Back in December I wrote about the “Rise of Alt-Labor,” which referred to the increased use of union-sponsored worker centers and public charities. Savvy unions have utilized “alt-labor” organizations to advance the labor movement in ways that traditional organizing has been unsuccessful. The use of “alt-labor” organizations is new enough that employers are still struggling to respond. But will one response be the rise of “alt-management”?
San Diego Housing Commission v. PERB (San Diego County Superior Court Case No. 37-2012-00087278) In November of last year a Riverside County superior court held factfinding under the MMBA applies only to disputes arising from contract negotiations, and not, for example, to disputes over effects bargaining. (Click here to read that post) However, even before the Riverside case there was a similar case brewing in San Diego involving the local housing commission. (Click here to read that post) A motion for summary judgment was heard in the San Diego case on January 31, 2014. Significantly, the San Diego court reached…
Bureau of Labor Statistics News Release: “Union Members – 2013" The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released the results of its annual survey on union membership. (Click here to view the release and charts.) Overall union membership in the nation remains at 11.3%, a 98-year low. Not since 1916, when the unionization rate was 11.2%, have fewer employees been members of a union. In 2012, California unions bucked this trend by increasing union membership from 17.1% to 17.2%. In 2012 the number of employees in California represented by a union (so this number would include fair share fee payers) also…
One of the difficulties of PERB practice is doing legal research. It's easy enough finding cases on PERB's website or from commercial legal research vendors like Westlaw. But how do you know if a particular point of law in a decision is still good law? Unlike with court decisions, there is no way to "shepardize" a PERB case to find out if it's been overturned. So you really have to be aware of the status of PERB jurisprudence. This is all the more difficult today because the current Board has been particularly active in overturning prior cases. Did you know that the current Board has overturned, at…
County of Orange (2013) PERB Decision No. 2350-M (Issued on 12/23/13)
In this case, an employee alleged that he was laid off in retaliation for filing a grievance in which he prevailed. The union’s theory of retaliation was interesting. As set forth in the decision, the theory was that the employee was given insubstantial assignments that deprived him of the opportunity to promote to a higher position, which in turn left him in the lower position which was subject to layoff. The administrative law judge (ALJ) found that the county was not motivated by unlawful animus. The ALJ also found that even if the employee had established a prima facie case of retaliation, the county met its burden of proving that retaliation was not the true cause of the employee’s layoff. The Board agreed with both these findings.