Section 4117.16. Temporary restraining order enjoining strike

(A) Whenever the public employer believes that a lawful strike creates clear and present danger to the health or safety of the public, the public employer may petition the court of common pleas having jurisdiction over the parties to issue a temporary restraining order enjoining the strike. If the court finds probable cause to believe that the strike may be a clear and present danger to the public health or safety, it has jurisdiction to issue a temporary restraining order, not to exceed seventy-two hours, enjoining the strike.

Should a court issue a temporary restraining order, the public employer shall immediately request authorization of the state employment relations board to enjoin the strike beyond the effective period of the temporary restraining order. The board shall determine within the effective period of the temporary restraining order whether the strike creates a clear and present danger to the health or safety of the public.

If the board finds that a clear and present danger exists, the common pleas court which issued the temporary restraining order has jurisdiction to issue orders to further enjoin the strike. However, the court shall make provisions in any injunction or other order issued beyond the temporary restraining order for the automatic termination of the injunction or other order at the end of sixty days following the end of the temporary restraining order or when an agreement is reached, whichever occurs first. Thereafter, no court has jurisdiction to issue any further injunction or other orders pursuant to this section. The order of the court is appealable as provided in the Appellate Rules.

(B) Whenever a court of common pleas has issued an order, other than a temporary restraining order, under division (A) of this section enjoining acts or practices which create a clear and present danger to the public health or safety, the parties to the labor dispute giving rise to the order shall engage in collective bargaining for a period of sixty days from the date of the order or until agreement is reached, whichever occurs first. The parties shall collectively bargain with the assistance of a mediator appointed by the board. The mediator, at his discretion, may require that the parties collectively bargain in public or in private. At any time after there has been forty-five days of collective bargaining and no agreement has been reached, the mediator may make public a report on the current position of the parties to the dispute and the efforts which have been made for settlement. The report shall include a statement by each party of its position and a statement of the employee organization's and public employer's offers of settlement.

Effective Date: 04-01-1984