*208.862.  Consumer rights and employment relations. — 1.  Consumers shall retain the right to hire, fire, supervise, and train personal care attendants.

  2.  Vendors shall continue to perform the functions provided in sections 208.900 to 208.930.  In addition to having a philosophy that promotes the consumer's ability to live independently in the most integrated setting or the maximum community inclusion of persons with physical disabilities, as required by subsection 1 of section 208.918, vendors shall provide to consumers advocacy, independent living skills training, peer counseling, and information and referral services, as those terms are used in subsection 3 of section 178.656.

  3.  The council shall be a public body as that term is defined in section 105.500, and personal care attendants shall be employees of the council solely for purposes of sections 105.500 to 105.598.

  4.  The sole bargaining unit of personal care attendants, as that term is defined in section 105.500, shall be a statewide unit.  Personal care attendants who are related to or members of the family of the consumer to whom they provide services shall not for that reason be excluded from the unit.  The state board of mediation shall conduct an election, by mail ballot, to determine whether an organization shall be designated the exclusive bargaining representative as defined in section 105.500 for the statewide unit of personal care attendants under section 105.525 upon a showing that ten percent of the personal care attendants in said unit want to be represented by a representative.  The Missouri office of administration shall represent the council in any collective bargaining with a representative of personal care attendants.  Upon completion of bargaining, any agreements shall be reduced to writing and presented to the council for adoption, modification or rejection.

  5.  The state of Missouri and all vendors shall cooperate in the implementation of any agreements reached by the council and any representative of personal care attendants, including making any payroll deductions authorized by the agreements which can lawfully be made pursuant to agreements entered into under sections 105.500 to 105.598 as currently construed by the Missouri appellate courts.

  6.  Personal care attendants shall not have the right to strike and breach of this prohibition will result in disqualification from participation in the consumer directed services program.

  7.  Personal care attendants shall not be considered employees of the state of Missouri or any vendor for any purpose.

  8.  (1)  The provisions of sections 105.500 to 105.598 shall apply to all personal care attendants, organizations elected as the exclusive bargaining representative of the bargaining unit of personal care attendants under this section, and all officers and employees of such organizations.  For purposes of this subsection, organizations elected as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit under this section shall be considered a labor organization, as that term is defined in section 105.500.

  (2)  If an organization is not recertified or is decertified as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit of personal care attendants under section 105.575, any subsequent certification of an organization as exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit of personal care attendants shall be conducted according to the provisions of section 105.575, notwithstanding subsection 4 of this section to the contrary.