Category: PERB News

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SB 548: Allows Firefighters to Bypass PERB

SB 548 was introduced by Senators Atkins (D-San Diego) and Leyva (D-Chino) on February 16, 2017. SB 548 only applies to firefighters under the MMBA and Dills Act.  But if enacted, this bill would fundamentally change PERB’s role in adjudicating unfair practice charges for this group of employees. First, SB 548 provides that if PERB has not acted on an unfair practice charge within 150 days of filing, any party can request a “right-to-sue” letter allowing the party to bring a civil action in superior court. Second, SB 548 provides that PERB must issue a right-to-sue letter upon completion of…

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SB 371: Prohibits Unionized Employees From Representing Employers Against Union

SB 371 was introduced by Senator John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) on February 14, 2017. SB 371 bill would add the following new section to the MMBA: 3505.9. An individual who will be covered by a memorandum of understanding between a public agency and a recognized public employee organization shall not represent the public agency in negotiations with the recognized employee organization. Since this bill was just introduced, a bill analysis is not yet available. Comments: Because a bill analysis is not yet available, it’s unclear what “problem” this bill is trying to solve.  It’s certainly true that under the MMBA, virtually…

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The New Friedrichs case: Janus v AFSCME

Mark Janus et al v. AFSCME et al (7th Cir.) (Docket No. 16-3638) Last year everyone’s attention was focused on the Supreme Court’s opinion in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (Friedrichs) case. At issue was the Supreme Court’s 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education which sanctioned the collection of mandatory agency fees in the public sector. After oral argument in January 2016, almost all commentators agreed that the Supreme Court was likely to overturn its precedent in Abood. That all changed with the passing of Justice Scalia which resulted in the Supreme Court affirming the Friedrich’s…

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Strike Injunctions: How Often Does PERB Issue Them?

[Note: The original post has been corrected to include two additional strike injunctions issued in fiscal year 2015-2016. The chart also makes it clear the strike injunction was issued during the fiscal year, and not necessarily the calendar year.] For those of you attending the annual CalPELRA conference, I will be speaking on Friday, November 4th, on the subject of strikes. Among the issues I will be talking about is the injunctive relief process before PERB and how it works. In preparation for my talk, I examined how many times PERB has issued injunctions against strike activity. To do this, I reviewed…

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PERB Issues 2015-16 Annual Report

PERB has released its annual report for fiscal year 2015-2016. (The report is available here.)  Here is my annual summary of the statistics in the report: Unfair Practice Charges 652 unfair practice charges (UPCs) were filed in fiscal year 2015-16. In fiscal year 2014-2015, there were 695 UPCs. This means fiscal year 2015-16 saw a 6.2% decrease in UPCs compared to the prior year. The largest decrease was under the Dills Act which saw a 26.4% decrease in UPCs (53 versus 72 in 2014-15). EERA saw a 13.2% decrease in UPCs (236 versus 272 in 2014-15). In contrast, HEERA saw a slight increase…

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