(a) “Appropriate bargaining unit” or “bargaining unit” means a group of school employees designated by the Public Employment Relations Board as appropriate for representation by an employee organization for purposes of collective bargaining.
(b) “Arbitration” means the procedure whereby the parties involved in a labor dispute over the interpretation or application of an existing collective bargaining agreement submit their differences to a third party for a final and binding decision.
(c) “Binding interest arbitration” means the procedure by which the Public Employment Relations Board shall make written findings of fact and a decision for final and binding resolution of an impasse arising out of collective bargaining.
(d) “Board” means the Public Employment Relations Board established by § 4006 of this title.
(e) “Certification” means official recognition by the Board, following a secret-ballot election, that an employee organization is the exclusive representative for all employees in an appropriate bargaining unit.
(f) “Collective bargaining” means the performance of the mutual obligation of a school employer through its designated representatives and the exclusive bargaining representative to confer and negotiate in good faith with respect to terms and conditions of employment, and to execute a written contract incorporating any agreements reached. However, this obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or require the making of a concession.
(g) “Confidential employee” means any employee whose essential job function and advanced knowledge about the issues involved in collective bargaining would make it unduly burdensome for the employer to negotiate effectively if the employee were a member of an appropriate bargaining unit.
(h) “Decertification” means the withdrawal by the Board of an employee organization’s official designation as exclusive representative following a decertification election which shows that the exclusive representative no longer has the support of a majority of the members in an appropriate bargaining unit.
(i) “Employee organization” means any organization which admits to membership employees of a public school employer and which has as a purpose the representation of such employees in collective bargaining, and includes any person acting as an officer, representative or agent of said organization.
(j) “Exclusive bargaining representative” or “exclusive representative” means the employee organization which as a result of certification by the Board has the right and responsibility to be the collective bargaining agent of all employees in that bargaining unit.
(k) “Fair share fee” means a fee that a nonmember shall be required to pay to the exclusive representative to offset the nonmember’s per capita share of the exclusive representative’s expenditures. Such fee shall be equal in amount to regular membership dues that a member of the exclusive representative is required to pay, including payments to the exclusive representative’s affiliated organizations, or such lesser amount as is prescribed by the exclusive representative in compliance with the procedures contained herein.
(l) “Impasse” means the failure of a public school employer and the exclusive bargaining representative to reach agreement in the course of collective bargaining.
(m) “Mediation” means an effort by an impartial third party confidentially to assist in reconciling an impasse between the public school employer and the exclusive bargaining representative regarding terms and conditions of employment.
(n) “Nonmember” means an employee of a public school employer who is not a member of the exclusive representative, but who is represented in a collective bargaining unit by the exclusive representative for purposes of collective bargaining.
(o) “Public school administrator” means and includes all public school employees performing primarily administrative functions and employed under an administrative contract by a public school district.
(p) “Public school employee” or “employee” means any employee of a public school employer except public school administrators and confidential employees of a public school employer; provided the exclusive representative of designated appropriate bargaining units certified under Title 19 informs the Secretary of Labor, the Executive Director of the Board and the public school employer in writing, by certified mail, that it elects coverage under the provisions of this chapter; or provided that an employee organization has submitted a petition on behalf of public school employees pursuant to § 4010 or § 4011 of this chapter which includes a request to be covered under the provisions of this chapter prior to the submission of a similar petition pursuant to § 1304 or § 1305 of Title 19.
(q) “Public school employer” or “employer” means any board of education, school district, reorganized school district, special school district, and any person acting as an agent thereof.
(r) “Strike” means a public school employee’s failure, in concerted action with others, to report for duty, or that employee’s wilful absence from that employee’s position, or that employee’s stoppage or deliberate slowing down of work, or that employee’s withholding in whole or in part from the full, faithful and proper performance of that employee’s duties of employment, or that employee’s involvement in a concerted interruption of operations of a public school employer for the purpose of inducing, influencing or coercing a change in the conditions, compensation rights, privileges or obligations of public school employment; however, nothing shall limit or impair the right of any public school employee to lawfully express or communicate a complaint or opinion on any matter related to terms and conditions of employment.
(s) “Supervisory employee” means any employee of a public school employer who has the authority, in the interest of the public school employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline other employees, or responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of such authority is not merely routine or clerical in nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(t) “Terms and conditions of employment” means matters concerning or related to wages, salaries, donated leave program or programs in compliance with Chapter 13 of this title, hours, grievance procedures and working conditions; provided, however, that such term shall not include those matters determined by this chapter or any other law of the State to be within the exclusive prerogative of the public school employer.