The ongoing conflict between Santa Ana administration and the police officers union took a new turn this week when the state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), responding to complaints from the city’s police union, issued a complaint against the City of Santa Ana over the contract imposed on the union last month on a 4-3 city council vote.
The PERB complaint zeroes in on the abolition of the “full-time release” president position, alleging that in unilaterally imposing that change the city violated several sections of state code and engaged in unfair labor practices.
On December 20, the council’s progressive majority approved the “last, best and final offer” (LBFO) that city negotiators had advanced in September 2022. In addition to terms regarding pay and benefits, the LBFO took the unusual step of dramatically altering the union’s governance structure by getting rid of its full-time presidency.
READ: Santa Ana’s Progressive Majority Forces Police Union To Ditch Full-Time Union President Position
Under agreements with the city going back to the 1980s, Santa Ana Police Officers Association (SAPOA) has had a “full-time release” president. Under those agreements, union members paid for the president’s salary by donating back a floating holiday. The salary also included a “confidential premium” that was also reimbursed back to the city by members donating back floating holiday.
The previous MOU also provided for “60 hours per year of release time for the [SAPOA] representatives to conduct ‘Union business’ and grievance processing,” according to the PERB complaint, which stated “this negotiated policy under Article 14.1 [of the MOU] had been in effect for at least 30 years.
The city’s LBFO instead substituted a bank of 1040 hours that could be used by SAPOA Board members to pay for their time engaged in union responsibilities. Before using any of those hours, the SAPOA president or other union board member must obtain the prior approval from the city’s human resources director – effectively putting SAPOA board member activity under the supervision of the same city employee in charge of negotiating with the union. The LBFO also empowers the city to rescind any such approvals if, in the city’s judgement, “significant operational reasons” necessitate it.
The LBFO did not specify which SAPOA board members could access the leave bank, or limit how many hours any individual board member could request.
On December 22, two days after the LBFO took effect, SAPOA President Gerry Serrano requested leave time equal to the full 1040 hours in the leave bank, to be effective on January 1, 2023.
Five days later, HR Director Jason Motsick denied the request, citing an unwillingness to “establish a precedent” that the president or any other SAPOA board member can ask for the full 1,040 hours “or any substantive period of time” in “one or a few requests.”
According to the PERB complaint, Motsick also claimed it is “unrealistic” to assume the SAPOA will not conduct union business in the second half of 2023.
Under state law, the city is obligated to respond to the complaint within 20 calendar days; the complaint was filed on January 9.
When asked for comment, the SAPOA provided OC Independent with a January 10 memo to membersfrom Serrano, in which he enumerated the city’s alleged violations of the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act that legalized collective bargaining for public employee unions and governs labors relations with them.
“This is the second complaint that has been issued against the City. We have had a hearing in one case and are awaiting a decision of the Hearing Officer,” Serrano wrote. “We have another Unfair Practice Charge pending before PERB that we believe will result in the issuance of another Complaint. And, we have this recently issued Complaint. (The City filed an Unfair Practice Charge against the Association in the beginning of August last year, but a Complaint was never issued).”
Serrano accused the city’s administrative leadership of an “anti-union attitude” that has poisoned what had heretofore been “excellent” relations between the city and the SAPOA.
“We’re losing members; people are leaving the Police Department at an unprecedented rate. It’s becoming harder and harder to work in this environment,” Serrano wrote to rank-and-file officers.
“Our pro-labor, pro-union City Council Members should look closely at the direction the City is taking with its largest represented employee group,” wrote Serrano.
When reached for comment, city spokesman Paul Eakins replied via e-mail, “We will be filing a formal response to the complaint as required by PERB. We have no further comment at this time.”
