BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1550
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Date of Hearing: April 2, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, RETIREMENT AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
Rob Bonta, Chair
AB 1550 (Rendon) - As Amended: March 19, 2014
SUBJECT : School employees: collective bargaining.
SUMMARY : Makes various changes to the Educational Employment
Relations Act (EERA) related to the appointment of a mediator,
implementation of the last, best, and final offer, and adding or
removing language from a collective bargaining agreement or
implementing terms and conditions of employment inconsistent
with that agreement. Specifically, this bill :
1)Extends the length of time the Public Employment Relations
Board (PERB) has to appoint a mediator once they have
determined an impasse exists from five to 10 working days
after receiving the request for mediation.
2)Requires the public school employer to provide the exclusive
representative with written notice of all terms included in
the last, best, and final offer of the public school employer
if the dispute is not settle within 30 days after a
factfinding panel has made its recommendations, or, upon
agreement of both parties, a longer period.
3)Requires the public school employer, at least 30 days prior to
implementation of the last, best, and final offer, to provide
the exclusive representative with written notice of the date
for implementation of the terms of the offer.
4)Prohibits a school employer from unilaterally adding or
removing language from a collective bargaining agreement or
implementing terms and conditions of employment inconsistent
with that agreement and requires that if language in a
collective bargaining agreement is illegal, the employer and
employee organization must meet and negotiate to remedy the
illegal language.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes EERA which provides a process by which employees
of the public schools and the community colleges may select an
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exclusive representative to represent them as part of a
bargaining unit within their district.
2)Establishes PERB as the state agency that has broad authority
to enforce the EERA with regard to labor relations activities
between a public school and any person (except management and
confidential employees) employed by a public school employer,
including community colleges.
3)Defines "exclusive representative" for purpose of the EERA as
the employee organization recognized or certified as the
exclusive negotiating representative of certificated or
classified employees in an appropriate unit of a public school
employer.
4)Defines the scope of representation as limited to matters
relating to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of
employment.
5)Establishes impasse procedures which provide that either the
employer or the employee organization may declare that an
impasse exists; if PERB determines that is the case, it must
appoint a mediator, who must meet with the parties in an
effort to resolve the differences. Should the mediator not
effect a settlement within 15 days of his appointment, PERB
must appoint a factfinding panel on request of either party;
the factfinding panel must conduct its operations according to
statutory guidelines.
6)Specifies that the recommendations of the factfinding panel
are advisory, but the public school employer must make public
the findings and recommendations within 10 days of receipt.
The employer must also negotiate if there is anything to
negotiate. If no agreement is reached, the employer has the
right to make the final decision on all matters within the
scope of representation. Therefore, the employer can
unilaterally implement its "last, best, and final (LBF) offer"
at the conclusion of impasse proceedings.
7)Specifies that it is unlawful for a public school employer or
an employee organization, respectively, to refuse to
participate in good faith in the statutory impasse procedure.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
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COMMENTS : According to the author, "Current impasse law
contains a loophole that allows districts to impose their last,
best, and final offer language into bargaining unit contracts
and the loophole is exploited by districts, that use such
tactics designed to result in impasse.
"Even though, the bargaining unit can file an 'Unfair Labor
Practice' with PERB, often time, employee groups are forced to
accept the new terms and working conditions to avoid lengthy or
costly filing and review process with PERB.
"These tactics of surface bargaining and impasse declarations
give an unfair advantage to the employers. Even though the law
allows the bargaining unit to reject the LBF offer and go on
strike, going on strike is an extreme hardship for most
situations that the employees often opt to accept the changes
instead.
"AB 1550 will give an added protection to school district and
community college classified employees by eliminating the
ability of the employer to add or remove new language in their
last, best, and final offer that has not been fairly resolved in
negotiations."
Opponents state, "We believe that existing statutes and
authorities related to dispute resolution, including, but not
limited to, mediation, impasse and grievance, offer sufficient
statutory, regulatory and legal recourse with respect to
contract negotiations for both employers and employees.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(Sponsor)
California School Employees Association (Sponsor)
California Federation of Teachers
California Labor Federation
LIUNA Local 777
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Opposition
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools and 23 school
district superintendents in Riverside County
Inland Personnel Council
Analysis Prepared by : Karon Green / P.E., R. & S.S. / (916)
319-3957