As used in this chapter: (1) "Appropriate bargaining unit" or "bargaining unit" means a group of police officers or firefighters designated by the Public Employment Relations Board as appropriate for representation by an employee organization for purposes of collective bargaining. (2) "Binding interest arbitration" means the procedure by which the Public Employment Relations Board shall make written findings of fact and a decision for final and binding resolution of an impasse arising out of collective bargaining. (3) "Board" means the Public Employment Relations Board established by § 4006 of Title 14 and made applicable to this chapter by § 1306 of this title. (4) "Certification" means official recognition by the Board, following a secret-ballot election, that an employee organization is the exclusive representative for all employees in an appropriate bargaining unit. (5) "Collective bargaining" means the performance of the mutual obligation of a public employer through its designated representatives and the exclusive bargaining representative to confer and negotiate in good faith with respect to terms and conditions of employment, and to execute a written contract incorporating any agreements reached. However, this obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or require the making of a concession. (6) "Decertification" means the withdrawal by the Board of an employee organization's official designation as exclusive representative following a decertification election which shows that the exclusive representative no longer has the support of a majority of the members in an appropriate bargaining unit. (7) "Employee organization" means any organization which admits to membership police officers or firefighters employed by a public employer and which has as a purpose the representation of such employees in collective bargaining, and includes any person acting as an officer, representative or agent of said organization. (8) "Exclusive bargaining representative" or "exclusive representative" means the employee organization which as a result of certification by the Board has the right and responsibility to be the collective bargaining agent of all employees in that bargaining unit. (9) "Impasse" means the failure of a public employer and the exclusive bargaining representative to reach agreement in the course of collective bargaining. (10) "Mediation" means an effort by an impartial third-party confidentially to assist in reconciling an impasse between the public employer and the exclusive bargaining representative regarding terms and conditions of employment. (11) "Police officer" means as defined in § 8401 of Title 11 and includes probation and parole officers of the Department of Correction. "Police officer" does not include any of the following: a. The Department of Correction's Director of Probation and Parole, correctional officers and similar correctional occupations. b. Correctional supervisors and nonuniformed correctional employees who are employed in a secure facility operated by the Department of Correction or the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families, or who have inmate contact which is composed of correctional lieutenants, staff lieutenants, correctional captains, nonuniformed correctional employees who are employed in a secure Department of Correction facility or who have inmate contact and similar occupations. c. Persons and officers not included pursuant to § 8401(6)b. of Title 11. d. The Attorney General and the Attorney General's deputies. e. Any position at a director or executive level whose essential job function and advanced knowledge about the issues involved in collective bargaining would make it unduly burdensome for the employer to negotiate effectively if the employee were a member of an appropriate bargaining unit. This exclusion applies only to those units not already organized upon September 10, 2021, the effective date of this exclusion. (12) "Public employee" or "employee" means any police officer or firefighter employed by a public employer except those determined by the Board to be inappropriate for inclusion in the bargaining unit; provided, however, that for the purposes of this chapter with respect to any state employee covered under the State Merit System, position classification, health care and other benefit programs established pursuant to Chapters 52 and 96 of Title 29, workers' compensation, disability programs and pension programs shall not be deemed to be compensation. (13) a. "Public employer" or "employer" means the State or political subdivisions of the State or any agency thereof, any county, or any agency thereof, or any municipal corporation or municipality, city or town located within the State or any agency thereof, which: 1. Upon the affirmative legislative act of its common council or other governing body has elected to come within Chapter 13 of this title; 2. Hereafter elects to come within this chapter; or 3. Employs 25 or more full-time employees. For the purposes of this paragraph, "employees" shall include each and every person employed by the public employer except: A. Any person elected by popular vote; and B. Any person appointed to serve on a board or commission. b. "Public employer" or "employer" includes the Town of Delmar, Delaware. (14) "Strike" means a public employee's failure, in concerted action with others, to report for duty, or the public employee's wilful absence from the public employee's position, or the public employee's stoppage or deliberate slowing down of work, or the public employee's withholding in whole or in part from the full, faithful and proper performance of the public employee's duties of employment, or the public employee's involvement in a concerted interruption of operations of a public employer for the purpose of inducing, influencing or coercing a change in the conditions, compensation rights, privileges or obligations of public employment; however, nothing shall limit or impair the right of any public employee to lawfully express or communicate a complaint or opinion on any matter related to terms and conditions of employment. (15) "Terms and conditions of employment" means matters concerning or related to wages, salaries, hours, grievance procedures and working conditions; provided, however, that such term shall not include those matters determined by this chapter or any other law of the State to be within the exclusive prerogative of the public employer.
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