BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RETIREMENT BILL NO: AB 1550
Norma Torres, Chair HEARING DATE: June 23, 2014
AB 1550 (Rendon) as amended 5/23/14 FISCAL: YES
PUBLI C SCHOOL EMPLOYERS: IMPASSE PROCEDURES
HISTORY :
Sponsor: California School Employees Association (CSEA)
Other legislation:AB 1852 (Longville),
Chapter 316, Statutes of 2000
ASSEMBLY VOTES :
PER & SS 5-1 4/02/14
Appropriations 12-5 5/23/14
Assembly Floor 53-24 5/28/14
SUMMARY :
AB 1550 amends impasse procedures under the Educational
Employment Relations Act (EERA) to require the following:
additional time for the appointment of a mediator by
the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).
a 30-day prior written notice requirement on the
school employer of the implementation date and term
details of its last, best, and final offer (LBFO).
a prohibition on the school employer from
unilaterally changing language or implementing terms and
conditions different from a negotiated collective
bargaining agreement.
a requirement to meet and negotiate over remedies for
any terms of the agreement found to be unlawful.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS :
1)Existing law :
a) establishes the Educational Employment Relations Act
(EERA) which provides a process by which employees of
the public schools and the community colleges may select
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an exclusive representative to represent them as part of
a bargaining unit within their district.
b) establishes the Public Employment Relations Board
(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.
c) defines "exclusive representative" for purpose of
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.
d) defines the scope of representation as limited to
matters relating to wages, hours, and other terms and
conditions of employment.
e) establishes impasse procedures which provide that
either the employer or the employee organization may
declare that an impasse exists and request that PERB
appoint a mediator to assist the parties to resolve
their differences. If PERB determines that the parties
are at impasse, it must appoint a mediator within 5 days
of receiving a request for mediation. Should the
mediator not effect a settlement within 15 days of his
appointment, PERB must appoint a fact-finding panel on
request of either party; the fact-finding panel must
conduct its operations according to statutory
guidelines.
f) specifies that the recommendations of the
fact-finding 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 offer
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(LBFO) at the conclusion of impasse proceedings.
g) 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.
1)This bill :
a) provides 10 instead of 5 working days for PERB to
appoint a mediator after finding that the parties are at
impasse and following a request for mediation by one of
the parties.
b) requires a public school employer to provide the
employees' exclusive representative at least 30 days
prior written notice of the date certain for the
implementation of, and all the terms included in, the
LBFO.
c) prohibits a public school employer from unilaterally
adding language to or deleting language from, or
otherwise implementing terms and conditions of
employment inconsistent with a negotiated agreement with
an exclusive representative.
d) requires the public school employer and the exclusive
representative to meet and negotiate any change to the
negotiated agreement to remedy any language in the
agreement that is illegal.
e) provides that if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that this act contains costs mandated by the
state, reimbursement to local agencies and school
districts for those costs shall be made, as specified.
FISCAL :
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee regarding
the prior amended version of AB 1550,
the bill is keyed a local mandate. The additional
timeframe required by the bill for impasse and notice
procedures could result in significant state mandated
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reimbursement of local costs as well as costs to school
employers incurred under the longer timeframe prior to
implementation of the last, best, and final offer.
it is unknown what effect the bill would have on the
prevalence of school employee strikes, but any increase
would likely result in substantial state costs (in excess
of $150,000 to the General Fund). The additional time
could help resolve disputes that would have otherwise led
to strikes, resulting in a net cost savings. Conversely,
the additional time may allow school employees to organize
a strike more effectively, resulting in greater costs.
in addition, to the extent any other employee
representatives choose to seek similar changes with respect
to the timing and implementation of last, best, and final
offers, the costs described above would be incurred within
other local or state agencies.
COMMENTS :
1)Concerns of the Committee
According to the sponsor, section 3549.5 of the bill
attempts to address situations in which the employer
attempts to impose terms or conditions on employees that
have never been brought up in collective bargaining or
"sunshined." Opponents have stated that they believe the
section would prohibit an employer from imposing a LBFO
unless its terms had already been agreed to in labor
negotiations, essentially eliminating the employer's
ability to impose an LBFO.
The committee recommends an amendment to section 3549.5 to
clarify that the employer may not impose terms and
conditions in an LBFO that have not first been subject to
collective bargaining.
Suggested Amendment: Section 3549.5
3549.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a public school
employer shall not unilaterally add language to, delete
language from, or otherwise implement terms and conditions
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of employment inconsistent with, a negotiated agreement
unless the terms and conditions have first been subject to
negotiation with an exclusive representative.
(b) If language in a negotiated agreement with an
exclusive representative is illegal, the public school
employer and the exclusive representative shall meet and
negotiate any change to the negotiated agreement to remedy
the illegal language.
2)Arguments in Support :
According to the author,
Under current law, school districts and college
employers can request an impasse declaration to expedite
the negotiation process toward the LBFO. This practice
allows a district to make the minimum effort in
bargaining so that they can impose their LBFO into
bargaining unit contracts.
AB 1550 will sunshine the details of the LBFO and give
more time (30 days) so that school and college employers
and their staff can try to work out their differences in
contract negotiations.
According to the sponsor, this bill is an effort "to prevent
districts from doing 'surface bargaining' toward negotiation
impasse to force concessions by employees through the threat
of the enactment of the LBFO." Furthermore,
Classified school employees strive to maintain a
cooperative working relationship with their employers
and deserve to have the same level of cooperation on the
other side of the bargaining table. In certain cases,
however, some employers have maintained a disingenuous
and minimal level of bargaining to avoid unfair labor
charges, knowing that an impasse will allow the LBFO to
control working conditions.
AB1550 provides five more days for PERB to determine if
an impasse exists and gives school employees a 30 day
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notice of the contents and the date of implementation of
the LBFO from the employers. The bill will sunshine the
details of the LBFO and give more time (30 days) so that
school and college employers and their staff can try to
work out their differences in contract negotiations.
3)Arguments in Opposition :
According to the Riverside Superintendent of Schools,
Our chief concern with AB 1550 is that it would prohibit
a public school employer from unilaterally adding,
deleting or revising collective bargaining agreement
language, which essentially would repeal a school
employer's right to invoke its last, best and final
offer pursuant to Government Code Section 3505.4. This
would greatly impair school employers' abilities to meet
their management and fiduciary responsibilities as
stewards of public education funds, as well as
responsible agents of public educational programs.
4)SUPPORT :
California School Employees Association (CSEA), Sponsor
California Federation of Teachers (CFT)
California Labor Federation (CLF)
United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health
Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP)
5)OPPOSITION :
Association of California Community College Administrators
Association of California School Administrators (ACSA)
California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO)
California Association of Suburban Schools
California School Boards Association (CSBA)
Fresno Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)
Office of Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
San Diego Unified School District
School Employers Association of California
Small School Districts Association (SSDA)
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