service, service of a public
utility, or other disputes as the Legislature may provide shall be settled by
invoking the jurisdiction of the Commission of Industrial Relations; Provided,
such commission shall have no jurisdiction over any persons, organizations, or
school districts subject to the provisions of the Nebraska Teachers'
Professional Negotiations Act, sections 79-1287 to 79-1295, until all provisions
of such act have been exhausted without resolution of the dispute involved.
Neb. Rev.
Stat. § 48-801 (Reissue 1984) sets forth the definition of the term
"industrial dispute."
(7)
Industrial dispute shall include any controversy concerning terms, tenure or
conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of
persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange
terms or conditions of employment, or refusal to discuss terms or conditions of
employment.
This same statute
sets forth the definitions of "employer," "employee," and
"labor organization."
(4) Employer shall mean the State of
(5)
Employee shall include any person employed by an employer as defined in sections
48-801 to 48-823;
(6) Labor organization shall mean any organization of any kind, or any agency or
employee representation committee or plan, in which employees participate and
which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers
concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment,
or conditions of work.
(Emphasis supplied.)
Although the
Legislature has appropriated funds generally for the departments and agencies of
the state in the cases before us, the appropriations bill enacted by the
Legislature does not specifically allocate sums as salaries or wages for
particular jobs or positions of employment in those departments or agencies.
Allocation of funds among employees as salaries or wages is a matter for
discretion in administration of the department or agency.
The clear
import of § 48-801(4) brings the State of
Nevertheless,
it is our conclusion that the Commission of Industrial Relations, pursuant to
§§ 48-801 et seq., does have jurisdiction, that is, authorized power, to
resolve industrial disputes between agencies or departments of the State of
Nebraska and their employees. The orders of the Commission of Industrial
Relations in these proceedings are affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
KRIVOSHA, C.J., concurs in the result.