Charles City Ed. Ass'n v. Public Employment Relations Bd., 63463

• Citation: 291 N.W.2d 663
• Decision Date: 23 April 1980
• Docket Number: No. 63463,63463
• Parties: 109 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2249 CHARLES CITY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, Appellee, v. PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD, an agency of the State of Iowa, Appellant, and Charles City Community School District, Intervenor-Appellant.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa

Page 663

291 N.W.2d 663

109 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2249

CHARLES CITY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, Appellee, v. PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD, an agency of the State of Iowa, Appellant, and Charles City Community School District, Intervenor-Appellant.

No. 63463.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

April 23, 1980.

Rehearing Denied May 16, 1980.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., Nancy D. Powers, Asst. Atty. Gen. and Hugh J. Perry, Labor Relations Examiner, Des Moines, for appellant.

Judith O'Donohoe of Erb, O'Donohoe & Frye, Charles City, for intervenor-appellant.

Charles E. Gribble of Dreher, Wilson, Adams, Jensen, Sayre & Gribble, Des Moines, for appellee.

Considered en banc.

McGIVERIN, Justice.

Respondent Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) and intervenor Charles City Community School District (District) appeal from a district court judicial review decision holding that the nature of the postgraduate education hours necessary to advance a teacher on a salary schedule was included within the meaning of "wages" in section 20.9, The Code 1977, and thus a mandatory subject of bargaining between the District and petitioner Charles City Education Association (Association) under the Iowa Public Employment Relations Act, Chapter 20 of the Code. PERB had ruled that the nature of the hours necessary for advancement was a question of job qualification, a matter of management prerogative, and therefore a permissive subject of bargaining. We reverse the ruling of the district court.

The issue in question arose in the course of contract negotiations late in 1978 between the Association, and "employee organization" under section 20.3(4) representing the teachers, and the District, a "public employer" under section 20.3(1). The Association submitted for mandatory negotiation a proposal ¹ regarding the nature of post graduate hours that would qualify an educator for advancement along a district salary schedule, which was also proposed by the Association. ² Following disagreement as to whether the proposal regarding the nature of qualifying credit hours was a mandatory subject of bargaining, the District petitioned PERB requesting a resolution of the negotiability dispute. There was no dispute before the PERB as to whether the negotiability of the amount of pay or the number of hours necessary for advancement was a mandatory subject of bargaining. The Association made an application to intervene, which was granted.

PERB ruled unanimously that the disputed proposal was a permissive subject of bargaining because the nature of the credit hours was directly related to the qualifications for the teaching position; and that while the number of semester hours to be utilized in the salary schedule was a mandatory subject of bargaining, the determination of which college courses shall qualify as credit hours per column is a management prerogative and, therefore, not a mandatory subject of bargaining. It did not specifically rule that the proposal was outside the scope of "wages" in section 20.9.

The Association then filed a petition for judicial review in district court of the PERB agency decision pursuant to section 17A.19, contending the PERB ruling is inconsistent with section 20.9, which includes "wages" as a mandatory subject of bargaining. The District intervened under section 17A.19(2) in support of PERB. The court reversed the PERB ruling and held that the Association's proposal was a mandatory subject of bargaining within the meaning of "wages" in section 20.9.

Both PERB and the District appealed to us under section 17A.20.

The sole issue presented by this appeal is whether the Association's proposal regarding the nature of graduate credit hours necessary for advancement along the salary schedule is a mandatory subject of bargaining within the term "wages" in section 20.9.

Our review of the rulings of PERB and the district court is at law, involving an issue of statutory construction. We give weight to the agency's construction of a statute, although we are not bound by such an interpretation and must make an independent determination of the meaning of the statute. City of Fort Dodge v. Iowa PERB, 275 N.W.2d 393, 396 (Iowa 1979); West Des Moines Education Association v. PERB, 266 N.W.2d 118, 124-25 (Iowa 1978). In determining whether a proposal relates to a mandatory or permissive subject of bargaining, we do not decide whether a particular contract proposal is fair or financially reasonable and leave those decisions to the parties or the arbitrator in the event the parties cannot reach an agreement. We look only at the subject matter and not at the relative merits of the proposal at issue. Charles City Community School District v. PERB, 275 N.W.2d 766, 769 (Iowa 1979).

