Loading...
Ordinance - 1071- Ay ORDINANCE NO. 1071 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY .OF WEST COVINA ADDING CHAPTER 4.5 TO ARTICLE II OF THE WEST COVINA MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO EMPLOYEE RELATIONS. The City Council of the City of West Covina does ordain as follows: SECTION I. Chapter 4.5 is added to Article II of the West Covina Municipal Code to read: "CHAPTER 4.5 - EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS" 2450. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. The purpose of this Chapter is to implement Chapter 10, Division 4, Title I of the Government Code of the State of California (Sections 3500 et seq.) by pro- viding orderly procedures for the administration of employer -employee relations between the City and its employee organizations and for resolving disputes con- cerning wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment. 2451. DEFINITIONS. As used in this Chapter: (a) 'Employee organization' means any organization which includes City employees and which has as one of its primary purposes the representation of such employees in their relations with the City. (b)'Recognized employee organization' means an employee organization that has been formally recognized as provided for herein by the City as an employee organization that represents City employees. The rights accompanying recognition are either: (1) Formal recognition —which is the right to meet and confer in good faith as the majority representative in an appropriate unit; or (2) Informal recognition —which is the right to consultation in good faith.by all recognized employee organizations. (c) 'Meet and confer in good faith' means that the authorized representa- tives of the City and the representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation personally to meet at reasonable times and confer in order to. exchange freely information, opinions and proposals and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation. The obligation to meet and confer in good faith does not compel the representatives of either party to agree to a proposal or to make a concession. / ky Y (d) "Majority representative'- means a recognized employee organization that has been granted formal recognition by the City Council upon the re�commenda- tion of.the Personnel Board as representing the majority of employees in an appropriate unit. (e) 'Me ation' means the efforts of an impartial third person functioning as an intermediary to assist the parties in reaching a voluntary resolution of a dispute through interpretation, suggestion and advice. 2452. EMPLOYEE RIGHTS. Each City employee shall have the right to form, join and participate in the activities of employee organizations of his own choosing for the purpose of repre- sentation on all matters of employer -employee relations. Each. City employee shall also have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations and shall have the right to represent himself individually in his employment relations with the City. No person shall interfere with, intimidate, restrain, coerce or discriminate against any employee because of his exercise of any of these rights. 2453. RECOGNITION OF EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS. Every .employee organization that desires recognition shall initially and annually in January of each year thereafter file with the City Manager for trans- mission to the Personnel Board a declaration signed by its authorized officers con- taining: (a) The name and mailing address of the organization. (b) The names and titles of its officers. (c) The names of the representatives of the organization who are authorized to speak on behalf of its City members. (d) A statement that the organization includes City employees who are members and who have. designated the organization to represent them and specifies • the total number of such employees. (e) If applicable, a designation of the job classifications or titles of those employees in a proposed representation unit which the employee organization claims to be appropriate and the number of member employees therein. The organization shall request- that the Personnel Board and the City Council recognize the employee organization as the majority representatives of the employees in the unit claimed to be appropriate. The Personnel Board may, subject to the approval of the City Manager and the City Council, order that an independent auditor be used and compensated by the City to determine from the records of the employee organization the actual number of employees included in the proposed representation unit who are members of the employee organization. If any employee organization desiring recognition denies the independent auditor access to its records the Personnel Board shall report to the City Manager and City Council the number of members of the organization whose dues are collected by payroll deduction. This number will then be considered the official membership in the employee organization until such time as the employee organiza- tion supplies the necessary information through the independent auditor. (f) A statement whether the organization is a Chapter, or Local of, or affiliated with, a regional, state, national or international organization, and if so, the name and address of each such affiliated organization. The statement shall also include the names of all other cities within the County of Los Angeles in which the organization has been recognized for the purpose of representing employees of the City with respect to salaries, wages and working conditions. (g) A statement that the organization has, as one of its primary purposes, representation of City employees in their employee relations with the City. Certified copies of the organization's constitution and by laws or any other