Dispute Resolution Services
The various types of dispute resolution services provided by WERC are outlined below with information about how to obtain each type of service. Filing fees apply to all of the listed services except representation and union security cases and declaratory ruling disputes. Besides dispute resolution services, WERC attempts to prevent disputes from arising in the first place by offering the labor-management cooperation services described elsewhere on this site.
WERC dispute resolution services are those provided for in the three statutes that WERC administers and the related administrative rules by WERC . The Municipal Employment Relations Act (MERA) covers municipal employment relationships. The State Employment Labor Relations Act (SELRA) covers the State of Wisconsin and its relationships with certain categories of its employes. The Wisconsin Employment Peace Act (WEPA) covers private sector employers and their relationships with their employes, except to the extent that some WEPA provisions are pre-empted by federal law.
Adjudication of Statutory Disputes
Digests, lists and a searchable WisBar database of WERC decisions regarding various types of statutory disputes are accessible from elsewhere on this site. [more detail]
Complaint Case Adjudication Each of the three statutes defines practices that are unlawful. MERA refers to such practices as prohibited practices; SELRA and WEPA refer to them as unfair labor practices. Each statute authorizes WERC to adjudicate complaints filed by a party such as an employe, an employer or labor organization asserting that another party has committed one or more of the unlawful practices. WERC is also authorized to order a remedy for violations found to have been committed. WERC ordinarily delegates the responsibility for conducting the administrative hearing to a member of its mediator/attorney staff. The designated hearing examiner issues a written decision that is subject to review by the Commission and appeal to the Courts. Complaint cases are initiated by the filing of a complaint by the aggrieved party. [forms and guides].
Representation and Union Security Case Adjudication Each of the three statutes also authorizes WERC to conduct secret-ballot representation and union security elections and to conduct hearings to resolve disputes about bargaining unit composition, employe status and eligibility to vote, and other issues. WERC is also responsible for resolving unit clarification disputes that arise concerning whether particular positions are properly to be included in or excluded from an existing bargaining unit. WERC ordinarily delegates the responsibility for conducting such hearings to a member of its staff, but WERC ordinarily issues the initial decision in the matter itself, based on recommendations prepared by the staff hearing examiner assigned to the case. Representation election and unit clarification cases are by the filing of a petition. [forms and guides]. If the WERC's decision directs that a secret ballot vote be taken, Commission personnel arrange and conduct the vote either at or near the employer's premises involved or by mail ballot. [forms and guides].
Declaratory Ruling Case Adjudication As an administrative agency within the meaning of Chapter 227 of the Statutes, the WERC is authorized by that Chapter to adjudicate and decide disputes concerning the meaning and application of each of the three statutes it administers. When petitions for declaratory rulings are filed under that general Chapter 227 procedure, the law gives the agency discretion whether or not to hear and decide the question(s) presented. However, MERA Sec. 111.70(4)(b), Stats., requires the WERC to hear and decide questions raised in petitions for declaratory rulings concerning the scope of collective bargaining, that is, whether particular bargaining proposals are mandatory or non-mandatory subjects of bargaining. The WERC ordinarily delegates the responsibility for conducting declaratory ruling hearings to the WERC General Counsel, but the WERC ordinarily issues the initial declaratory ruling itself, after considering a draft decision prepared by the General Counsel. Declaratory ruling cases are initiated by the filing of a petition by an interested party. The form for a Sec. 111.70(4)(b), Stats., petition is described in detail in Commission Rule ERC 18.02, WIS. ADM. CODE. [view it].
Impasse Resolution Services
Each of the statutes administered by WERC places a high policy value on encouraging peaceful voluntary settlement of disputes. Each statute makes WERC mediation services available to the parties. Under WEPA the right to strike and lockout are recognized as available impasse resolution processes. MERA provides varying impasse resolution processes depending on the type of bargaining unit and in some cases the population of the municipal employer involved. SELRA provides a non-binding, non-compellable fact finding process for contract negotiation impasse resolution.
