There used to be a time, more than 50 years ago, when public employees has limited employment rights. They are considered as public employees who should not have the same prerogative and bargaining power compared with their counterparts in the private sector. But with the enactment of Public Employment Labor Relations Act this has changed dramatically. Public employees now enjoy the right to have an effective organization and more importantly to have the bargaining rights vis-a-vis their public employer.
The passage of Public Employment Labor Relations Act deems to address the need of the public employee and at the same time understand the need for the balancing act concerning the labor sector to organize and their responsibility to provide and maintain essential government services.
Area of Influence that created the PELRA
There are basically two area of influence of public employees that PELRA tries to address and balance. One of these is the area of influence that arises from the rights and obligation of the employees in working with their employers. This means a public employee , like a public school teacher, has to do his obligation to under his employment as supervised by his district director. The second one is the influence that arises from the voting power of the public employee as citizen and the rights to practice his ability to organize a powerful political action and lobbying organization.
Public Policy of PELRA
PELRA articulates the policy of the state as stated in Section 179A.01 that says the law is constructed “promote orderly and constructive relationship between all public employers and their employees.” Though this is the main point of PELRA, it must be understood this is subject to the “paramount rights of the citizens” namely the guarantee of his health, safety, education and welfare.
Right and obligation of Public Employee under PELRA
Under the provision of PELRA, the rights of the public employee is enumerated as the right to the expression of views, right to organize, right for a fair share fee, the rights to confer and meet and rights to negotiate.