A pair of legal victories has cleared the California Public Employment Relations Board to begin investigating labor complaints against the City of San Diego, where voters overwhelmingly approved pension reform on the June primary ballot.
The court ruled in favor of opponents of Proposition B, which altered most city pensions on the two complaints: one which alleges that the city violated its labor requirements that stipulate that the city must negotiate any benefit changes with labor; the other would have cut PERB out of the review process entirely. However, the City’s attorneys say that the pension changes were supported by citizens’ signatures and thereby circumvented the requirement to negotiate.
The PERB investigation process does not have authority to stop the implementation of Measure B. Instead, it will hold a hearing before an administrative judge who will render a ruling on the matter. That decision can then be appealed in the court system, all the way to the Supreme Court.
From the U-T San Diego:
Labor unions have scored two separate legal victories in the past week in their push to invalidate San Diego’s pension reform initiative, which voters overwhelmingly approved earlier this month.
The two wins essentially lead to the same result: The state’s Public Employment Relations Board can now move forward with its investigation into a labor complaint that city leaders violated state law by helping craft Proposition B as a citizens’ initiative.
Read the full article here.