EMPLOYER REFUSAL TO BARGAIN IN GOOD FAITH; UNILATERAL CHANGE (FOR NEGOT OF SPECIFIC SUBJECTS, SEE SEC 1000, SCOPE OF REPRESENTATION) – In General
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602.01000 – In General
The union has alleged prima facie that by imposing a mandatory, new background evaluation procedure upon existing employees who had already been subjected to a similar procedure prior to initial employment, the County made a unilateral change in derogation of its MMBA duty to meet and confer with the union over the decision itself as well as the foreseeable effects thereof on matters within the scope of representation. (To challenge a unilateral change a union need not plead or prove that it demanded to bargain. An employer’s unilateral action renders bargaining futile.) (The Board overrules State of California (Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, Avenal State Prison) (2011) PERB Decision No. 2196-S, Sylvan Union Elementary School District (1992) PERB Decision No. 919 and other Board decisions holding that a union must first demand to bargain effects as a precondition to enforcing an employer’s duty to provide a union reasonable advance notice and an opportunity to bargain over the reasonably foreseeable effects within the scope of representation of an otherwise non-negotiable decision.