Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process

For use by a charter city, appropriate reference to the city charter should be added where indicated.

Checklist: Employer-Employee Relations Resolution

 The provisions of the Employer-Employee Relations Resolution are matters subject to the “meet and consult” process, when initially introduced and when amendments are proposed. 102 As such, the parties are required to consult in good faith. And, because the process involves “meet and consult,” rather than “meet and confer,” disputes are not subject to impasse procedures.  The Resolution should contain a strong and clear Management Rights provision. A Management Rights provision should also be contained in each MOU.  The Resolution should enable the Employee Relations Officer to modify existing units on his/her own motion on behalf of the agency. The modification procedure should also permit individual employees to petition for modification of the unit.  Once either party has issued a written declaration of impasse, the employee association has a limited time frame to request fact-finding. 103 Mediation remains voluntary under the MMBA, unless the agency’s local rules mandate mediation. Mediation is not a prerequisite to fact finding. 104 Public agencies may wish to revise their existing impasse procedures to make sure they are consistent with the MMBA, or eliminate them entirely and rely solely on the MMBA.  The Resolution should provide for unit determination rules which require separate bargaining units comprised exclusively of safety classifications. It is generally not recommended to include both Fire and Police classifications in one safety unit. Units comprised of both Fire and Police classifications may not comply with the provisions of Government Code section 3508.  The Resolution may also require that management and confidential employees be in units separate from non-management and non-confidential positions. 105  . 2. A CCESS TO A GENCY F ACILITIES AND U SE OF A GENCY C OMMUNICATION S YSTEMS TO C OMMUNICATE WITH E MPLOYEES The MMBA provides that agencies may adopt reasonable rules and regulations regarding an employee organization’s access to employee work locations and means of communication. 106 Once an employer has opened a forum for non-business communication, it cannot prohibit employees from using the same forum for a similar level of communication regarding union activities. 107 Further, an agency must also provide unrecognized employee organizations access to non-work areas of its facilities, similar to how it must provide the same level of access to recognized employee organizations. 108

Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 18