Free Legal Aid
MyJanusRights.org
Gompers Preparatory Academy Educators Appeal Decision Allowing Union to Block Workers' Right to Vote Out Union
Appeal asks PERB to eliminate standard which lets union bosses use unsubstantiated allegations to block employee votes
San Diego, CA (June 10, 2020) – Educators at Gompers Preparatory Academy (GPA) charter school are appealing a decision by a California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) regional attorney, which let San Diego Education Association (SDEA) union bosses block the educators' right to vote on whether the union should remain at the school. The educators, who submitted a valid petition to initiate a vote to remove the union, are led by chemistry teacher Dr. Kristie Chiscano. Dr. Chiscano and her fellow educators are receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
The appeal follows SDEA union officials' so-called filing of "blocking charges" against the charter school. The union charges allege that school leadership committed unfair labor practices, and were accepted by the PERB administrator as a reason to stop the election to remove the union. This happened despite the union not alleging or proving any wrongdoing on the educators' part, and despite the PERB never holding a hearing into whether the charges had any merit. The appeal seeks to overturn PERB Regulation 32752, which allows union bosses to "plead unproven 'facts' that a Board agent or attorney must accept as true" which "will almost always guarantee a secret-ballot election will be stayed (stopped)."
SDEA union officials were installed at the school in January 2019 after conducting a controversial "card check" union drive, bypassing the more reliable method of a secret-ballot election whether to certify a union as the monopoly representative of all educators in the school. Since the school's unionization, no monopoly bargaining contract has been approved and educators and parents have accused union agents of divisive activity, including supporting anti-charter school legislation.
Dr. Chiscano began circulating the decertification petition in October 2019. She soon obtained the signatures of well over the number of her fellow educators necessary to trigger a PERB-supervised secret-ballot vote to remove the union. However, the appeal notes, SDEA union officials "filed a strategically-timed unfair practice charge against GPA in December 2019" to block the educators from exercising their right to vote on whether to remove the union. Despite the educators' Foundation-provided attorneys submitting a brief explaining why SDEA bosses' unsubstantiated allegations had nothing to do with the employees' desire to vote, the PERB attorney stayed the election in May 2020.
The appeal asks that the PERB alter the standard used to process employee petitions for a decertification election because the current practice "is the antithesis of employee free choice" in that it grants union bosses the privilege to "block a secret-ballot election based on mere strategic pleading in an unproven unfair practice charge."
Also pointed out is that, after a "blocking charge" is filed, "it becomes the employees' and employer's burden to show why the unproven allegations in the unfair practice charge would not affect the election process."
The appeal proposes that the PERB adopt a new standard that requires union officials who file "blocking charges" to, during a hearing, prove a "causal nexus" between the unfair employer conduct they allege and "any effect on employees that would prevent them from making a free choice in a secret-ballot election." Dr. Chiscano's case, the appeal says, should be reconsidered under that standard.
"Dr. Chiscano and her coworkers just want to be able to exercise their right to vote, free of coercion, on whether or not SDEA union bosses deserve to maintain power at their school," observed National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. "Instead of letting them vote, power-hungry SDEA union bosses who, ironically, oppose charter schools like GPA, have exploited the PERB's anti-worker choice standards to hold these educators captive under their so-called 'representation' for more than 17 months."
Mix added: "The PERB should immediately reform its standards to stop allowing union officials to use totally unproven allegations to block employees' right to free themselves of an unwanted union."
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in more than 250 cases nationwide per year.
Posted on Jun 10, 2020 in News Releases
Foundation Offers Free Legal Aid to Workers Impacted by Biden Executive Order Cancelling Keystone XL Pipeline Project
United Rock Products Foreman Wins Settlement in Case Challenging Illegal Forced Dues Demands by Operating Engineers Union Officials
Airline Workers Ask Appeals Courts to Invalidate Union Dues Opt-Out Schemes
Transdev Employees at the Fairfax Connector Ask National Labor Relations Board to End Contentious Policy Blocking Workers' Right to Vote Out Unwanted Union Bosses
Appeals Court Upholds Foundation Victory against Forced Dues for Lobbying
Archives Select Month January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 January 2002 December 2001 November 2001 October 2001 September 2001 August 2001 July 2001 June 2001 May 2001 April 2001 March 2001 February 2001 January 2001 July 2000 December 1996 July 1996
Categories Select Category Blog In the News Legal Notices News Releases Newsletter Articles TV & Radio
© 2020 NRTWLD&EF, Inc All Rights Reserved.
National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc.
8001 Braddock Road / Springfield, Virginia 22160
(703) 321-8510 | (800) 336-3600 / (703) 321-9613 fax - general (703) 321-9319 fax - legal department
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Donate
National Right to Work Committee
National Institute for Labor Relations Research