Loading...
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the City and County of San Francisco that strikes by firefighters, police officers and deputy sheriffs are not legally permissible, and that a method should be adopted for peacefully and equitably resolving disputes. It is the further purpose and policy of the City and County of San Francisco that in the event the procedures herein adopted are invoked by the City and County of San Francisco or by a recognized employee organization representing firefighters, police officers or deputy sheriffs, that they shall supersede and displace all other formulas, procedures and provisions relating to wages, hours, benefits and other terms and conditions of employment found in this Charter, in the ordinances and resolutions of the City and County of San Francisco, or in the rules, regulations or actions of boards or commissions of the City and County of San Francisco.
(Amended March 2004)
These sections A8.590-1 through A8.590-7, inclusive, shall apply to the several ranks of the fire department and police department as provided for in Sections 4.128 and 4.127 of this Charter, respectively, and to all of the classifications of a deputy sheriffs, jointly referred to in these sections as "firefighters," "police officers" and "deputy sheriffs."
(Amended March 2004)
If any firefighter, police officer or deputy sheriff employed by the City and County of San Francisco engages in a strike as defined by Section A8.346(a) of this Charter against the City and County of San Francisco, said employee shall be dismissed from his or her employment pursuant to Charter Section A8.345 and A8.346.
(Amended March 2004)
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Charter, or of the ordinances, rules or regulations of the City and County of San Francisco and its departments, boards and commissions, the City and County of San Francisco, through its duly authorized representatives, and recognized employee organizations representing classifications of Firefighters, Police Officers and Deputy Sheriffs shall have the mutual obligation to negotiate in good faith on all matters within the scope of representation as defined by Government Code Sections 3500, et seq., relating to the wages, hours, benefits and terms and conditions of City and County employment, including the establishment of procedures for the resolution of grievances concerning the interpretation or application of any negotiated agreement. Unless and until agreement is reached through negotiations between authorized representatives of the City and County of San Francisco and the recognized employee organization for the classifications of Fire Department, Police Department and Deputy Sheriffs, or a determination is made through the impartial arbitration procedure hereinafter provided, no existing benefit, term or condition of employment for said fire Department, Police Department or Deputy Sheriffs shall be altered, eliminated or changed. Agreements reached by the duly authorized representatives for the City and County of San Francisco, its departments, boards and commissions and the recognized employee organizations pursuant to this Section shall be binding on the City and County of San Francisco, and on its departments, boards, commissions, officers and employees once adopted by the Board of Supervisors. Said agreements shall supersede any and all other conflicting procedures, provisions and formulas contained in this Charter relating to wages, hours, benefits or terms and conditions of employment.
(Amended March 2004)
(a) Subject to Section A8.590-5(g), disputes or controversies pertaining to wages, hours, benefits or terms and conditions of employment which remain unresolved after good faith negotiations between the City and County of San Francisco, its departments, boards and commissions and a recognized employee organization representing Firefighters, Police Officers or Deputy Sheriffs shall be submitted to a three-member Board of Arbitrators upon the declaration of an impasse either by the authorized representative of the City and County of San Francisco or by the recognized employee organization involved in the dispute.
(b) No later than January 20 of any year in which bargaining on an MOU takes place, representatives designated by the City and County of San Francisco and representatives of the recognized employee organization involved in the dispute shall each select and appoint one arbitrator to the Board of Arbitrators. The third member of the Arbitration Board shall be selected by agreement between the City and County of San Francisco and the employee organization, and shall serve as the neutral arbitrator and Chairperson of the Board. In the event that the City and County of San Francisco and the recognized employee organization involved in the dispute cannot agree upon the selection of the neutral arbitrator within ten (10) days from the date that either party has notified the other that it has declared an impasse, either party may then request the State Mediation and Conciliation Service of the State of California Department of Industrial Relations to provide a list of seven (7) persons who are qualified and experienced as labor arbitrators. If the City and County and the employee organization cannot agree within three (3) days after receipt of such list on one of seven (7) persons to act as the neutral arbitrator, they shall alternately strike names from the list of nominees until one name remains and that person shall then become the neutral arbitrator and Chairperson of the Arbitration Board.
