The City Council finds and declares the following.
(A) The people of the city have a fundamental interest in the development of harmonious and cooperative relationships between the governing body and its employees.
(B) Recognition by the city of the rights of the employees to organize and full acceptance of the principle and procedure of collective negotiation between the city and public employee organizations can alleviate various forms of strife and unrest. Experience in the private and public sectors of our economy has proved that unresolved disputes in the public service are injurious to the public, the governmental agencies and the employees.
(C) Experience in private and public employment has also proved that protection bylaw of the right of employees to organize and negotiate collectively safeguards the employees and the public from injury, impairment and interruptions of necessary services and removes certain recognized sources of strife and unrest by encouraging practices fundamental to the peaceful adjustment of disputes arising out of differences as to wages, hours, terms and other working conditions, and by establishing greater equality of bargaining power between public employers and public employees.
(D) It is recognized that the State Collective Bargaining Law found in O.R.S. 243.650 et seq. adequately lays out the general rules and guidelines which this subchapter will attempt to generally incorporate and follow, with the exception of those areas that are determined to be of strictly local concern for the city. Any deviations from the State Collective Bargaining Law are made only after a determination that the matter in question is of local concern.
(E) This subchapter and any agreement pursuant hereto shall not impair any constitutional, common law, charter, statutory or traditional right of responsibility of the city to act unilaterally:
(1) To determine the overall mission of the city as a unit of government;
(2) To maintain and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of city operations;
(3) To determine the services to be rendered, the operations to be performed, the technology to be utilized or the programs to be budgeted;
(4) To determine the overall methods, processes, means and job classifications of personnel by which city operations are to be conducted;
(5) To direct, supervise or hire employees;
(6) To promote, suspend, discipline, discharge for cause, transfer, assign, schedule, retain or lay off employees;
(7) To relieve employees from duties because of lack of work or funds or under conditions where the city determines continued work would be unnecessary;
(8) To take whatever other actions may be necessary to carry out the wishes of the public not otherwise specified herein or limited by a collective bargaining agreement;
(9) To take actions to carry out the missions of the city as the governmental unit in situations of emergency; and
(10) To sign a contract with any group of employees which provides for grievance or arbitration proceedings to protect an employee from arbitrary discipline, transfer or discharge.
(F) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to limit the discretion of the city to voluntarily confer with city employees in the process of developing policies to effectuate or implement any of the above enumerated rights.
(Prior Code, § 34.02) (Ord. 849, passed 5-15-1976)