When used in this article:
Agency shop means a provision in a collective bargaining agreement requiring, as a condition of continued employment, that bargaining unit employees pay a service fee not to exceed the monthly membership dues uniformly and regularly required by the employee organization of all of its members. An agency shop agreement shall not require the payment of initiation fees, an assessment, fines or any other collections or their equivalent, as a condition of continued employment.
To bargain collectively means to meet at reasonable times and places and to negotiate in good faith with respect to appropriate subjects as set out in subsection 33-80(a) of this article.
Certified representative means an employee organization selected in accordance with this chapter to represent a unit.
Employee means any police officer classified as a sergeant, master police officer I, master police officer II, police officer I, police officer II, police officer III, or police officer candidate, or an equivalent nonsupervisory classification, but not a police officer in any higher classification.
Employer means the county executive and the Executive's designees.
Employee organization means any organization which admits to membership employees and which has as a primary purpose the representation of such employees in collective bargaining, and includes any person acting as an officer, representative or agent of said organization. Such organization shall not admit to membership any person other than law enforcement officers.
Lockout means any action taken by the employer to interrupt or prevent the continuity of work properly and usually performed by the employee for the purpose and with the intent of either coercing the employees into relinquishing rights guaranteed by this article or of bringing economic pressure on employees for the purpose of securing the agreement of their certified representative to certain collective bargaining terms.
Mediation means an effort by an impartial third party confidentially to assist in resolving, through interpretation, suggestion and advice, a dispute arising out of collective bargaining between the employer and the certified representative.
Strike means a concerted failure to report for duty, absence, stoppage of work, or abstinence in whole or in part from the full and faithful performance of the duties of employment with the employer, or deviation from normal or proper work duties or activities, where any of the preceding are done in a concerted manner for the purpose of inducing, influencing or coercing the employer in the determination, implementation, interpretation, or administration of terms or conditions of employment or of the rights, privileges, or obligations of employment or of the status, recognition or authority of the employee or an employee organization.
Unit means all employees. (1982 L.M.C., ch. 53, § 3; , § 1.)
Editor’s note—Section 33-76 is cited in Mayor and City Council for Ocean City v. Bunting, 168 Md. App. 134, 895 A.2d 1068 (2006).
See County Attorney Opinion dated regarding a union’s authority to engage in collective bargaining on behalf of current employees, but not on behalf of future employees.
