Cerritos Fresno Irvine Pleasanton Riverside Sacramento San Diego The History of Collective Bargaining in California Public Schools ACSA Negotiators’ Planning Retreat June 24-26, 2015 Presented by: Mark R. Bresee, Partner William A. Diedrich, Partner

Overview Pre-1960s Labor Relations Early Labor Relations Laws Concerning Public School Employees (1960s) –George M. Brown Act (1961) –Winton Act (1965) The Aaron Report (1973) Educational Employment Relations Act (1975)

California Public Sector Labor Relations Pre 1940s, notion of public employees being unionized and having collective bargaining seen by courts as anti- democratic: government by contract rather than government by law State workers afforded rights via Civil Service Act (1945) By the early 1960s, courts and legislatures began rejecting policy arguments against collective bargaining for public sector employees

George M. Brown Act Enacted in 1961, one of the nation’s first comprehensive public employee labor policies Applied to all employees of the state, school districts, public colleges and universities, counties, cities and special districts Included “all matters relating to employment conditions and employer-employee relations”

George M. Brown Act (continued) Only guaranteed limited meet and confer rights Did not provide authority for entering into binding agreements following the meet and confer process Did not establish a statewide agency to administer the statute

Winton Act Over time, various employee groups were transferred out of the Brown Act and into other labor acts In 1965, school employees were covered by the Winton Act Separated school employees from other public employees

Winton Act (continued) “Meet and confer” rights with no binding collective bargaining agreements No exclusive representatives, but employee “councils” Intent of Winton Act was to produce recommendations for governing boards to incorporate into “written resolution, regulation or policy” –Nothing binding on governing boards

The “Aaron Report” In 1972, Legislature convened a commission in Assembly Advisory Council to prepare recommendations to improve public sector labor relations laws Resulted in the “Aaron Report,” named after commission chair Aaron Report recommendations –Repeal existing public employee labor relations statutes –Replace with comprehensive, preemptive state law –Include exclusive representation, covering broad scope of issues, modeled after NLRA, overseen by 3-member panel

Breakthrough: The Educational Employment Relations Act (EERA) Proposed laws tracking Aaron Report defeated in 1973, 1974 and 1975 In 1975, the Legislature passed the EERA (Gov. Code §§ 3540, et seq.) –Signed into law by Jerry Brown EERA was the result of a “compromise” between employers –Employers: wanted control over negotiable subjects –Unions: wanted to maintain courts’ broad interpretation of union rights under Winton Act

Breakthrough: The EERA (continued) EERA created the Educational Employment Relations Board, a board patterned after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Now called the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) after expansion of jurisdiction to most public employees Five sitting panel members PERB not only patterned after NLRB, but also looks to NLRB interpretations of National Labor Relations Act for guidance

Breakthrough: The EERA (continued) EERA applies to all public school employees (K-12, community colleges) Covers a range of issues associated with collective bargaining, including representation, discrimination, and unfair practices EERA covers collective bargaining over “wages, hours of employment, and other terms and conditions of employment” (Gov. Code § ) –Matters within the “scope of representation” –Since passage, PERB has interpreted what falls within “scope of representation” for nearly 200 distinct topics

Question Answer Session

For questions or comments, please contact: Thank You Mark R. Bresee San Diego (858) William A. Diedrich Riverside (951)