A California agency that works with state employee unions says Governor Gavin Newsom may have violated a collective bargaining law when he ordered state employees back into the office four days per week.
The Public Employment Relations Board’s complaint says the Governor’s Office appears to have,” failed and refused to meet and confer in good faith,” while also interfering with the rights of bargaining unit employees.
The complaint is a response to an unfair practice charge that a union — the Professional Engineers in California Government — filed just after Newsom announced the executive order.
PECG claims the Governor’s Office violated the Ralph C. Dills Act, which protects state workers’ right to collective bargaining.
“Our message to the governor and his people would be that there's still time to get it right,” PECG Executive Director Ted Toppin said. “Collective bargaining works. All you have to do is give it a chance.”
The Governor’s Office now has 20 days to respond. After that, the charge could go through an informal resolution process or become a formal complaint that goes before an administrative law judge.
Service Employees International Union Local 1000 filed a similar charge.
“It's only one of many things that we can do,” SEIU Local 1000 President Anica Walls said. “I definitely take the position that we need to be firing on all cylinders. And so this is just the legal remedy.”
Both the Governor’s Office and the California Department of Human Resources declined to comment for this story.
