During negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, the parties reached tentative agreement on many issues, but several . (City of Palo Alto (2019) PERB Decision No. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 20, 2014 CONTACT: Todd Stenhouse, (916) 397-1131, [email protected] UC Broke the Law on Unilateral Contract Implementation, Benefit Changes, and Demand for New Layoff Powers. Board upheld dismissal of allegation that union failed to bargain in good faith by insisting on negotiating ground rules/released time before discussing substantive issues, either under a per se or totality of circumstances test. The District's bargaining team "lacked the authority to bargain, as they were repeatedly countermanded by Superintendent Jorge A. Aguilar, who had declined to participate in actual negotiations, resulting in [SCUSD] contradicting and backtracking from proposals" related to Distance Learning; The same standard for evaluation of a unilateral change violation by an employer applies to evaluation of a unilateral change violation by a union. In Barry-Wehmiller Co., 271 N.L.R.B. Where unions negotiator tried to circumvent employers negotiator contrary to the ground rules and refused to negotiate. * * * Engaging in regressive bargaining, or following one proposal with a subsequent proposal offering lesser terms.19 C. Problems of Proof of Bad Faith -- Boulwareism 1. * * * VACATED IN PART by Fremont Unified School District (1982) PERB Decision No. Once the union membership approves the contract by a vote, it is signed and becomes legally binding. A: The public agency is required to meet and confer over all matters within the scope of representation impacted by the emergency action. Exploding offers are treated in the same way as regressive proposals because they inherently threaten a change in position. For example, if Admin proposes a 1% raise for us, they can never offer us any less than that. File an election (RM) petition, poll your represented employees, or withdraw recognition from a union (1) you recognized voluntarily, or (2) with whom the Board has ordered you to bargain, or (3) with whom you have agreed to bargain as part of a settlement agreement, or (4) with whom you have acquired a bargaining relationship from a unionized predecessor before a reasonable time for bargaining has elapsed. A TA is a proposal, or package of proposals, that both parties have signed off on and agree will be in the final contract. Withdraw recognition from a union that has lost majority support if you assisted the employees' antiunion petition effort or undermined their union support through unfair labor practices. Once a party has already explained its basis for its opposition to a proposal, it is unnecessary to continue to do so each time the same or similar terms are proposed. In City of Tacoma, PERC Hearing Examiner Claire Nickleberry found that the City breached its good faith bargaining obligation by making a regressive wage proposal. Collective Bargaining Terminology ACROSS THE BOARD INCREASE - A general wage increase that covers all the members of a bargaining unit, regardless of classification, grade or step level. bargaining, regressive bargaining, or bargaining without decision making authority); an executive board, and, in some cases, a core group of activists who provide strategic support; and . Known as the emergency exception, this statutory provision allows the public agency to suspend the duty to meet and confer until the earliest practicable time following the adoption of the ordinance, rule, resolution, or regulation. Evidence fails to support allegation that employer reneged on tentative agreement where there was no agreed method for designating tentative agreements and agreement was once again reached at next session; p. 18. 136 that found the district had failed or refused to meet and negotiate in good faith. 51-57, proposed dec. We provide training, education, and legal representation to hundreds of public agencies, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations across the state of California. Generally, reducing economic proposals constitutes "regressive bargaining", which could be viewed as an indicia of bad faith bargaining. Management said the union has "shown unwillingness to negotiate in good faith" and has filed charges of regressive bargaining against the union with the National Labor Relations Board. We disagree. The Alaska Labor Relations Act states that "a public employer may not refuse to bargain in good faith with an organization which is the exclusive representative of employees in an appropriate unit.". Our bargaining pillarsthe issues around which we have framed our new contract proposalswere derived from a survey sent out to members. PERB can find violations of EERA other than unfair practices set out in secs. 21.) Proving net regressive conduct often requires some mathematical calculation (when the allegations mainly involve cost items) and requires a more nuanced argument when the allegations involve a mix of cost items and non-cost items. The agreement did not establish the actual amount of the salary increase once spending cuts were identified. 17-18.) In addition, you must (1) communicate to employees that the purpose of the poll is to determine whether the union enjoys majority support (and that must, in truth, be your purpose); (2) give employees assurances against reprisal; and (3) conduct the poll by secret ballot. Under the totality of conduct test, the allegation of a single indicia of bad faith bargaining (in this case, the allegation of reneging on a tentative agreement) does not establish a prima facie case of bad faith bargaining; p. 2. Bargaining Unit 6 provides that seniority consists only of time served within the Bargaining Unit See . Terminate or modify a collective-bargaining agreement without offering to meet and bargain concerning a new or modified contract. 