SECTIONS 3579 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 3579

3579. (a) In each case where the appropriateness of a unit is an
issue, in determining an appropriate unit, the board shall take into
consideration all of the following criteria:
(1) The internal and occupational community of interest among the
employees, including, but not limited to, the extent to which they
perform functionally related services or work toward established
common goals, the history of employee representation with the
employer, the extent to which the employees belong to the same
employee organization, the extent to which the employees have common
skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or
training requirements, and the extent to which the employees have
common supervision.
(2) The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and
confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of
employer representatives to deal effectively with employee
organizations representing the unit, and taking into account factors
such as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the
relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the higher
education employer, and the effect on the existing classification
structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single
class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
(3) The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the
employer and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility
of the higher education employer and its employees to serve students
and the public.
(4) The number of employees and classifications in a proposed
unit, and its effect on the operations of the employer, on the
objectives of providing the employees the right to effective
representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
(5) The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by
fragmentation of employee groups or any proliferation of units among
the employees of the employer.
(b) There shall be a presumption that professional employees and
nonprofessional employees shall not be included in the same
representation unit. However, the presumption shall be rebuttable,
depending upon what the evidence pertinent to the criteria set forth
in subdivision (a) establishes.
(c) There shall be a presumption that all employees within an
occupational group or groups located principally within the State of
California shall be included within a single representation unit.
However, the presumption shall be rebutted if there is a
preponderance of evidence that a single representation unit is
inconsistent with the criteria set forth in subdivision (a) or with
the purposes of this chapter.
(d) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, or
any other provision of law, an appropriate group of skilled crafts
employees shall have the right to be a single, separate unit of
representation. Skilled crafts employees shall include, but not
necessarily be limited to, employment categories such as carpenters,
plumbers, electricians, painters, and operating engineers. The single
unit of representation shall include not less than all skilled
crafts employees at a campus or at a Lawrence Laboratory.
(e) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, the
only appropriate representation units including members of the
academic senate of the University of California shall be either a
single statewide unit consisting of all eligible members of the
senate, or divisional units consisting of all eligible members of a
division of the senate. In addition to the limitations of subdivision
(q) of Section 3562, the scope of representation of any divisional
unit shall be limited to those matters which have customarily been
determined on a division basis, but the employer shall consult with
the exclusive representative of a division on matters which would be
within the scope of representation or consultation of a statewide
representative. When 35 percent of the eligible members of the
academic senate are represented by an exclusive representative or
representatives in divisional units, the board, on petition of a
representative or of an organization comprised of those
representatives, shall conduct an election to determine if the
eligible members of the entire senate wish thereafter to be
represented by a representative or organization in a single unit on
all matters within the scope of representation. Any other exclusive
representative or organization of representatives or any employee
organization meeting the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section
3577 shall be entitled, on petition, to appear on the ballot, and in
the event no choice receives a majority of the votes cast, the runoff
provisions of subdivision (a) of Section 3577 shall be applicable.
(f) The board shall not determine that any unit is appropriate if
it includes, together with other employees, employees who are defined
as peace officers pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section
830.2 of the Penal Code.