Decision 2434E – Anaheim Union High School District
LA-CO-1451-E and LA-CE-5535-E
Decision Date: June 19, 2015
Decision Type: PERB Decision
Description: In two cases consolidated for formal hearing, the exclusive representative and the school district charged each other with surface bargaining in violation of EERA; and the exclusive representative alleged that the school district dismissed the union vice-president and member of the bargaining team because of his exercise of protected rights.
Disposition: The ALJ concluded that both the exclusive representative and the school district violated their respective duties to bargain in good faith; the school district committed a per se violation of the duty to bargain in good faith by refusing to meet with the bargaining team if it included the vice president; and the exclusive representative failed to prove retaliation.
The Board affirmed the proposed decision and adopted the proposed decision as the decision of the Board itself as supplemented by a discussion of the exclusive representative’s exceptions and the school district’s cross-exceptions.
Perc Vol: 40
Perc Index: 9
Decision Headnotes
605.01000 – Outright Refusal to Bargain
The employer’s refusal to meet with the exclusive representative’s bargaining team so long as it included a team member undergoing disciplinary proceedings was a per se violation of the employer’s duty to negotiate in good faith; EERA gives the parties the right to appoint their own negotiators and forbids either side from dictating who their opposing representatives may be; the determinative issue is whether the presence of the subject representative would create such an atmosphere of ill will as to render good faith bargaining impossible; the proffering of a representative’s voluminous disciplinary record and lengthy disciplinary proceedings is insufficient to meet that bar.