Decision 1921E – Desert Community College District

Union meetings on community college district property are protected under EERA sections 3543 and 3543.1. The right of access under section 3543.1(b) is limited to purposes concerning employer-employee relations. The Board has substantially limited an employer’s ability to censor or impose prior restraints upon the content of union communications. The Board has held that “school employer regulation under section 3543.1(b) should be narrowly drawn to cover the time, place and manner of the activity, without impinging on content unless it presents a substantial threat to school operations.” (Richmond Unified School District/Simi Valley Unified School District (1979) PERB Decision No. 99.) The presence of an item entitled “Board of Trustees Election” on a union meeting agenda does not remove the meeting from protection under section 3543.1(b), which provides unions a right of access to employer facilities to hold meetings to discuss employer-employee relations. The District vice principal’s emails seeking to remove an item referencing an upcoming Board of Trustees election from an agenda for a members-only union meeting to be held at the college premises constituted unlawful interference with the protected rights of the employees and the employee organization.

The Board has substantially limited an employer’s ability to censor or impose prior restraints upon the content of union communications. The Board has held that “school employer regulation under section 3543.1(b) should be narrowly drawn to cover the time, place and manner of the activity, without impinging on content unless it presents a substantial threat to school operations.” (Richmond Unified School District/Simi Valley Unified School District (1979) PERB Decision No. 99.) The presence of an item entitled “Board of Trustees Election” on a union meeting agenda does not remove the meeting from protection under section 3543.1(b), which provides unions a right of access to employer facilities to hold meetings to discuss employer-employee relations. The District vice principal’s emails seeking to remove an item referencing an upcoming Board of Trustees election from an agenda for a members-only union meeting to be held at the college premises constituted unlawful interference with the protected rights of the employees and the employee organization.