Combining demands may be injurious to your bargaining position
Town of Niagara, Case U-5115
When an item subject to mandatory negotiations was combined with a non-mandatory item, PERB held the entire proposal constituted what it described as a “unitary demand” which became a non-mandatory subject of negotiations because one of its parts was non-mandatory.
PERB, however, rejected the Town’s argument that a demand to continue a number of existing contract provisions (consisting of both mandatory and non-mandatory subjects of negotiations) be considered non-mandatory because some parts were non-mandatory. Here PERB ruled that there was no basis to conclude the several provisions constituted a “unitary demand”.
This suggests that had the Union presented certain of the existing provisions as a “package” demand,” the “package” would not be converted into a non-mandatory subject of negotiations despite the fact that the “package” consisted of both mandatory and non-mandatory subjects of collective bargaining and the employer could not refuse to negotiate the proposal.
Presumably the same rule would apply if the employer were to “package” its demands.
