BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1474
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 4, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1474 (Steinberg and Wright) - As Amended: August 2, 2010
Policy Committee: Labor and
Employment Vote: N/A
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
As proposed to be amended, this bill creates a new remedy in
cases where the Agricultural Relations Board (ALRB) finds
employer misconduct with respect to secret ballot elections for
agricultural employees' exclusive bargaining representation.
Specifically, the bill:
1)Makes it explicit that the ALRB may refuse to certify an
election in cases where it finds that the employer engaged in
misconduct affecting the right of employees to a free and
uncoerced choice in a secret ballot election.
2)Provides that, in cases where an election has been set aside
by ALRB because of employer misconduct, the proposed labor
representative shall be certified as the exclusive bargaining
representative if the organization has already presented the
board with valid authorization cards signed by more than 50%
of the employees in the bargaining unit.
3)States that the board shall not refuse to certify an election
based solely on a de minimis violation of the election law.
4)Requires that, when a petition challenging an election is
filed, the ALRB must issue a final order on the matter within
one year.
FISCAL EFFECT
The ALRB indicates that, unless the bill results in a dramatic
increase in the number of elections and a corresponding increase
in the number of election objections filed - a development it
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does not anticipate - the costs associated with the remedy
established in this bill are minor and absorbable.
COMMENTS
1) Background . Under existing law, the selection of
representation by agricultural employees requires both the
submission of a petition and a secret ballot election.
Specifically, after receiving a petition signed by a
majority of agricultural employees in a bargaining unit, or
accompanied by cards signed by a majority of the employees
in the unit, the ALRB has seven days to certify the petition
and conduct a secret-ballot election. The ALRB assigns
employees to monitor voting locations and other activities
in order to ensure an impartial election process. Following
the election, any person is permitted to present a signed
petition to the ARLB objecting to conduct affecting the
results of the election. Upon receipt of such a petition,
the board is required to conduct a hearing, and may refuse
to certify the election if it finds, among other things,
that misconduct occurred that affected the results of the
election. Current law does not provide for any other remedy
when employer misconduct is found.
2) Rationale . This bill is intended to dissuade employers
from engaging in misconduct with respect to secret ballot
elections for labor representation. According to the sponsor
(United Farm Workers), the remedy in the bill (certification
of the proposed bargaining representative) serves to
eliminate a problem identified by the ALRB, whereby
employers can profit from their misconduct even if that
misconduct means violating a farm worker's right of privacy
under a secret ballot election. The sponsors also indicate
that (a) the bill does not provide the remedy for de minimis
violations, and (b) current law allows ALRB to set aside an
election when misconduct of the representative is found.
3) Proposed amendments . The proposed amendments lengthen the
time limit, from three months to one year, for ALRB to issue
a final order following a petition challenging an election.
4) Concerns . The ALRB asserts that, because cases involving
challenges to election results vary widely in terms of their
nature and complexity, it is not possible to fix any
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mandatory time period for their completion that is
reasonable in all cases. For this reason, they oppose a time
limit for issuing final orders following an election
challenge.
Analysis Prepared by : Brad Williams / APPR. / (916) 319-2081