Or. Military Dep't v. Iaff, Case No. UP-048-20
Decision Date | 27 April 2021 |
Docket Number | Case No. UP-048-20 |
Parties | OREGON MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Complainant, v. IAFF, LOCAL 1660, Respondent. |
Court | Oregon Employee Relations Board |
(UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE)
RULINGS, FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER
Neil Taylor, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, Salem, Oregon, represented Complainant.
Julie Reading and Mike Tedesco, Attorneys at Law, Tedesco Law Group, Portland, Oregon, represented Respondent.
____________________
On December 21, 2020, the Oregon Military Department (OMD), an executive branch agency of the State of Oregon, filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the International Association of Firefighters, Local 1660 (IAFF PANG or Union), the labor organization that represents the bargaining unit of firefighters located at the Portland Air National Guard Military Base (Portland Airbase). The complaint alleges that IAFF PANG violated ORS 243.672(2)(b) by submitting to interest arbitration a last best offer that includes a prohibited subject of bargaining. Initially, OMD did not request expedited consideration of this matter, however, on February 16, 2021, the parties jointly requested that this Board expedite the complaint under OAR 115-035-0060. The Board granted that request by letter ruling issued on February 19, 2021. The parties agreed to present the case on stipulated facts and exhibits, without a hearing. The parties submitted the stipulated facts, exhibits, and briefs on April 9, 2021, at which point, the record closed.
The issue in this case is whether IAFF PANG's retirement benefit proposal is a prohibited subject of bargaining, such that IAFF PANG violated ORS 243.672(2)(b) by including that proposal in its last best offer. Specifically, OMD contends that IAFF PANG's retirement benefit proposal is prohibited by the Oregon Pay Equity Act, because the proposal would create a compensation difference between firefighters employed by OMD at the Portland Air National Guard Military Base and firefighters employed by OMD at a different location, Kingsley Field Air Force Base. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that IAFF PANG's retirement benefit proposal is not a prohibited subject of bargaining, and therefore, IAFF PANG did not violate section (2)(b).
The parties initially agreed to set April 2, 2021, as the due date for stipulations, exhibits, and briefs. On April 1, 2021, the Board issued a letter ruling granting OMD's unopposed request for an extension of the due date to April 5, 2021. On April 5, 2021, OMD requested a second extension of the due date to April 9, 2021, however, the Union agreed to an extension only to April 7. The Board issued a letter ruling on April 5, 2021, finding sufficient good cause to extend the deadline to April 9, 2021. IAFF PANG did not pursue an objection to that ruling in its brief.
1. The State of Oregon, Oregon Military Department, is a public employer under ORS 243.650(20). OMD employs firefighters at two airbases, the Portland Air National Guard Military Base, which is located in Portland, and the Kingsley Field Air Force Base (Kingsley Field), which is located in Klamath Falls.
2. IAFF PANG is a labor organization as defined in ORS 243.650(13) and is the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit of firefighters who are employed by OMD and work at the Portland Airbase.
3. A different labor organization, the Klamath Falls Firefighters Association, Local 3340 (IAFF KFFA), is the exclusive representative of a different bargaining unit of firefighters who are employed by OMD and work at Kingsley Field.
4. The IAFF PANG and IAFF KFFA bargaining units perform comparable work utilizing the same firefighter classifications. All represented bargaining unit employees are male. The record does not contain any other information regarding any employee's protected class status under the Oregon Pay Equity Act.1
5. The firefighters at the Portland Airbase and Kingsley Field assume regular fire suppression and prevention duties at their respective airbases, along with military aircraft crash rescue functions due to their attachment to military bases. The firefighters receive extensivetraining in military operations and procedures, military aircraft, and specialized equipment used in crash rescues.
6. OMD and IAFF PANG were parties to a collective bargaining agreement, the term of which was July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2019.
7. OMD and IAFF KFFA are parties to a different collective bargaining agreement, the term of which is July 31, 2019 to June 30, 2021. When OMD and IAFF KFFA were negotiating that agreement, they were anticipating the passage of Senate Bill 1049 (SB 1049) and subsequent legal challenges to it. Therefore, IAFF KFFA reached an agreement with OMD including a "ditto" or "me too" clause. Negotiated and signed in 2019, the "me too" provision states:
8. SB 1049 is a comprehensive piece of legislation intended by the Oregon Legislature to address the increasing cost of funding the Oregon Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) by providing relief to public employers for escalating PERS contribution rate increases. Beginning July 1, 2020, SB 1049 requires that PERS members earning more than $2,500 per month have a portion of their six-percent Individual Account Program (IAP) contributions redirected to a new Employee Pension Stability Account (EPSA) for each member. Funds from the EPSA are used to pay for part of the employee's pension benefits at retirement. Contributions to the ESPAs are required when the PERS system is less than 90-percent funded.
9. On or around January 18, 2019, OMD began negotiations with IAFF PANG to bargain the 2019-2023 successor agreement. The parties bargained in good faith for more than 150 days, as prescribed by the Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA).
10. On February 11, 2020, IAFF PANG declared impasse. The parties had been unable to reach agreement on hours of work, retirement, and safety equipment and uniforms.
11. OMD and IAFF PANG selected an arbitrator in March 2020. The parties then engaged in mediation and informal discussions in June of 2020. The parties were ultimately able to come to an agreement on the remaining proposals except for IAFF PANG's proposal on retirement.
12. IAFF PANG's last best offer (LBO) retirement proposal would modify the existing CBA as follows:
13. The 2019-2021 CBA between OMD and IAFF KFFA that covers the bargaining unit of firefighters who work at Kingsley Field does not include a retirement contribution provision like the one proposed by IAFF PANG.
14. In 2017, the Oregon legislature enacted the Oregon Pay Equity Act (also commonly referred to as the Oregon Equal Pay Act). In 2019, the legislature amended the pay equity law, including by adding a provision that expressly refers to collective bargaining agreements.
15. In early December 2020, the parties agreed to ask this Board...
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