Sec. 17.

(1) A bargaining representative or an education association shall not veto a collective bargaining agreement reached between a public school employer and a bargaining unit consisting of employees of the public school employer; shall not require the bargaining unit to obtain the ratification of an education association before or as a condition of entering into a collective bargaining agreement; and shall not in any other way prohibit or prevent the bargaining unit from entering into, ratifying, or executing a collective bargaining agreement. The power to decide whether or not to enter into, ratify, or execute a collective bargaining agreement with a public school employer rests solely with the members of the bargaining unit who are employees of the public school employer, and shall not be delegated to a bargaining representative or an education association or conditioned on approval by a bargaining representative or an education association.

(2) If an education association, a bargaining representative, or a bargaining unit violates this section, the board of a public school employer or any other person adversely affected by the violation of this section may bring an action to enjoin the violation of this section in the circuit court for the county in which the plaintiff resides or the circuit court for the county in which the affected public school employer is located. Failure to comply with an order of the court may be punished as contempt. In addition, the court shall award court costs and reasonable attorney fees to a plaintiff who prevails in an action brought under this section.

(3) As used in this section, “education association” means an organization, whether organized on a county, regional, area, or state basis, in which employees of 1 or more public school employers participate and that exists for the common purpose of protecting and advancing the wages, hours, and working conditions of the organization's members.

History: Add. 1994, Act 112, Eff. Mar. 30, 1995