Judge Finds UC Guilty of Unlawful Union-Busting in Huge Victory for Workers’ Rights!

A California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) Judge has issued a decision blasting University of California for multiple violations of California labor law by sending mass communications that interfered with UC employees’ rights to form or join a union!

In an extremely rare move, the Judge also ordered the University of California to pay Teamsters Local 2010 legal fees, finding that UC’s violations were intentional and egregious.

This decision exposes UC’s scandalous practice of using public funds for illegal Union-busting activity. Every worker should have the freedom to join together in a Union without employer interference, yet UC managers repeatedly violated the law because they thought they could get away with it. Now they are on the hook for the Union’s attorney fees, in addition to the cost of their own high-priced attorneys. Hopefully UC will learn the lesson and start following the law and respecting workers’ rights.

Our Union filed the initial unfair labor practice charge with PERB in May 2019, after the UC sent out a series of communications containing “Information for Administrative Professionals.” The employees who received the communication were all members of the unrepresented job classifications, similar in duties to current CX Teamsters, that Teamsters 2010 had been working to organize into the Union.

PERB found that the UC’s communication unlawfully discouraged workers from exercising their right to join the Union by using false and misleading statements to denigrate unions and mislead employees about the benefits of unionization.

The decision orders UC to post a notice in all workplaces where Administrative Professionals work explaining that the UC was found in violation of state labor law.

Under SB 931, a new state law sponsored by Teamsters and effective on January 1, 2023, any future violations of this nature by the UC will be subject to fines of up to $100,000 per complaint and $1,000 per affected employee.

“This case shows why we needed to pass SB 931, in order to stop Union-busting employers from intentionally violating labor law with impunity,” Secretary-Treasurer Rabinowitz said. “With this new law, and our legal victory in this case, UC and other public employers will think twice before they engage in illegal Union-busting.”

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