SCHOOL BD. OF DADE CTY. v. Dade Teachers Ass'n

421 So. 2d 645
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedOctober 26, 1982
Docket81-2233, 81-2323
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 421 So. 2d 645 (SCHOOL BD. OF DADE CTY. v. Dade Teachers Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
SCHOOL BD. OF DADE CTY. v. Dade Teachers Ass'n, 421 So. 2d 645 (Fla. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

421 So.2d 645 (1982)

SCHOOL BOARD OF DADE COUNTY, Florida, Appellant,
v.
DADE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, FTPNEA, and Public Employees Relations Commission, Appellees.
UNITED TEACHERS OF DADE, LOCAL 1974, AFT, Appellant,
v.
DADE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, FTPNEA, and Public Employees Relations Commission, Appellees.

Nos. 81-2233, 81-2323.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

October 26, 1982.
Rehearing Denied November 22, 1982.

*646 Haygood & Williams and Gerald A. Williams, West Palm Beach, for appellant School Bd.

du Fresne and du Fresne and Elizabeth J. du Fresne, Miami, for appellant United Teachers of Dade.

Frank & Kelly and Mark F. Kelly, Tampa, for appellee Dade Teachers Assn.

Edward S. Stafman, Jerry W. Cheatham, Tallahassee, for appellee Public Employees Relations Comn.

Before BARKDULL, HENDRY and BASKIN, JJ.

HENDRY, Judge.

Appellants, the Dade County School Board ("School Board") and the United Teachers of Dade ("UTD"), jointly challenge an administrative decision of the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission ("PERC") finding that they committed unfair labor practices against appellee Dade Teachers Association ("DTA"), UTD's rival union.

This dispute dates back to August, 1980. UTD was the certified bargaining agent for Dade County Teachers and had an agreement with the School Board which purported to grant it the "exclusive" right to solicit and organize teachers. When off-duty teachers supporting DTA began soliciting memberships for the union in school parking lots and by posting literature on school bulletin boards, UTD representatives, with the School Board's support, removed the DTA literature and the School Board, at the insistence of UTD, prohibited the DTA-affiliated teachers from soliciting other teachers in parking lots other than at their assigned schools. A School Board memorandum, circulated to all school principals, stated in pertinent part:

Bulletin Boards
Pursuant to Article XXVIII, Section 5 of the DCPS/UTD contract, at least one (1) bulletin board shall be reserved at an exclusive place in the employee's lounge for the exclusive use of UTD for purposes of posting material dealing with union business. Also, the union (UTD) shall be *647 allowed to post special union bulletins in the same location as is posted the employee sign-in sheet.
If there currently exists a separate, all-purpose bulletin board at a given work location on which individual employees post notices, this practice may continue. (However, minority/rival union materials may not be posted, pursuant to the exclusivity rights granted to UTD).
Solicitation
Pursuant to State Statutes and DCPS/UTD contract provisions, both the exclusive bargaining agent and individual employees have the right to solicit union membership. (Such solicitation is only permitted during duty-free time.)
UTD building stewards shall be allowed to conduct union business at duty-free times when not directly instructing students (pursuant to Article XXVIII, Section 3 of the DCPS/UTD contract).
Minority/rival union representatives are not permitted to solicit membership at DCPS work locations.
Access
The exclusive bargaining agent (but not a minority/rival union) shall be afforded access to DCPS work sites and grounds, including work location parking lots. Individual employees are afforded access to their own work sites and grounds (including parking lots), but not to other DCPS work sites unless they are at those sites on official DCPS business.

DTA filed unfair labor practice charges against the School Board and UTD under section 447.501(1)(a) and (2)(a), Florida Statutes (1979). The charges were consolidated and, following an evidentiary hearing, the PERC hearing officer issued a recommended order finding that (1) the School Board was justified in prohibiting teachers from soliciting at parking lots of other schools (on the theory they were "nonemployees" of such schools); and, (2) removal of DTA materials from all-purpose school bulletin boards was an unfair labor practice in violation of section 447.501(2)(a).

PERC's final order adopted the hearing officer's findings of fact, but determined that unfair labor practices had occurred with respect to both the bulletin board policy and the "other-school" parking lot policy. The question raised by this appeal is whether the two School Board rules are unfair labor practices within the definition of section 447.501(1)(a) and (2)(a). For the reasons set forth below, we find that both charges are well founded and affirm PERC's order.

The legislative statement of policy with respect to the Florida Public Employees Labor Relations Act provides that PERC was created to assist in resolving public labor disputes. § 447.201, Fla. Stat. (1979). PERC has developed special expertise in dealing with labor problems and is uniquely qualified to interpret and apply the policies enunciated in Chapter 447, entitling its decisions to considerable deference by this court. City of Clearwater v. Lewis, 404 So.2d 1156 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981); Pasco County School Board v. PERC, 353 So.2d 108 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977).

The unfair labor practice charges against the School Board and UTD in this case stem from section 447.501(1)(a) and (2)(a), which prohibits both public employers and employee organizations (unions), or their agents or representatives, from "[i]nterfering with, restraining, or coercing public employees in the exercise of any rights guaranteed them under this part." In construing these provisions, we are permitted to consider Federal labor law cases interpreting similar provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 151 et seq., which PERC has frequently relied upon in establishing guidelines concerning solicitation and access disputes. City of Clearwater v. Lewis, supra; Okaloosa-Walton Junior College v. PERC, 372 So.2d 1378 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979), cert. denied, 383 So.2d 1200 (Fla. 1980); Pasco County School Board v. PERC, supra. Guaranteed the right to self-organize and bargain collectively by section 447.301 of the Act, public employees must also, of necessity, have the right to effectively communicate with one another regarding self-organization at the job site. *648 Okaloosa-Walton Junior College v. PERC, supra. Relying on private sector precedent, PERC has therefore adopted policies which provide that blanket no-access rules and rules which discriminate against one union in favor of another are presumptively invalid. See, e.g., Beth Israel Hospital v. NLRB, 437 U.S. 483, 492, 98 S.Ct. 2463, 2469, 57 L.Ed.2d 370, 380 (1978); NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 351 U.S. 105, 76 S.Ct. 679, 100 L.Ed. 975 (1956); Republic Aviation Corp. v. NLRB, 324 U.S. 793, 65 S.Ct. 982, 89 L.Ed. 1372 (1945).

In Okaloosa-Walton Junior College v. PERC, supra,

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421 So. 2d 645, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/school-bd-of-dade-cty-v-dade-teachers-assn-fladistctapp-1982.