We apply a two-step analysis in considering whether a proposal is within the scope of mandatory bargaining under section 20.9. Charles City, 275 N.W.2d at 773. The proposal must come within the meaning of one of the subjects listed as mandatory in section 20.9 in this case "wages." Secondly, there must be no legal prohibition against bargaining on the particular topic. Appellants do not contend that there is a legal bar to bargaining regarding this proposal. As the legality of the proposal is not disputed, our review is limited to the first criterion, whether the proposal is encompassed within the term "wages" in section 20.9.

The appellants differ as to the standard or test which they would have us apply. PERB argues for a strict application of the aforementioned two-part test, which would not involve consideration of the competing interests of the parties. The District, on the other hand, contends that we should engage in a balancing test, weighing the employee interest acknowledged in section 20.9 against the management interest of section 20.7. We have considered the relative impact of an alleged mandatory topic of bargaining on the employer rights stated in section 20.7 in determining whether a proposal was a permissive or mandatory subject of bargaining. Charles City, 275 N.W.2d at 774-75. We did so in analyzing the facts of that case under the first step in the aforementioned test. Such a procedure is consistent with our canon of statutory construction that we will construe a provision in the context of the entire enactment without giving undue emphasis to any part of the statute. City of Des Moines v. PERB, 275 N.W.2d 753, 759-60 (1979); Doe v. Ray, 251 N.W.2d 496, 500 (Iowa 1977). See § 4.4(2), the Code ("The entire statute is intended to be effective" ); Pope, Analysis of the Iowa Public Employment Relations Act, 24 Drake L.Rev. 1, 33-34 (1974). In construing one section of an enactment, we must remain cognizant of the remainder of the statute and the underlying purpose of the legislation. We do not find the proposed standards inconsistent, but find the latter to be a subordinate part of the former. We will now address the merits of the parties' arguments.

The Association contends, as the district court found, that the proposal relates primarily to determining the amount of compensation which a teacher would receive and is thereby encompassed in the term "wages" in section 20.9. The Association further contends the proposal does not significantly infringe upon any of the rights reserved to the public employer by section 20.7.

PERB contends, as it held, that any proposal regarding the nature of hours of educational credit necessary for horizontal advancement along the salary schedule relates to job qualifications, a matter within management prerogative, and therefore is a permissive subject of bargaining. We agree but also find the proposal does not concern "wages" under section 20.9.

We find the following language from Charles City applicable here:

The issue here is not whether the employer may bargain on the proposal. The question is whether the employer is compelled to bargain on the proposal with the mediation, fact finding and arbitration steps in the background in the event of inability to agree on the proposal, or some form thereof, in a collective bargaining agreement.

275 N.W.2d at 774.

Section 20.9 makes "wages" and other specific topics mandatory subjects for negotiation between a public employer and an employee organization. It provides in relevant part:

The public employer and the employee organization shall meet at reasonable times, including meetings reasonably in advance of the public employer's budget-making process, to negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, vacations, insurance, holidays, leaves of absence, shift differentials, overtime compensation, supplemental pay, seniority, transfer procedures, job classifications, health and safety matters, evaluation procedures, procedures for staff reduction, in-service training and other matters mutually agreed upon.

Section 20.7 on public employer rights provides in relevant part:

Public employers shall have, in addition to all powers, duties, and rights established by constitutional provision, statute, ordinance, charter, or special act, the exclusive power, duty, and the right to:

2. Hire, promote, demote, transfer, assign and retain public employees in positions within the public agency.

(Emphasis supplied.)

It must be recognized that a proponent of almost any proposal, depending on how it is drafted, could possibly point with some comfort to section 20.9 as authority for a contention that the proposal is a mandatory subject for negotiation. However, in the Charles City, 275 N.W.2d at 772-73, and City of Fort Dodge, 275 N.W.2d at 398, cases, we found legislative intent to adopt a restrictive and narrow approach to interpreting the subjects listed in section 20.9 when considering whether mandatory bargaining applied to them.

The public employer has the exclusive right to determine job qualifications of an employee due to its duty and right to hire, promote, demote, transfer, assign and retain employees. § 20.7. As we said in City of Fort Dodge :

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