AB 127

The Municipal Employment Relations Act (MERA) grants certain protective

occupation participants under the Wisconsin Retirement System (public safety

employees) the right to collectively bargain over wages, hours, and conditions of

employment. There are three categories of collective bargaining subjects regarding

collective bargaining units containing public safety employees. A mandatory subject

of bargaining is one primarily related to wages, hours, and conditions of employment;

the employer is required to bargain over this subject. A permissive subject of

bargaining is one primarily related to the management and direction of the

municipal employer; the employer is permitted, but is not required, to bargain over

this subject. A prohibited subject of bargaining is one that would violate a law if the

parties bargained over it; there may be no bargaining over a prohibited subject.

This bill creates a permissive subject of bargaining under MERA by providing

that a municipal employer is not required to bargain over any decision whether or

not to deduct union dues from the earnings of a public safety employee or over the

impact of the decision on the wages, hours, or conditions of employment of the public

safety employee.

The bill prohibits bargaining over all of the following, as well as the impact of

each on the wages, hours, or conditions of employment of the public safety employee:

1) the decision to contract with any person who is not a municipal employee for the

performance of services; 2) the decision to contract with any other municipal

employer for the performance of services; 3) the decision to contract with any other

municipal employer to consolidate services or units of government; or 4) the decision

to permit individuals who perform services without payment of wages to perform

services for the municipality that would otherwise be performed by municipal

employees.

The bill prohibits bargaining over the selection of health care coverage plans

by municipal employers for their public safety employees, including the option for the

municipal employer to offer a health savings account that complies with federal law

instead of, or in addition to, a health care coverage plan. The bill prohibits

bargaining over the employer's share of premium costs for health care coverage

under a plan or the employer's contribution to a health savings account, as long as

the total employer share of premium costs is at least 75 percent of the total premium

costs of a health care coverage plan or, if the plan includes a health savings account,

at least 90 percent of the total premium cost. In addition, the bill prohibits

bargaining over any requirement that the employer pay, on the behalf of a public

safety employee, the first 5.8 percent of earnings that the employee is required to pay

as contributions under the Wisconsin Retirement System.

Under MERA, if a dispute involving public safety employees that relates to the

terms of a proposed collective bargaining agreement goes to arbitration, the

arbitrator must give weight to different factors, depending on whether the dispute