(c) Any arbitration proceeding convened pursuant to this article shall be conducted in conformance with, subject to, and governed by Title 9 of Part 3 of the California Code of Civil Procedure. The Arbitration Board shall hold public hearings, receive evidence from the parties and cause a transcript of the proceedings to be prepared. The Arbitration Board, in the exercise of its discretion, may meet privately with the parties, mediate or arbitrate the issues in dispute. The Arbitration Board may also adopt such other procedures that are designed to encourage an agreement between the parties, expedite the arbitration hearing process, or reduce the costs of the arbitration process.
(d) In the event no agreement is reached prior to the conclusion of the arbitration hearings, the Arbitration Board shall direct each of the parties to submit, within such time limit as the Arbitration Board may establish, a last offer of settlement on each of the remaining issues in dispute. The Arbitration Board shall decide each issue by majority vote by selecting whichever last offer of settlement on that issue it finds most nearly conforms to those factors traditionally taken into consideration in the determination of wages, hours, benefits and terms and conditions of public and private employment, including, but not limited to: changes in the average consumer price index for goods and services; the wages, hours, benefits and terms and conditions of employment of employees performing similar services; the wages, hours, benefits and terms and conditions of other employees in the City and County of San Francisco; and the formulas provided for in this Charter for the establishment and maintenance of wages, hours, benefits and terms and conditions of employment. The impartial Arbitration Board shall also consider the financial condition of the City and County of San Francisco and its ability to meet the costs of the decision of the Arbitration Board.
(e) After reaching a decision, the Arbitration Board shall mail or otherwise deliver a true copy of its decision to the parties. The decision of the Arbitration Board shall not be publicly disclosed and shall not be binding until ten (10) days after it is delivered to the parties. During that ten (10) day period the parties shall meet privately, attempt to resolve their differences, and by mutual agreement amend or modify the decision of the Arbitration Board. At the conclusion of the ten (10) day period, which may be extended by mutual agreement between the parties, the decision of the Arbitration Board, as it may be modified or amended by the parties, shall be publicly disclosed. Except as limited by Section A8.590-7, the arbitration decision, as it may be modified or amended by the parties, shall supersede any and all other relevant formulas, procedures and provisions of this Charter relating to wages, hours, benefits and terms and conditions of employment; and it shall be final and binding on the parties to the dispute, including the City and County of San Francisco, its commissions, departments, officers and employees. No other actions or procedural steps to confirm or approve the decision of the Arbitration Board shall be permitted or required; provided, however, that the City and County of San Francisco, its designated officers, employees and representatives and the recognized employee organization involved in the dispute shall take whatever action that is necessary to carry out and effectuate the decision of the Arbitration Board.
(f) The expenses of any arbitration proceedings convened pursuant to these Charter sections, including the fee for the services of the chairperson of the Arbitration Board, the costs of preparation of the transcript of the proceedings and other costs related to the conduct of the proceedings, as determined by the Arbitration Board, shall be borne equally by the parties. All other expenses which the parties may incur are to be borne by the party incurring such expenses.
(g) The impasse resolution procedures set forth in Section A8.590-5 shall not apply to:
1. any dispute or controversy concerning the San Francisco Police Department's crowd control policies;
2. any procedures or practices relating to the processing and disposition of complaints handled by the Office of Citizens' Complaints; or matters relating to disciplinary procedures that apply to disciplinary actions involving members of the San Francisco Police Department and Fire Department covered by these sections; or matters covered by Charter section A8.343; and
3. any rule, policy, procedure, order or practice which relates or pertains to the purpose, goals or requirements of a consent decree, or which is necessary to ensure compliance with Federal, State or local anti-discrimination laws, ordinances or regulations.
In the event the City acts on a matter it has determined relates to or pertains to a consent decree, or in the event the City acts to ensure compliance with Federal, State, or local anti-discrimination laws, ordinances or regulations, and the affected employee organization disputes said determination, that determination or action shall not be subject to arbitration.