560. You must not have engaged in unfair labor practices or otherwise created a coercive atmosphere. (See City of Palo Alto (2019) PERB Decision No. There is no evidence in the record that any Association agent actively campaigned against ratification of the agreement or repudiated it. . 46-60. 1 : tending to regress or produce regression 2 : being, characterized by, or developing in the course of an evolutionary process involving increasing simplification of bodily structure 3 : decreasing in rate as the base increases a regressive tax regressively adverb regressiveness noun regressivity r-gre-si-v-t noun Example Sentences The duty to bargain requires that parties bargain sincerely and in good faith but it does not require that every argument made in support of one's position be meritorious or accurate in any empirically-verifiable sense. . 1000), While actively campaigning against a tentative agreement may be another unlawful form of torpedoing, the level of dissenting bargaining team members active campaigning that would be sufficient to prove a unions bad faith remains an unresolved issue. 8-9. Liebert Cassidy Whitmore is Californias premier labor, education, and employment law firm. Torpedoing may take the form of repudiating an agreement, or making false statements about it. 2648-M, p. 45-46. Regressive bargainingmaking proposals that are, as a whole, less generous to the other party than prior offersmanifestly moves bargaining parties further away from agreement and therefore indicates bad faith unless such regressive bargaining is supported by an adequate explanation. ), Because bad faith bargaining allegations require assessment of the totality of conduct, the Board may also consider the charging partys own conduct, regardless of whether the respondent has filed a countercharge. No prima facie case of regressive bargaining where the District proposed a "package" which contained some provisions less beneficial to the Association than prior proposals, and some provisions more beneficial; pp. Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB): The IELRB administers the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act (IELRA). Unions + Represented Employees. The unilateral change test is equally applicable to unilateral repudiations by an employer or by an employee organization. @ The union has filed charges with the Employee Relations Commission claiming that the county engaged in regressive bargaining and other labor law violations. Refuse to discuss or agree to any modification of the terms of an existing contract. PERC has ruled that revocation of a tentative agreement is not by itself evidence of a failure to bargain collectively in good faith. Engage in bad-faith, surface, or piecemeal bargaining. Lock out employees before 60 days have passed (90 days if you are a healthcare employer) after you serve written notice on the union that you are terminating or modifying the contract or before the expiration date of the contract, whichever is later. 69 and Kern High School District (1998) PERB Decision No. Smith pointed to the loss of Massachusetts workers' jobs after a ban on menthol cigarettes took effect in . File an election (RM) petition, poll your represented employees, or withdraw recognition from a union during the term of a collective-bargaining agreement, up to three years. Bargain with the union concerning permissive subjects of bargaining, but not to impasse. Now that GEO is in mediation with the Administration, the bargaining teams are in separate rooms and speak directly with the mediator. 5; City of Arcadia (2019) PERB Decision No. The public agency should be prepared to demonstrate through hard data the economic exigencies justifying the change. Allegations that parties exchanged numerous proposals regarding the time and place of bargaining and that union precipitously cancelled one bargaining session are insufficient to demonstrate violation of the duty to bargain in good faith; p. 3, warning letter. UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE. Oakland: As 13,000 UC Patient Care Technical Workers prepare to begin a week long Unfair Labor Practice Strike next Monday, the State's Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) last night . Q: What obligations does the public agency have with respect to Public Records Act requests? This applies only to employers in the construction industry whose bargaining relationship with the union is governed by Section 8(f) of the Act, not Section 9(a). The bargaining process begins when a union submits an Intent to Bargain. Insist to impasse on a proposal concerning an illegal subject of bargaining, or include an illegal clause in a labor contract. Q: For public agencies currently underway in contract negotiations, does the public health emergency justify reduction or withdrawal of its economic proposals? Once explanation PERB has accepted is changed economic conditions or other changed circumstances. The COVID 19 pandemic and its anticipated economic effects would qualify as sufficiently changed circumstances. PECG did not provide sufficient evidence of surface bargaining because the States challenged responses were in answer to legislative concerns and PECG made no showing that the Department of Finance was aware of provisions of the parties tentative agreement. Lock out employees in support of an impermissible objective - e.g., to pressure the union to accept an illegal bargaining proposal, a bad-faith bargaining position, or terms unilaterally implemented absent a valid impasse. Once explanation PERB has accepted is "changed economic conditions or other changed circumstances." A: No. 471, 473 (1984), another case cited by the union, the Board stated that, in evaluating the legality of an instance of regressive bargaining, "[w]hat is important is whether [the proffered reasons for regressive bargaining] are 'so illogical' as to warrant the conclusion that the [party] by offering them .