Mediation Each of the statutes administered by WERC places a high policy value on encouraging voluntary settlement of disputes. To assist parties in reaching voluntary settlements of both contract negotiation disputes and contract grievance disputes, WERC offers the services of its Commissioners and mediator/attorney staff as mediators. WERC mediators have no authority to decide the matters at issue between the parties, only to assist the parties through joint or separate discussions in an effort to clarify, narrow and ultimately resolve the issues. [guide] Mediation services are obtained by one or both parties filing either a request for mediation services [form] or a petition for interest arbitration or fact finding as described below..
Interest Arbitration and Fact Finding Non-supervisory police-fire contract negotiation disputes in jurisdictions of 2500 or more are subject to final offer package interest arbitration under Sec. 111.77, Stats. Supervisory and non-supervisory City of Milwaukee police contract negotiation impasses are subject to a different arbitration process in Sec. 111.70(4)(jm), Stats., under which the arbitrator decides each disputed issue without being limited to selection of a party's final offer on that issue. Non-supervisory police-fire contract negotiation disputes in jurisdictions of less than 2500 population are subject to compellable, non-binding fact finding under Sec. 111.70(4)(c)3., Stats.
Section 111.70(4)(cm), Stats., provides compellable and binding final offer package arbitration for all other non-supervisory municipal bargaining units.[guide] In disputes involving bargaining units of professional education personnel in K-12 school districts where the district has offered a qualified economic offer (QEO), interest arbitration is available only with respect to economic issues, and then only after an agreement has been reached between the parties concerning economic issues. [guide]
Interest arbitration and fact finding cases are initiated by the filing of a petition by one or both parties involved. [forms]. Upon the filing of a petition, WERC ordinarily assigns a mediator-investigator who attempts to mediate the dispute to the extent appropriate and who otherwise processes the case to a settlement or until the conditions precedent to a Commission initiating interest arbitration or fact finding have been met. When the Commission issues such an order, it provides the parties with a list of arbitrators or fact-finders drawn by computer from its ad hoc panel of neutral decisionmakers. [more detail] The appointed interest arbitrator or fact finder then conducts a hearing at which the parties present evidence and arguments in support of their bargaining proposals, and then a binding interest arbitration award or non-binding fact finding recommendation is ultimately issued. Lists of interest awards issued are available elsewhere on this site. [more detail].
Grievance Arbitration Services
Grievance Arbitration by WERC-employed Arbitrators WERC Commissioners and mediator/attorney staff also conduct hearings and issue written awards in disputes between a labor organization and an employer concerning the meaning and application of an existing collective bargaining agreement. Requests for such services are initiated by the filing of a request form. [forms and guides] WERC attempts where possible to assign grievance arbitrators in accordance with joint requests of both parties [more detail]. At the joint request of the parties, the WERC will also provide a computer generated list drawn from WERC-employed arbitrators then available to be assigned additional cases. Lists and a searchable WisBar database of grievance awards issued by WERC-employed arbitrators since July 1, 1989 are accessible from elsewhere on this site [more detail]
Grievance Arbitration by Arbitrators Not Employed by WERC At the request of one or both parties to a collective bargaining agreement containing an agreement to arbitrate a dispute about its meaning and application, WERC will provide a list of names drawn by computer from the WERC ad hoc panel of neutral decisionmakers. Requests for WERC provision of an ad hoc are initiated by the filing of a request form. [forms and guides] There is no fee for WERC's provision of such lists, however the parties are responsible for payment of the arbitrator's fees and expenses. Individual biographical and fee information sheets on file from each ad hoc decisionmaker on the WERC's panel are available elsewhere on this site, along with the agency's ad hoc panel policies.
[NOTE: As noted above, besides dispute resolution services, WERC attempts to prevent disputes from arising in the first place by offering the labor-management cooperation services described elsewhere on this site.]
[services and personnel] [statutes, rules and ethics codes] [case processing forms and guides] [case databases and digests] [news and publications] [links to other resources] [about this site]
This page constitutes an official communication of the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. The URL of this page is {http://werc.wi.gov/dispute_resolution_services.htm}. Last modified on 02 DEC 1999
Comments, questions and suggestions.