Decision 1278E – Long Beach Community College District (California School Employees Association)
LA-CE-3824
Decision Date: August 14, 1998
Decision Type: PERB Decision
Description: District requested reconsideration of Board’s decision finding the District violated EERA by requiring unit members to attend rival union’s severance presentation.
Disposition: Request denied. Failure to meet reconsideration standards.
Perc Vol: 22
Perc Index: 29147
Decision Headnotes
401.02000 – Discrimination Favoring Organization Over Another
Where employer included rival employee organization's severance presentation on the official schedule for a week of mandatory peace officer training on the day before window period began, the Board found that the employer's actions gave the impression that the severance presentation was part of the mandatory training or, at the very least, that the employer supported the severance presentation, in violation of employer's duty of strict neutrality; p. 9. Employer statement that decertification presentation was voluntary was insufficient to undo the effects of the employer's decision to place the decertification presentation on the schedule for mandatory in- service training. Employer made statement just before the start of the decertification presentation but made no effort to retract the offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that is supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11. offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that is supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11.
404.01000 – In General
Where employer included rival employee organization's severance presentation on the official schedule for a week of mandatory peace officer training on the day before window period began, the Board found that the employer's actions gave the impression that the severance presentation was part of the mandatory training or, at the very least, that the employer supported the severance presentation, in violation of employer's duty of strict neutrality; p. 9. Employer statement that decertification presentation was voluntary was insufficient to undo the effects of the employer's decision to place the decertification presentation on the schedule for mandatory in- service training. Employer made statement just before the start of the decertification presentation but made no effort to retract the offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that it supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11. offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that it supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11.
404.03000 – Literature and Posting of Notices; Pictures; Anti-Union Petitions
Where employer included rival employee organization's severance presentation on the official schedule for a week of mandatory peace officer training on the day before window period began, the Board found that the employer's actions gave the impression that the severance presentation was part of the mandatory training, or at the very least, that the employer supported the severance presentation, in violation of employer's duty of strict neutrality; p. 9. Employer statement that decertification presentation was voluntary was insufficient to undo the effects of the employer's decision to place the decertification presentation on the schedule for mandatory in- service training. Employer made statement just before the start of the decertification presentation but made no effort to retract the offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that it supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11. offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that it supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11.
404.04000 – Meetings
Where employer included rival employee organization's severance presentation on the official schedule for a week of mandatory peace officer training on the day before window period began, the Board found that the employer's actions gave the impression that the severance presentation was part of the mandatory training or, at the very least, that the employer supported the severance presentation, in violation of employer's duty of strict neutrality; p. 9. Employer statement that decertification presentation was voluntary was insufficient to undo the effects of the employer's decision to place the decertification presentation on the schedule for mandatory in- service training. Employer made statement just before the start of the decertification presentation but made no effort to retract the offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that it supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11. offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that it supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11.
407.04000 – Employer Favoritism/Absence of Strict Neutrality
Where employer included rival employee organization's severance presentation on the official schedule for a week of mandatory peace officer training on the day before window period began, the Board found that the employer's actions gave the impression that the severance presentation was part of the mandatory training or, at the very least, that the employer supported the severance presentation, in violation of employer's duty of strict neutrality; p. 9. Employer statement that decertification presentation was voluntary was insufficient to undo the effects of the employer's decision to place the decertification presentation on the schedule for mandatory in- service training. Employer made statement just before the start of the decertification presentation but made no effort to retract the offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that it supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11. offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that it supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11.
409.03000 – Discontinuance of Illegal Activity; Retraction; Repudiation; Public Disavowal
Employer statement that decertification presentation was voluntary was insufficient to undo the effects of the employer's decision to place the decertification presentation on the schedule for mandatory in- service training. Employer made statement just before the start of the decertification presentation but made no effort to retract the offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that it supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11.
409.05000 – Union Consent or Waiver
Exclusive representative's failure to request placement on official schedule for mandatory in-service training does not excuse employer's decision to place rival employee organization on official schedule, citing Regents of the University of California v. Public Employment Relations Bd. (1986) 177 Cal.App.3d 648, 655 [223 Cal.Rptr. 127]; p. 3, fn. 4.
700.07000 – Favoritism; Contract Ban on Distribution or Solicitation; Unequal Treatment of Unions; Preferential Access; Duty of Strict Neutrality
Where employer included rival employee organization's severance presentation on the official schedule for a week of mandatory peace officer training on the day before window period began, the Board found that the employer's actions gave the impression that the severance presentation was part of the mandatory training or, at the very least, that the employer supported the severance presentation, in violation of employer's duty of strict neutrality; p. 9. Employer statement that decertification presentation was voluntary was insufficient to undo the effects of the employer's decision to place the decertification presentation on the schedule for mandatory in- service training. Employer made statement just before the start of the decertification presentation but made no effort to retract the offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that it supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11. offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that it supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11.
700.08000 – Bulletin Board Use; Notice of Meetings
Where employer included rival employee organization's severance presentation on the official schedule for a week of mandatory peace officer training on the day before window period began, the Board found that the employer's actions gave the impression that the severance presentation was part of the mandatory training or, at the very least, that the employer supported the severance presentation, in violation of employer's duty of strict neutrality; p. 9. Employer statement that decertification presentation was voluntary was insufficient to undo the effects of the employer's decision to place the decertification presentation on the schedule for mandatory in- service training. Employer made statement just before the start of the decertification presentation but made no effort to retract the offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that is supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11. offending training schedule and took no other action to assuage the appearance that is supported the decertification effort; pp. 10-11.
1107.02000 – Weight Given to ALJ’s Proposed Decision: Findings, Conclusions, Credibility Resolutions
Because ALJs sit in a better position to observe the demeanor of witnesses, the Board generally defers to its ALJs' credibility determinations; p. 10.