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24LSO-0432
2024
STATE OF WYOMING
24LSO-0432
Numbered
2.0
SENATE FILE NO. SF0124
Teachers' labor organizations-strike prohibition.
Sponsored by: Senator(s) Hicks and Representative(s) Davis
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to education; prohibiting a teachers' labor organization from engaging in or inducing a strike; creating new duties for the department of workforce services; providing for a civil action; creating penalties; providing definitions; specifying applicability; requiring rulemaking; and providing for effective dates.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1.
W.S. 21
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7
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801 through 21
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7
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804 are created to read:
ARTICLE 8
LABOR RELATIONS
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TEACHERS
21
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7
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801.
Definitions.
(a)
As used in this article:
(i)
"Department" means the department of workforce services;
(ii)
"Strike" means a teacher's refusal, in concerted action with other teachers, to report for duty, the teacher's willful absence from his position, stoppage of work or the teacher's abstinence in whole or in part from the performance of the duties of employment as established under the teacher's employment contract;
(iii)
"Teacher" means as defined by W.S. 21
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7
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102(a)(vii);
(iv)
"Teachers' labor organization" means any lawful association, organization, federation, council or labor union for which the membership includes teachers and that assists its members to improve their wages, hours or conditions of employment.
21
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7
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802.
Right to self
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organize, form and join teacher organizations; right to bargain collectively; right to refrain from activities.
(a)
Except as provided by W.S. 21
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7
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803(a), teachers shall have the right of self
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organization and the right to form, join or assist any teachers' labor organization for the purpose of bargaining collectively through representatives of their own choosing on questions of wages, hours or other terms and conditions of employment and to engage in lawful, concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, free from interference, restraint or coercion and nothing shall limit or impair the right of any teacher to express or communicate a complaint or opinion on any matter related to conditions of employment.
(b)
A teacher shall have the right to refrain from any or all of the activities under subsection (a) of this section.
21
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7
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803.
Strikes, work stoppages and withholding of services prohibited.
(a)
Notwithstanding W.S. 27
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7
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101 et seq., no teacher or teachers' labor organization shall engage in a strike, and no teacher or teacher labor organization shall induce, encourage or condone any strike, work stoppage, slowdown or withholding of services by any other teachers.
(b)
Whenever a strike occurs or is about to occur, the affected school district or the department of education shall petition the department to conduct an investigation. Notwithstanding W.S. 27
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7
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102 through 27
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7
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106, if, after investigation, the department determines that subsection (a) of this section has been or is about to be violated, the department shall initiate a civil action in the district court for the county where the violation has occurred or is about to occur for a restraining order or temporary injunction to prohibit a strike or inducement for a strike in violation of subsection (a) of this section.
(c)
If a civil action is initiated under subsection (b) of this section, any teacher, the teachers' labor organization, the school district, department of education or any other person involved in the action shall have the right to appear in person or otherwise to defend against the complaint. The district court shall issue written findings of fact and shall determine whether a violation of subsection (a) of this section has been committed and, if so, may issue a restraining order or a temporary or permanent injunction requiring any teachers and the teachers' labor organization to cease and desist from any strike or inducement to strike. The court may order any other remedy as provided by law and impose a civil penalty pursuant to W.S. 21
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7
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804(a).
21
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7
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804.
Penalties; teachers engaging in strike.
(a)
Any teachers' labor organization violating W.S. 21
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7
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803(a) shall be liable for a civil penalty of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) per violation. For purposes of this subsection, each day that the teachers' labor organization is engaged in a strike shall be a new violation under W.S. 21
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7
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803(a). Any penalty collected under this subsection shall be credited into the county treasury to the credit of the public school fund of the county or counties where the violations occurred.
(b)
No compensation shall be paid to a teacher with respect to any day or part thereof when the teacher is engaged in a strike. No teacher shall be eligible for additional compensation at a later date in the event that the teacher is required to work additional days to fulfill the requirements of their employment contract.
(c)
Any teacher who engages in a strike shall be subject to discipline pursuant to W.S. 21
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7
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105 and 21
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7
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110.
Section 2.
This act shall apply to teachers and teachers' labor organizations beginning with the 2024
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2025 school year and any employment contract or other agreement on and after July 1, 2024.
Section 3.
The department of workforce services shall promulgate all rules necessary to implement the provisions of this act by July 1, 2024.
Section 4
.
(a)
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, this act is effective July 1, 2024
.
(b)
Sections 3 and 4 of this act are effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution
.
(END)
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SF0124