Effective January 1, 2001 associations now have two available mechanisms to compel all members of a bargaining unit to pay association dues. The first option, which remains unchanged, is to negotiate with the employer an MOU provision requiring, as a condition of employment, that bargaining unit employees have dues or a "service fee" deducted from their payroll. (Cal. Govt. Code '3502.5(a)) If an employer refuses to add an agency shop provision to the MOU, associations now have a second option. If the bargaining unit obtains a signed petition of 30% of the employees in the bargaining unit requesting an election to implement agency shop and the subsequent election results in a majority of ballots cast in favor of the agency shop agreement, the employer must thereafter deduct dues or service fee for the association. (Cal. Govt. Code '3502.5(b))

In any event, where an employee, for religious reasons, objects to supporting a public employee organization, he or she shall not be required to pay dues or the service fee as a condition of employment. However, that employee must donate the same amount to a non-labor charitable fund.

Keep in mind that were there is an agency shop arrangement in place, the association's financial reports and balance sheets are required to be made available to any employee and most importantly to the public agency. (Cal. Govt. Code '3502.5(f)) Prior to implementing an agency fee, the union must post for the employees the amount of the fee and what the fee pays for.

Unfair Labor Practices. Public employees possess the right not to be interfered with, intimidated, restrained, coerced or discriminated against by a public agency or employee organization because of having exercised any of the rights provided by the MMBA or EERA.

An employer cannot reward employee groups who settle contracts by granting retroactivity and then deny it to non-settling groups at impasse. Similarly, the public agency cannot reward employees who choose not to be represented with special benefits denied to other similarly classified employees who exercise their right to be represented by a particular organization.

Enforcement of Association Rights. For state and school district employee groups the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) has jurisdiction to hear and resolve unfair practice charges. Effective January 1, 2001 PERB=s jurisdiction was expanded to include city and county public unions. Unfortunately, a specific exclusion was made for police officer (830.1) unions (Cal. Govt. Code '3511).

As such, police associations (830.1 only) must go directly to superior court to resolve a MMBA dispute. Of course if there is a grievance process in place, you must first exhaust that process.

School and College Police Departments. The MMBA does not apply to public school agencies, community college districts and state universities.

The Educational Employment Relations Act (EERA) governs employment relations in the public schools, including community college districts. (Government Code Sections 3540 - 3549.3). The State=s two higher education systems C the University of California and the California State University C are subject to the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA), found in Government Code Sections 3560 - 3599.

The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) is a state agency that administers and enforces the statutes comprising EERA and HEERA. The Board has the authority to determine appropriate bargaining units, to conduct representation elections among competing organizations, to certify the winner as the exclusive representative of a unit, to decide unfair practice charges, to certify bargaining impasses, and to otherwise enforce statutes regarding employee-employer relations.

Other State and Specialized Law Enforcement Groups. Most state employees fall under the Dills Act, also known as the State Employer Employee Relations Act (SEERA) found at Government Code Sections 3512 - 3524.

Transit Districts have labor provisions in the statutes that created them, so they are not subject to the MMBA even though they are local government entities.

Labor Code sections 1960 - 1963 govern some aspects of firefighters= bargaining rights, although such employees are otherwise covered by either the MMBA or the SEERA, depending on the employer.

State courts may refer to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to help interpret California=s various employer-employee relations acts. Federal cases have greatly influenced California courts, especially where Federal and California statutory language is comparable. For example, the most important right of representation cases and compelled statement cases were issued by federal courts. Decisions of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which interprets the NLRA, is equally persuasive authority where statutory interruption is unavailable from California courts.