GENERAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES; WAIVER – Union's Waiver of Employee or Organizational Rights

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To establish waiver of a right to bargain, an employer must prove that the union consciously abandoned its right to do so. (p. 10.) A union does not waive its right to bargain where the employer has already finalized policy changes without providing the union an opportunity to meet and confer to impasse or agreement. (p. 11.) Employer offer to meet and confer inadequate if employer did not restore the status quo, which is a necessary condition for meaningful bargaining to occur. (City of San Ramon, supra, PERB Decision No. 2571-M, p. 15 [good faith bargaining is not possible when employer has already “imposed the very terms under discussion, thereby forcing [the union] to start from a position of having to talk the [employer] back to the status quo.”].)