BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 259|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 259
Author: Hancock (D)
Amended: 3/14/11
Vote: 21
SEN. PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RETIREMENT COMM. : 3-2, 3/21/11
AYES: Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Vargas
NOES: Walters, Gaines
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-2, 1/19/12
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner
SUBJECT : Higher education: employees
SOURCE : United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural
Implement
Workers of America
DIGEST : This bill expands the right, under the Higher
Education-Employee Relations Act, for student employees at
the University of California, California State University,
and Hastings College of Law to be covered by collective
bargaining.
ANALYSIS :
Existing Law
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1.Establishes the Higher Education Employer-Employee
Relations Act (HEERA) which provides a statutory
framework to regulate labor relations between the
University of California (UC), the California State
University (CSU), and Hastings College of Law and their
employees.
2.Establishes the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB)
as the state agency that has broad authority to enforce
the HEERA with regard to labor relations activities of
the UC, CSU, and Hastings College of Law.
3.Defines "employee" as any employee of the Regents of the
UC, the Directors of the Hastings College of Law, or the
Trustees of the CSU under the HEERA.
4.Provides that PERB may find a student employee whose
employment is contingent on his or her status as a
student is an employee only if the services he or she
provides is unrelated to his or her educational
objectives, or that those educational objectives are
subordinate to the services he or she performs and that
coverage under the HEERA would further the purpose of the
HEERA.
5.Allows employee organizations, as defined, to represent
specified employees concerning grievances, labor
disputes, wages, hours and o ther terms and conditions of
employment.
This bill:
1.Makes findings and declarations regarding student
employees working for HEERA employers; states the intent
of the Legislature to expand the definition of "employee"
under the HEERA, and maintain collective bargaining
rights for student employees who currently have those
rights.
2.Eliminates the existing condition for determining whether
a student employee is an "employee" for purpose of the
HEERA.
3.Establishes a new condition that student employees whose
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employment is contingent upon their status as students
are employees or higher education employees for purposes
of the HEERA.
Comments
Over the past 15 years, the application of statutory
conditions by the PERB and UC to determine whether a
student is an "employee" under the HEERA has resulted in
some student employees being considered "employees" while
others have not been granted this status. This bill seeks
to eliminate the current statutory conditions and provide
that a student employee whose employment is contingent upon
his or her status as a student are employees or higher
education employees for purposes of the HEERA.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2012-13 2013-14
2014-15 Fund
Collective bargaining $639 $6,500
$6,500 General
Salary compensation -- Potentially $11,681
annually -- General/
Dependent on
collective bargaining Federal*
*Approximately 85% funding come from Federal grants and
private sources
SUPPORT : (Verified 1/23/12)
United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement
Workers of America (source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
California Labor Federation
California Nurses Association
California School Employees Association
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California State University Employees Union
Committee of Interns and Residents/Service Employees
International Union
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
Service Employees International Union, Local 1021
South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council
University Council-American Federation of Teachers
University Professional and Technical Employees
University of California Student Association
OPPOSITION : (Verified 1/23/12)
University of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Citing PERB's decision in Regents
of the UC & Association of Student Employees , UAW, et al
(1998) (PERB Order No. 1301-H), the sponsor, the United
Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers
of America UAW), states that PERB determined that under the
current statutory language, UC's 12,000 Teaching Assistants
(TAs), Readers, and Tutors had bargaining rights but, the
Research Assistants (RAs) did not.
According to UAW, "The exclusion of student RAs from HEERA
coverage creates a continuity problem because students go
in and out of the TA bargaining unit during the five to ten
years they are at UC. When they are TAs, Readers, or
Tutors, they have a union contract with rights and
benefits. When they are employed as RAs, they are not
covered by a contract and many of their rights and benefits
disappear. They lose child care subsidies, family leave,
workload protections, job security rights, contractual
redress for non-discrimination, health and safety,
grievance and arbitration, and more."
Moreover, "a majority of student employees at UC, Hastings
and CSU have already been granted the opportunity to choose
collective bargaining under HEERA and this bill will
maintain those rights."
Finally, the sponsor adds that "student employees who work
jobs equivalent to RAs at CSU are covered under HEERA by
voluntary agreement between the UAW and CSU."
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ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : According to the University of
California, "SB 259 would fundamentally change the
relationship between faculty and graduate student
researchers from academic mentor-mentee to one of
employer-employee. This would severely impair the
University's ability to excel in its mission of teaching,
research, and public service. The University would
anticipate the loss of renowned faculty drawn to other
institutions that enjoy less restrictive relationships with
their graduate students. In addition, SB 259 would
diminish UC's ability to attract the best graduate students
due to new work restrictions that would increase the time
it takes to earn a graduate degree at UC."
CPM:cm 1/24/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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