The Act gives the Director of the Service the authority to select the individual(s) who will serve as the Board of Inquiry if the Director decides to establish a Board of Inquiry in a particular health care industry bargaining dispute (29 U.S.C. 183). If the parties to collective bargaining involving a health care institution(s) desire to have some input to the Service's selection of an individual(s) to serve as a Board of Inquiry (hereinafter “BoI”), they may jointly exercise the following optional procedure:
(a) At any time at least 90 days prior to the expiration date of a collective bargaining agreement in a contract renewal dispute, or at any time prior to the notice required under clause (B) of section 8(d) of the Act (29 U.S.C. 158(d)) in an initial contract dispute, the employer(s) and the union(s) in the dispute may jointly submit to the Service a list of arbitrators or other impartial individuals who would be acceptable BoI members both to the employer(s) and to the union(s). Such list submission must identify the dispute(s) involved and must include addresses and telephone numbers of the individuals listed and any information available to the parties as to current and past employment of the individuals listed. The parties may jointly rank the individuals in order of preference if they desire to do so.
(b) The Service will make every effort to select any BoI that might be appointed from that jointly submitted list. However, the Service cannot promise that it will select a BoI from such list. The chances of the Service finding one or more individuals on such list available to serve as the BoI will be increased if the list contains a sufficiently large number of names and if it is submitted at as early a date as possible. Nevertheless, the parties can even preselect and submit jointly to the Service one specific individual if that individual agrees to be available for the particular BoI time period. Again the Service will not be bound to appoint that individual, but will be receptive to such a submission by the parties.
(c) The jointly submitted list may be worked out and agreed to by (1) A particular set of parties in contemplation of a particular upcoming negotiation dispute between them, or (2) a particular set of parties for use in all future disputes between that set of parties, or (3) a group of various health care institutions and unions in a certain community or geographic area for use in all disputes between any two or more of those parties.
(d) Submission or receipt of any such list will not in any way constitute an admission of the appropriateness of appointment of a BoI nor an expression of the desirability of a BoI by any party or by the Service.
(e) This joint submission procedure is a purely optional one to provide the parties with an opportunity to have input into the selection of a BoI if they so desire.
(f) Such jointly submitted lists should be sent jointly by the employer(s) and the union(s) to the appropriate regional office of the Service. The regional offices of the Service are as follows:
1. Eastern Region:
Address: Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, 26 Federal Plaza, Room 2937, New York, NY 10278.
Consists of: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Garrett and Alleghany Counties of Maryland; and Brooke and Hancock Counties of West Virginia.
2. Central Region:
Address: Insurance Exchange Building, Room 1641, 175 W. Jackson Street, Chicago, IL 60604.
Consist of: Illinois (except counties listed under the Southern Region); Indiana (except counties listed under Southern Region); Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, and Ohio (except counties listed under the Southern Region).
3. Southern Region:
Address: Suite 400, 1422 W. Peachtree St., NW., Atlanta, GA 30309.
Consists of: Virginia, Maryland (except counties listed under the Eastern Region); Tennessee; North Carolina; South Carolina; Georgia; Alabama; Florida; Mississippi; Louisiana; Arkansas; Kentucky; Texas (except for Hudspeth and El Paso counties); Oklahoma; Missouri (except for those counties listed for the Western Region); Illinois (in counties of Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, McCoupin, Montgomery, Fayette, Bond, Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, Clinton, Washington, Marion, White, Hamilton, Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, Lawrence, Richland, Clay, Effingham, Jasper, and Crawford); Indiana (the counties of Knox, Daviess, Martin, Orange, Washington, Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Crawford, Perry, Spencer, DuBois, Pike, Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, and Warrick); Ohio (the counties of Butler, Hamilton, Warren, Clermont, Brown, Highland, Clinton, Ross, Pike, Adams, Scioto, Lawrence, Ballia, Jackson, Vinton, Hocking, Athens, and Meigs); Kansas (the counties of Bourbon, Crawford, Cherokee, and Ottawa); West Virginia (except counties listed under the Central Region); and the Canal Zone.
4. Western Region:
Address: Francisco Bay Building, Suite 235, 50 Francisco Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Consists of: California; Nevada; Arizona; New Mexico; El Paso and Hudspeth Counties (only) in Texas; Hawaii; Guam; Alaska; Washington; Oregon; Colorado; Utah; Wyoming; Montana; Idaho; Nebraska; Kansas; Iowa; Missouri (the counties of Atchinson, Nodaway, Worth, Harrison, Mercer, Putnam, Schuyler, Scotland, Knox, Adair, Sullivan, Grundy, Daviess, Gentry, DeKalb, Andrew, Holt, Buchanan, Clinton, Caldwell, Livingston, Linn, Macon, Shelby, Randolph, Chariton, Carrol, Ray, Clay, Platte, Jackson, Lafayette, Saline, Howard, Boon, Cooper, Pettis, Johnson, Cass, Bates, Henry, St. Clair, Benton, and Morgan); American Somoa; and Wake Island.