documents which verify this purpose shall be included as a part of the declaration. - 2 - (h) A designation of those persons not exceeding two in number and their addresses to whom notice sent by regular United States mail will be deemed suffi- cient notice to the organization for any purpose. (i) A statement that the employee organization recognizes that the provi- sions of Section 923 of the Labor Code are not applicable to City employees. • 2453.5. APPROPRIATE UNIT. (a) The Personnel Board, after reviewing the petition filed by an employee organization seeking formal recognition as majority representative, shall determine whether the proposed unit is an appropriate unit. The principal criterion in making this determination is whether there is a community of interest among such employees. The following factors, among others, are to be considered in making such determination: (1) Which unit will assure employees the fullest freedom in the exercise of rights set forth under this ordinance. (2) The history of employee relations: (i) in the unit; (ii) among other employees of the City; and (iii) in similar public employment. (3) The effect of the unit on the efficient operation of-�the City and sound employer -employee relations. (4) The extent to which employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties or similar educational • requirements. (5) The effect on the existing classification structure of dividing a single classification among two or more units. Provided, however, no unit shall be established solely on the basis of the extent to which employees in the proposed unit have organized. (b) In the establishment of appropriate units (1) professional employees shall not be denied the right to be represented separately from non-professional employees; and (2) Supervisory, management or confidential employees shall not be included in the same unit with non -supervisory, non -management or non - confidential employees for purposes of meeting and conferring, nor may they represent such employees on matters within the scope of representation. 2454. RECOGNITION BY CITY COUNCIL. If the Personnel Board determines that the employee organization does in fact represent City employees and the declaration contains the information required by Section 2453, the Board shall recommend to the City Manager and City Council that the City Council officially recognize the organization and shall specify the level of recognition recommended and the representation units, if any, in which the employee organization represents a majority of the employees. 2455. LIST OF RECOGNIZED EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS. The City Clerk shall maintain a current list of recognized employee organizations. Recognition shall be effective until the 1st day of February of the year following the date of the action of the City Council. - 3 - 2456. SUSPENSION OR WITHDRAWAL OF RECOGNITION. The City Council, upon the recommendation of the City Manager and the Personnel Board, shall suspend or withdraw recognition from any employee organization if the City Council finds that the representatives or members of the organization have engaged in, caused, instigated, encouraged or condoned a work stoppage of any kind. As used in this section, 'work stoppage' means the concerted failure to report for duty, the wilful absence from one's position, the stoppage of work, or the abstinence in whole or in part from the full, faithful and proper performance of the duties of employment for the purpose of inducing, influencing or coercing a change in the conditions of compensation or the rights, privileges or obligations of employment. 2457. CITY REPRESENTATIVE. In addition to, his other duties it shall be the duty of the City Manager to meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith with representatives of recognized employee organizations regarding wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment. The City Manager may invite the Chairman of the Personnel Board or any other representative of the Personnel Board to participate in the meeting. Meetings with respect to wages, hours and employee benefits constituting a part of compensation shall be held only during the months of April and May of each calendar year. 2458. REQUESTS FOR MEETINGS. • If the representatives of a recognized employee organization desire to meet with the City Manager, they shall make their request in writing and specify the matters to be discussed. Upon the receipt of the request a mutually satisfactory time and place shall be arranged for the meeting. Only those matters specified in the notice may be discussed at the meeting. Other matters may be discussed by mutual consent of all of the representatives present. 2459. MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING. If agreement is reached with respect to any matter considered at any meeting, the City Manager, with the assistance of the City Attorney, and the representatives of the recognized employee organization, shall jointly -prepare a written memorandum of such understanding which shall not be binding and shall present it to the City Council for determination. If agreement is not reached with respect to any matter, the representatives of the recognized employee organization may file with the City Council a written statement of the organization's position with reference to that matter. The City Manager may also file with the City Council a written statement of his position with reference to that matter. Before determining the issue, the City Council shall fix a time and place to receive any additional pertinent information that may be orally presented to it. • Before finally determining the matter, the City Council may, if requested to do so by the recognized employee organization concerned, re -refer the matter to the City Manager for mediation. An impartial mediator acceptable to the City Manager and the recognized employee organization shall be appointed to assist the parties in arriving at a voluntary resolution of the matters in dispute through interpretation, suggestion and advice. All mediation proceedings shall be private. The mediator shall make no public recommendations nor take any public position concerning the issue. The fees and expenses, if any, of the mediator shall be payable one-half by the City and one-half by the recognized employee organization. If the dispute is not resolved as a result of mediation, it shall be re -referred to the City Council for final determination. 