LABOR: County, union fight continues

The judge found that, through the survey, the county "interfered with, restrained, and coerced employees in the exercise of protected rights," and she ordered the county to stop the survey, destroy its results, and "not obtain the results of the poll nor publish or disseminate the results in any manner."

City Newspaper

By Jeremy Moule on August 12, 2009 (City Newspaper)

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The legal battles between the county and a public employees union aren't over.
Yesterday, a state administrative law judge ruled that the county violated provisions of the Taylor Law, which regulates relations between government and its union employees, by distributing a survey to part-time employees represented by CSEA. That decision resolves an improper practice charge that union leaders filed against the county in May.

But now the county faces a new improper practice charge, which grew out of hearings for the first charge. CSEA's August 7 complaint to the state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) is based on comments made by county Human Resources Director Brayton Connard to a Democrat and Chronicle reporter. The complaint references this section of a July 29 story:

"County Human Resources Director Brayton Connard said the only way the county would know if union members want to leave the union is if it conducted a survey.

'They should be embarrassed that they've taken all these union dues and done nothing for their members,' Connard said, adding that members would get raises if the union went away."

The complaint characterizes Connard's remarks as a threat to the part-time employees. The comments, the complaint says, discourage participation in the union and encourage decertification of CSEA as the employees' union.

A county spokesman was not immediately available for comment Wednesday morning.
CSEA filed the first improper-practice charge against the county after it issued the survey and an accompanying letter in May. The survey asked workers a yes or no question: "Do you wish to be represented by the Civil Service Employees Association?" Union leaders saw the move as an attempt to encourage employees to decertify the union, which is engaged in contract negotiations with the county.

County officials said they were trying to ascertain whether the union had support among employees. The previous contract, which is still in place under a one-year extension, allows the county to initiate a secret ballot election through a state labor board if it has evidence that 30 percent of the unit's employees are questioning the union's status.

The judge found that, through the survey, the county "interfered with, restrained, and coerced employees in the exercise of protected rights," and she ordered the county to stop the survey, destroy its results, and "not obtain the results of the poll nor publish or disseminate the results in any manner."

In comments to the media yesterday, county officials noted that they can appeal that decision.