California Government Code 3543 – (a) Public school employees shall have the right to form, join, …
(a) Public school employees shall have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Public school employees shall have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the public school employer, except that once the employees in an appropriate unit have selected an exclusive representative and it has been recognized pursuant to Section 3544.1 or certified pursuant to Section 3544.7, an employee in that unit shall not meet and negotiate with the public school employer. If the exclusive representative of a unit provides notification, as specified by subdivision (a) of Section 3546, public school employees who are in a unit for which an exclusive representative has been selected, shall be required, as a condition of continued employment, to join the recognized employee organization or to pay the organization a fair share services fee, as required by Section 3546. If a majority of the members of a bargaining unit rescind that arrangement, either of the following options shall be applicable:
(1) The recognized employee organization may petition for the reinstatement of the arrangement described in subdivision (a) of Section 3546 pursuant to the procedures in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 3546.
Terms Used In California Government Code 3543
- employee: means a person employed by a public school employer except persons elected by popular vote, persons appointed by the Governor of this state, management employees, and confidential employees. See California Government Code 3540.1
- Employee organization: means an organization that includes employees of a public school employer and that has as one of its primary purposes representing those employees in their relations with that public school employer. See California Government Code 3540.1
- employer: means the governing board of a school district, a school district, a county board of education, a county superintendent of schools, a charter school that has declared itself a public school employer pursuant to subdivision (b) of §. See California Government Code 3540.1
- Exclusive representative: means the employee organization recognized or certified as the exclusive negotiating representative of public school employees, as "public school employee" is defined in subdivision (j), in an appropriate unit of a public school employer. See California Government Code 3540.1
- recognized employee organization: means an employee organization that has been recognized by an employer as the exclusive representative pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 3544). See California Government Code 3540.1
- Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which the term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Government Code 10
(2) The employees may negotiate either of the two forms of organizational security described in subdivision (i) of Section 3540.1.
(b) An employee may at any time present grievances to his or her employer, and have those grievances adjusted, without the intervention of the exclusive representative, as long as the adjustment is reached prior to arbitration pursuant to Sections 3548.5, 3548.6, 3548.7, and 3548.8 and the adjustment is not inconsistent with the terms of a written agreement then in effect, provided that the public school employer shall not agree to a resolution of the grievance until the exclusive representative has received a copy of the grievance and the proposed resolution and has been given the opportunity to file a response.
(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 179, Sec. 83. Effective January 1, 2009.)