BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1834
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Date of Hearing: April 22, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Das Williams, Chair
AB 1834 (Williams) - As Introduced: February 18, 2014
SUBJECT : Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act:
employees.
SUMMARY : Expands the definition of employees under the Higher
Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) to include
student employees whose employment is contingent upon their
status as students. Specifically, this bill :
1)Finds and declares that a majority of student employees
employed by the University of California (UC), the Hastings
College of Law, and the California State University (CSU) have
been granted the opportunity for collective bargaining under
HEERA; that it is the intent of the Legislature to expand the
definition of employees under HEERA to include student
employees who previously have been denied collective
bargaining rights and to maintain collective bargaining rights
for those students who currently have those rights.
2)Defines "employee" for purposes of HEERA to include student
employees, whether or not their employment is contingent on
their status as students.
3)Excludes from the scope of representation those requirements
necessary for students to achieve satisfactory progress toward
their degrees.
EXISTING LAW establishes HEERA to provide a statutory framework
to regulate labor relations at UC, CSU, and Hastings College of
Law and their employees; provides the Public Employment
Relations Board (PERB) authority to enforce HEERA; defines
"employees" under the HEERA and authorizes PERB to find a
student employee whose employment is contingent on his or her
status as a student as an employee only if the services he or
she provides is unrelated to his or her educational objectives,
or those educational objectives are subordinate to the services
he or she performs and that coverage under the HEERA would
further the purposes of the HEERA. (Government Code �3560-3599)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. However, according to the Senate
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Appropriations Committee of SB 259 (Hancock, 2013), a
substantially similar bill, approximately $639,000 to UC for
collective bargaining, annual costs to UC between $605,959 -
$1.7 million for administering the contracts, and potential
salary increases as a result of negotiations.
COMMENTS : Background . PERB's decision in Regents of the UC &
Association of Student Employees, UAW, et al (1998) (PERB Order
No. 1301-H) determined that under the current statutory
language, UC's 12,000 Teaching Assistants (TAs), Readers and
Tutors had bargaining rights because their employment is not
contingent upon their status as students, but Research
Assistants (RAs) did not. Student employees equivalent to RAs
at CSU are covered under HEERA by a voluntary agreement with
CSU.
Purpose of this bill . According to the author, "graduate
students work at UC for 5 to 10 years while pursuing degrees.
They frequently move in and out of the TA bargaining unit, since
they are often employed as both teaching and research
assistants. The movement between these jobs creates a lack of
continuity. When student employees work as RAs their
contractual rights for workload protections, job security,
grievance and arbitration procedures, family leave and other
rights disappears. This bill extends the right for the 14,000
student research assistants at UC to choose to bargain
collectively under HEERA.
Graduate student employment categories . Unlike RAs, TAs and
Postdoctoral Scholars may enter into collective bargaining
agreements under HEERA because PERB has determined that their
employment is not contingent upon their status as students:
1)Teaching Assistants/Associates/Fellows are enrolled students,
whose primary duty of appointees in these titles is assistance
in all aspects of instruction (tutoring, grading, advising,
sectional teaching, sectional laboratory teaching, field work
teaching, limited lecturing). These duties are performed
under the supervision of faculty "instructors of record" who
are vested with the sole and final responsibility for course
content, work assignments, performance evaluations and grading
in the assigned course. TAs are paid from state funds
(instructional money).
2)RAs are enrolled students selected for high achievement and
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promise as creative scholars and assist faculty members with
scholarly research. Their research may directly relate to
their discipline of study. RAs may not be assigned teaching,
administrative, or general assistance duties; they are paid
from contracts and grants generated by the faculty.
3)Postdoctoral Scholars are not enrolled students; they are
individuals who have recently completed a doctoral degree, who
seek additional scholarship and continued research training.
The Postdoctoral Scholar conducts research under the general
oversight of a faculty mentor in preparation for a career
position in academe, industry, government, or the nonprofit
sector.
UC position . UC Office of the President has not taken a
position on the bill at this time, indicating that President
Napolitano has committed to engage with the University of
Washington to understand its experience with graduate student
collective bargaining and its applicability to UC and
California. UC expects these conversations to be completed
shortly, and intends to adopt a position once a thorough
analysis of the issues has been completed.
Author's amendment . The author has proposed the following
clarifying amendment:
(e) "Employee" or "higher education employee" means any
employee, including student employees, whether or not their
whose employment is contingent on their status as students, of
the Regents of the University of California, the Directors of
the Hastings College of the Law, or the Trustees of the
California State University. However, managerial and
confidential employees and employees whose principal place of
employment is outside the State of California at a worksite with
100 or fewer employees shall be excluded from coverage under
this chapter.
Previous legislation . SB 259 (Hancock, 2012) was substantially
similar to this bill. SB 259 was approved by this Committee but
subsequently vetoed by the Governor.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AB 1834
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AFSCME 3299
California Labor Federation
California School Employees Association, AFL-CIO
California Nurses Association
SEIU California
UAW Local 5810
UAW Local 2865
University Council-American Federation of Teachers
Opposition
National Right to Work Committee
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960