When it comes to research materials, printing as a search tool is much easier to use than electronic versions. The employer has more than sufficient financial and human resources as the Union, and could therefore easily absorb the costs and devote the time necessary to copy the research documents and make them available to the Union. If the employer imposes updates, the employer and the Union would use the latest versions of the reference materials. With regard to bargaining meetings, most of the members of the Union`s negotiating team are elected union officials who, in addition to the negotiating team, also have representation obligations to the staff of the bargaining units. Limiting the negotiating sessions to three days a week would allow these EU officials to deal with other representation issues and avoid any unforeseen interruptions to the negotiating sessions. While the Union has other representatives and administrators who could deal with certain issues of representation, the Union representatives on the negotiating team are the most experienced and therefore better able to deal with complex representation issues such as undesirable measures, which are frequent. Negotiating 3 days a week for 10 hours a day is a considerable amount of time that you have to spend at the table each week; the proposed timetable would allow the parties to devote most of their time each week to negotiating a successor MCBA. In addition, negotiations for a new MCBA are expected to last at least 110 calendar days, as in addition to the 47 existing items that could be reopened, several new items could be proposed, which may require in-depth negotiations. The parties also have the flexibility to extend the negotiations beyond 110 calendar days if further negotiations are needed. Because the current MCBA is over 11 years old, many articles may require a complete review; Therefore, a minimum period of 110 days schedule for negotiations is a reasonable proposition.
The Union and the employer may participate in collective bargaining with a dol employee limited to a silent observer on each side, in order to observe the procedure during its time. Neither party can bring observers to negotiating meetings. After reviewing the employer`s request for assistance, which stemmed from negotiations on the basic rules of a Master of Succession Collective Agreement (MCBA), the committee decided that the dispute should be resolved through an informal conference with Chief Lawyer Donna M. DiTullio. The parties were informed that if an agreement had not been reached during the informal conference, a woman had not reached an agreement.