LD 1318
pg. 7
Page 6 of 16 An Act To Provide Collective Bargaining Rights to Certain Forest Products Worke... Page 8 of 16
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LR 1321
Item 1

 
authorize mediation services and expenditures incurred by
members of the panel.__All costs must be paid from that
special fund.__The executive director may estimate costs
upon receipt of a request for services and collect those
costs prior to providing the services.__The executive
director shall bill or reimburse the parties, as
appropriate, for any difference between the estimated costs
that were collected and the actual costs of providing the
services.__Once one party has paid its share of the
estimated cost of providing the service, the mediator is
assigned.__A party who has not paid an invoice for the
estimated or actual cost of providing services within 60
days of the date the invoice was issued is, in the absence
of good cause shown, liable for the amount of the invoice
together with a penalty in the amount of 25% of the amount
of the invoice.__Any penalty amount collected pursuant to
this provision remains in the special fund administered by
the Maine Labor Relations Board, and that fund does not
lapse.__The executive director is authorized to collect any
sums due and payable pursuant to this provision through
civil action.__In such an action, the court shall allow
litigation costs, including court costs and reasonable
attorney's fees, to be deposited in the General Fund if the
executive director is the prevailing party in the action.

 
B.__Voluntary mediation may not last for more than 5 days,
unless extended by mutual agreement of the bargaining
parties.

 
2.__Required mediation.__Any matters remaining in dispute
between a forest landowner and a qualified bargaining
association 30 days prior to the contract date, as defined in
this subsection, must be submitted by the parties to required
mediation.

 
A.__For purposes of this section, the contract date is as
follows.__If there is no contract existing between the
parties at the time of required mediation under this
section, the contract date is the date set by the board,
in consultation with the parties, as the date by which a
contract must be signed by both parties.__After that date,
as between those parties, the contract date is the
anniversary of the date set by the board initially.__Once
a contract date has been established under this paragraph,
the parties may mutually agree to a different contract
date, provided that they do so no less than 45 days prior
to the contract date established under this paragraph.

 
B.__If the parties have not mutually agreed on a mediator and
on the sharing of costs of mediation 30 days before the


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