(h) An agreement reached between the designated representatives for the City and the representatives of a recognized employee organization that is submitted to the Board of Supervisors on or before May 15, or a decision of the Arbitration Board that is submitted to the Board of Supervisors on or before May 10, or May 15 if the parties waive the 10-day period between the Board's decision and public disclosure of the decision, shall be effective on July 1 of the same calendar year upon adoption by the Board of Supervisors. An agreement submitted to the Board of Supervisors after May 15, or a decision of the Arbitration Board that is submitted to the Board of Supervisors after May 10, or May 15 if the parties waive the 10-day period between the Board's decision and public disclosure of the decision, shall become effective no earlier than July 1 of the next calendar year upon approval of the Board of Supervisors. But an agreement reached during the term of an existing memorandum of understanding that results in a net reduction, or results in no net increase, in the cost to the City, during the current fiscal year, of existing economic provisions in the existing memorandum of understanding may become effective at any time upon approval by the Board of Supervisors. Economic provisions include, but are not limited to, wages, premium pay rates, overtime, any employer pickup of the employees' retirement contribution, paid time off, and other compensation.
(Amended March 2004; Proposition A, Approved 11/5/2009)
No agreement reached by the parties and no decision of the arbitration board shall reduce the vested retirement benefits of retirees or employees of the fire department, police department or of the sheriff department. Retirement and death allowances shall continue to be set and adjusted pursuant to Chapter Five of this Article, except that the amount to which said allowances are set and adjusted for uniformed employees of the police department and fire department shall not be less than the amount said allowances would be if the salaries of the uniformed forces in the police and fire departments continued to be set pursuant to Charter Section 8.405. Any agreement or decision of the arbitration board altering vested retirement benefits shall be subject to the written approval of the individual beneficiaries thereof.
(Amended March 2004)
(a) Sections A8.590-1 through A8.590-7, in their entirety, shall be subject to and limited by Charter section A8.500 and any ordinances enacted pursuant thereto. Sections A8.590-1 through A8.590-7 shall be effective only to the extent that benefits authorized by or authorized pursuant to those sections do not have an adverse consequence on the tax treatment of benefits provided to any employee of the City and County.
(b) Any agreement reached by the parties or any decision of the arbitration board which authorizes a modification of any aspect of the Retirement System or of any aspect of the provision for or delivery of retirement benefits shall not become effective until the following occur:
(1) The retirement board, acting in its fiduciary capacity, forwards to the Board of Supervisors certification that implementation of the modifications presents no risk to the tax-qualified status of the Retirement System. Such certification shall be based upon the advice of the general manager, the actuary of the Retirement System, and any outside consultants that they may in their discretion retain; and,
(2) After having received the certification referred to in the previous paragraph and after having made its own independent finding based on clear and convincing evidence that implementation of the modifications presents no risk to the tax-qualified status of the Retirement System and will not increase the taxes of City and County employees, the Board of Supervisors, by a three-quarters vote, enacts an ordinance making the modifications effective.
(c) Costs of any outside consultants retained by the City and County pursuant to this section shall be borne equally by the City and County and by the bargaining units concerned.
(Amended March 2004)
Notwithstanding any other provision of Charter Sections A8.590-1 through A8.590-7, the provisions and operation of the Retiree Health Care Trust Fund, including employee contributions to the fund, shall be determined pursuant to Charter Sections 12.204 and A8.432, and shall not be subject to the dispute resolution procedure's contained in Charter Section A8.590-5. Nothing in this section shall prevent the City and County of San Francisco and a recognized employee organization from agreeing to, or an arbitration panel formed pursuant to A8.590-5 from awarding, an adjustment in employee contributions into the Retiree Health Care Trust Fund that results in contributions greater than the contributions required under A8.432 for any and all City employees. In no event shall the City and County of San Francisco and a recognized employee organization agree to, or an arbitration panel formed pursuant to A8.590-5 award any, reduction in contributions below the minimum level of contributions required under A8.432.
(Added by Proposition B, Approved 6/3/2008; amended by Proposition A, Approved 11/5/2009; Proposition C, Approved 11/8/2011)
Loading...