The 1983 Ohio collective bargaining law and its perceived impact upon management in law enforcement agencies

Abstract

The focus of the study was to identify changes in labor relations between police employer and sworn police employees that resulted from the 1983 Ohio Public Employee Collective Bargaining Law. The methodology used was exploratory in nature and drew from a variety of data-gathering strategies such as social surveys, mail surveys, unobtrusive measures, secondary analysis, official statistics, and litigation history surrounding this law.

The study is divided into four parts. Part I describes the litigation history of the law as it affects Ohio police departments. Part II examines the police management-union relationship from the standpoint of police administrators, and part III focuses on the police union-management relationship from the union/bargaining agent viewpoint. Part IV consists of insights, opinions, and professional observations of legal experts concerning the impact of the law on the changes in police employer-employee relationships. It was found that the 1983 Ohio Public Employee Collective Bargaining Law has impacted police departments throughout the state in three areas: "forced" bargaining, contract length, and required provisions. Surveys from the police administrators, union representatives and legal experts provided information indicating that there is an increasing concern that the policing occupation is being deprofessionalized by excessive grievance filings, heated negotiations and extreme economic conditions.