By John Greiner The Oklahoman
The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a municipal government collective bargaining act affecting Oklahoma's larger cities. The 2004 legislation requiring cities with a population greater than 35,000 to negotiate and bargain with nonuniformed employees is unconstitutional, the court said. The majority opinion, written by Justice Steven Taylor, said the legislation was unconstitutional because it was special legislation contrary to the Oklahoma Constitution. The Supreme Court said the state constitution "prohibits the Legislature from enacting special laws that regulate the affairs of cities, although it may do so by general law." "A general law is one that applies equally to all persons, things or entities embraced in a class founded on some natural, intrinsic or constitutional distinction, while a special law confers some right or imposes some duty on some but not all of the class of those who stand upon the same footing and same relation to the subject of the law," the Supreme Court said. In a dissent, Justice James Edmondson said the majority opinion will tie the hands of the Legislature when it seeks to protect state interests involved in labor relations. He said the opinion denies the Legislature the power to make rational classifications based upon municipal population for the purpose of protecting these interests, despite the fact state legislatures have been making population classifications since before the creation of the constitution. Danny George, executive director of the Oklahoma Municipal League -- an organization that intervened in the case -- said the ruling means cities don't have mandatory collective bargaining. James Moore, attorney for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said he will ask the Supreme Court for a rehearing of its opinion. He has 20 days to file that request. The 2004 legislation affected Broken Arrow, Edmond, Enid, Lawton, Midwest City, Moore, Muskogee, Norman, Oklahoma City, Stillwater and Tulsa. The law applied to nonuniformed municipal employees, including those working in city jobs such as sanitation, libraries and water departments. Oklahoma City, Norman, Muskogee and Tulsa already have voluntary negotiations with nonuniformed employees, George said. Tuesday's Supreme Court opinion upheld an Oklahoma County District Court ruling in an Enid case last January. In fact, two different Oklahoma County judges ruled this year that the law was unconstitutional. In the Enid case, the district court said the law was arbitrary and discriminated against employees of cities with populations less than 35,000 and was an unconstitutional special law. The municipal league believed the 2004 law was unconstitutional and an unfunded mandate on cities and towns, George said. Supporters of the legislation said cities' police and fire employees already have the right to bargain collectively. If this issue surfaces next session, it probably will be as a bill to expand collective bargaining rights to nonuniformed employees of all cities, George said. The municipal league will oppose any attempt to bring the issue before the Legislature again, he said. Oklahoma has more than 600 incorporated cities and towns, George said. The collective bargaining act confers the right of collective bargaining on municipal employees of a distinct subclass of 11 cities, the court said. "To avoid the special treatment of a special law, the privilege of collective bargaining must be extended to employees of all the cities throughout the state if it is extended to any," the Supreme Court said. Joining Taylor in the majority opinion were Chief Justice Joseph Watt and Justices James Winchester, Marian Opala and Tom Colbert. Justices Rudolph Hargrave and Edmondson dissented. Justice Yvonne Kauger concurred in part and dissented in part. Justice Robert Lavender dissented in part.
Stuart Elliott http://newappeal.blogspot.com/ www.ksworkbeat..org