Judge says charter group cannot interfere with unionization efforts
The order is the latest action in a nine-month dispute between Alliance College-Ready Public Schools and United Teachers Los Angeles, which has launched a unionization effort with a group of teachers from the charter organization.
Charters are publicly financed but independently run. Most are nonunion.
In the order, Judge James C. Chalfant says that leaders of the charter group:
- cannot post petitions on the charter’s website that solicit signatures against unionization.
- cannot ask teachers their positions or intentions on collective bargaining.
- must allow organizers after-school access to campuses.
- cannot block emails from the union to teachers.
- are required to stay 40 feet away from organizers inside buildings and 100 feet away in outside areas unless student safety is involved.
United Teachers Los Angeles has filed four unfair-practice claims against Alliance since launching a drive to unionize in March. The union alleges that the charter group is violating state law by intimidating employees, conducting surveillance on teachers and blocking organizers at school sites.
Charter leaders have denied wrongdoing.
The injunction will remain in place until California's Public Employment Relations Board, which enforces the collective bargaining laws for most public sector employees, completes a hearing process for all four complaints.
“We hope the injunction will lead Alliance managers to take responsibility for their behavior, repair the damage their unlawful campaign has done and allow us to reach an agreement for a fair process as we organize our union,” Xochil Johansen, a teacher at Alliance’s Stern Mass High School, said in a statement.
The charter group is required to provide employees a copy of the court’s order.
“The filing of unfair labor practices is a standard tactic in labor organizing, particularly Judge says charter group cannot interfere with unionization efforts - LA Times: