EMPLOYER REFUSAL TO BARGAIN IN GOOD FAITH; REFUSAL TO PROVIDE INFORMATION – In General

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Defenses to disclosure under the California Public Records Act, Gov. Code sec. 6250 et seq. (CPRA), cannot be imported into labor law, because a union has a greater right to information than members of the general public. (Sacramento City Unified School District (2018) PERB Decision No. 2597, pp. 10-11.) Thus, while the CPRA prevents members of the public from obtaining a public entity’s internal deliberative records pertaining to certain of its obligations under California labor law (CPRA, Gov. Code sec. 6254(p)), when a union requests relevant information from an employer, the employer benefits only from the more limited privilege that protects both unions and employers from being forced to reveal to the other party their internal collective bargaining strategies or tactics. (Compare Colton Joint Unified School District/Rialto Unified School District/San Bernardino City Unified School District (1981) PERB Order No. Ad-113 [adopting the privilege protecting internal discussions regarding strategy for collective bargaining, as set forth in Berbiglia, Inc. (1977) 233 NLRB 1476, 1495] with Trustees of the California State University (2004) PERB Decision No. 1591-H, pp. 2-3 [the deliberative process privilege is not a valid defense to a union’s information request].)