2460. MATTERS NOT SUBJECT TO CONFERENCE. • The City Manager need not meet with the representatives of any recognized employee organization to consider: (a) Issues of public policy. (b) The merits, necessity or organization of any department, service or activity provided by the City pursuant to law or ordinance. (c) Matters which relate to the management of the City or the direction of its work force, including the right to direct employees, to hire, promote, transfer, assign or retain employees, or suspend, demote, discharge or take other proper disciplinary action against employees, maintain the efficiency of the operation of the City Government and take any actions necessary to meet conditions of an emergency nature. The City Manager need not meet with the representatives of any recognized employee organization to consider the personal grievance of an individual employee or group of employees until the procedure for the resolution of grievances provided for in the Personnel Rules has been completed. 2461. NOTICE OF PROPOSALS AFFECTING EMPLOYEES. Any proposed ordinance, rule or regulation relating to wages, hours or other terms and conditions of employment may be submitted by the Personnel Officer to the City Council or Personnel Board at any regular meeting. Except in cases of emergency, action on the proposal shall be automatically continued until the next regular meeting of the City Council or Personnel Board. The City Clerk, in the case of proposals submitted to the City Council, and the Secretary of the Personnel Board, in the case of proposals submitted to the Personnel Board, shall mail notice of the submission of the proposal to each recognized employee organization whose City members are affected by it. The notice shall specify the time and place at which representatives of each such recognized employee organization shall have an opportunity to be heard with reference to the proposal before action is taken by the City Council or Personnel Board. In cases of emergency, when the City Council or the Personnel Board determines that an ordinance, resolution or rule must be acted upon immediately without prior notice to those recognized employee organizations whose members are affected by it, notice of the action taken on the ordinance, resolution or rule shall be mailed to each such recognized employee organization. The notice shall specify that the representatives of each such recognized employee organization shall have an opportunity to be heard with reference to the ordinance, resolution or rule at the next regular meeting of the City Council or Personnel Board. 2462. EMPLOYEE ACTIVITIES. Not more than three City employees who have been designated as the representatives of a recognized employee organization shall be allowed a reason- able amount of time off without loss of compensation or other benefits for the purpose of attending a formal meeting with the City Manager if the meeting is scheduled to be held during working hours. - 5 - • 0 0 No officer or employee holding a position exempt from the Civil Service System of the City shall represent any recognized employee organization in meeting and conferring with representatives of the City on any matters within the scope of representation. 2463. RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE EMPLOYEE RELATIONS. After consultation in good faith with representatives of affected recognized employee organizations, the City Manager may, from time to time, recommend to the City Council the adoption of such ordinances, rules or regulations as may be necessary or desirable to facilitate the administration of employer -employee relations. 2464. NO CONTRACT. The provisions of this Chapter shall not be construed to constitute a con- tract between the City and any employee or any recognized employee organization. 2465. PERSONNEL SYSTEM UNAFFECTED. Nothing in this Chapter shall be deemed to supersede the provisions of Chapter 2 and Chapter 4 of this Article or of the Rules and Regulations adopted pursuant thereto establishing and regulating the City's personnel system. This Chapter is intended to strengthen the City's personnel system by establishing an orderly method of communication between the City and representatives of recognized employee organizations. " SECTION 2. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage of this ordinance and publish the same as required by law. Passed and approved this 23rd day of December 1968. MAYOR STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) SS. • CITY OF WEST COVINA ) RAY WINDSOR Deputy City Clerk of the City of West Covina, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 1071 was regularly introduced and placed upon its first reading at a regular meeting of the City Council on the 16th day of December , 1968. That, thereafter, said Ordinance was duly adopted and passed at a regular meeting of the City Council on the 23rd day of December 1968, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: Councilmen: Chappell, Nichols, Gillum, Lloyd, Gleckman NOES: Councilmen: None ABSENT: Councilmen: None APPROVED AS TO FORM: Ci y Attorney CJ • A -.-A 01Z.- DeputyCity Clerk - 7 -