Montana Code 39-31-202. Board to determine appropriate bargaining unit — factors to be considered
39-31-202. Board to determine appropriate bargaining unit — factors to be considered. (1) In order to ensure employees the fullest freedom in exercising the rights guaranteed by this chapter, the board or an agent of the board shall decide the unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining and shall consider such factors as community of interest, wages, hours, fringe benefits, and other working conditions of the employees involved, the history of collective bargaining, common supervision, common personnel policies, extent of integration of work functions and interchange among employees affected, and the desires of the employees.
Terms Used In Montana Code 39-31-202
- Appropriate unit: means a group of public employees banded together for collective bargaining purposes as designated by the board. See Montana Code 39-31-103
- Board: means the board of personnel appeals provided for in 2-15-1705. See Montana Code 39-31-103
- Labor organization: means any organization or association of any kind in which employees participate and which exists for the primary purpose of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, fringe benefits, or other conditions of employment. See Montana Code 39-31-103
- Public employer: means the state of Montana or any political subdivision thereof, including but not limited to any town, city, county, district, school board, board of regents, public and quasi-public corporation, housing authority or other authority established by law, and any representative or agent designated by the public employer to act in its interest in dealing with public employees. See Montana Code 39-31-103
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(2)If a state agency or facility of a state agency is reorganized to the extent that the reorganization results in substantial changes to the factors listed in subsection (1), the public employer representative, as provided in 39-31-301, may petition the board to make a new determination of the appropriate unit for the purpose of collective bargaining. In making this determination, the board shall take into account the consequences of the reorganization on each position in the affected agency or facility.
(3)Unless the board has received a petition, as provided in 39-31-207, to consider a collective bargaining unit that was not designated as an appropriate unit prior to the reorganization described in subsection (2), the board may not consider any labor organization that was not designated to represent employees of the affected agency or facility at the time that the reorganization became effective.