Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process

 It is reasonable to define “management” positions to include supervisory positions (first level of supervision), and to require a separate unit from the rank and file. 47

3. Organization’s Representational Rights/Obligations

 Courts have equated the Section 3505 “meet and confer” process rights pertaining to wages, hours and working conditions with the Section 3507 “consult” process rights pertaining to reasonable regulations. 48 In both settings, the parties must: (1) meet and confer/consult promptly upon request by either party, (2) continue for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions and proposals, and (3) endeavor to reach an agreement. 49  Where exclusive recognition was granted to an employee organization pursuant to a secret ballot election, or through the card check process delineated in Government Code section 3507.1(c), that organization is the only one entitled to negotiate on behalf of unit employees. 50  Under private sector law, which may be found relevant in interpreting the MMBA, a union which is the exclusive representative and which breaches its duty of fair representation by failing to take a meritorious employee grievance to arbitration will be held liable for damages to the employee resulting from such breach. 51  In Bowen v. U.S. Postal Service, the court found that if the employer’s discharge of the employee was improper, and where the union refused to appeal the discharge pursuant to the contractual arbitration procedure, damages due the employee were apportionable between the employer and the union. 52

b. PERB Review of Unfair Labor Practices PERB has authority over (most) local agency employers. 53 It has the authority to hold hearings, subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony and depositions, issue subpoenas duces tecum to require the production of documents and records of employers or employee organizations, conduct investigations, or bring actions in court. If an MOU provides for final and binding grievance arbitration, PERB may defer an unfair labor practice charge to exhaustion of that arbitration procedure. If timely cited by an employer, and provided the employer is willing to waive any procedural defects in the grievance, PERB must place such charges in abeyance until the conclusion of the arbitration process. Once the arbitration process concludes, PERB will generally dismiss the charge following the resolution of the matter through such procedures. 54 Unfair Labor Practices Defined An unfair labor practice is “a complaint alleging any violation of this chapter (i.e., the MMBA) or of any rules and regulations adopted by the public agency pursuant to Section 3507” (e.g., c .

Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 12