The Legislative Assembly finds and declares that:

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(1) The people of this state have a fundamental interest in the development of harmonious and cooperative relationships between government and its employees;

(2) Recognition by public employers of the right of public employees to organize and full acceptance of the principle and procedure of collective negotiation between public employers and public employee organizations can alleviate various forms of strife and unrest. Experience in the private and public sectors of our economy has proved that unresolved disputes in the public service are injurious to the public, the governmental agencies, and public employees;

(3) Experience in private and public employment has also proved that protection by law of the right of employees to organize and negotiate collectively safeguards employees and the public from injury, impairment and interruptions of necessary services, and removes certain recognized sources of strife and unrest, by encouraging practices fundamental to the peaceful adjustment of disputes arising out of differences as to wages, hours, terms and other working conditions, and by establishing greater equality of bargaining power between public employers and public employees;

(4) The state has a basic obligation to protect the public by attempting to assure the orderly and uninterrupted operations and functions of government;

(5) It is in the public interest to ensure that exclusive representatives of public employees are able to effectively carry out their statutory duties by having direct access to represented employees, including communicating with the employees at the workplace or otherwise;

(6) It is the purpose of ORS § 243.650 to 243.809 to obligate public employers, public employees and their representatives to enter into collective negotiations with willingness to resolve grievances and disputes relating to employment relations and to enter into written and signed contracts evidencing agreements resulting from such negotiations. It is also the purpose of ORS § 243.650 to 243.809 to promote the improvement of employer-employee relations within the various public employers by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of public employees to join organizations of their own choice, and to be represented by such organizations in their employment relations with public employers; and

(7) Ensuring meaningful communication between labor organizations and employees increases the effectiveness of public employees’ work performance. [1973 c.536 § 2; 2019 c.429 § 8]