California State Legislative Director Louis Costa Archives

On Sept. 2, Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed S.B. 957 into law, thus placing employees of the Santa Cruz Metro (SCM) under the umbrella of the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to foster improved relations between public employees and management.

Members of TD Local 23 pose on Labor Day 2022 with an award given to them by the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council for their efforts in getting S.B. 957 signed into law.

The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2023.

The bill was introduced in the state Senate by Sen. John Laird (D) on March 17. The bill’s advance happened because of the dedicated work of members of SMART-TD Local 23 in Santa Cruz, California State Legislative Board Director Louie Costa and General Chairperson James Sandoval (GC-SCM).

“This was a long uphill battle,” GC Sandoval said. “Louie has put in so much work and helped our local along the way in getting this done. He would sit with me for nine hours some days waiting for our bill to come up just to say he supports it too and taking the time to teach me how the process works.”

The tenacity in seeing the bill through into law resulted in representatives of Local 23 receiving a “Rock Solid” award on Labor Day from the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council for their efforts.

The law requires that employers and employees of SCM adjudicate complaints of specified labor violations before PERB as an unfair practice instead of in superior court. By requiring the district to adjudicate claims before PERB, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program that would serve to harmonize relations between SCM management and labor.

“It removes the fight of who has more money,” Sandoval said. “PERB jurisdiction gives us free oversight to make sure Metro bargains with our union in good faith during negotiations and gives us recourse in the event Metro commits unfair labor practices.”

Members of the Santa Cruz Board of Directors, SEIU 521 and the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council were thanked for their support in a speech by GC Sandoval at the council’s Labor Day event.

Among the SCM board members thanked were Jimmy Dutra, Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson, Kristen Brown, Rebecca Downing, Manu Koenig, Donna Meyers and Ari Parker.

A final word of gratitude from GC Sandoval went to state Sen. Laird, author of the bill.

“He believed in us from Day 1 and he stuck it out with us and he carried it all the way through,” he said.

A bill under consideration in the California Legislature would place employees of the Santa Cruz Metro under the umbrella of the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to foster improved relations between public employees and management.

S.B. 957 was introduced in the state Senate by state Sen. John Laird (D) on March 17. The bill’s advance has happened in part thanks to the work of members of SMART-TD Local 23 in Santa Cruz, California State Legislative Board Director Louie Costa and General Chairperson James Sandoval (GC-SCM).

“The bill will protect Santa Cruz Metro workers from unfair labor practices moving forward,” Sandoval said. “It’s been a two-year project, and we still got work to do. This is absolutely huge.”

S.B. 957 would require employers and employees of the district to adjudicate complaints of specified labor violations before PERB as an unfair practice instead of in the superior court. By requiring the district to adjudicate claims before PERB, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program that would serve to harmonize relations between SCM management and labor.

“PERB jurisdiction will give us free oversight to make sure Metro bargains with our union in good faith during negotiations and gives us recourse in the event Metro commits unfair labor practices,” Sandoval said.

Members of the Santa Cruz Board of Directors received the appreciation of TD Local 23 and SEIU Local 521, which also represents some Santa Cruz Metro employees, for their support in getting the bill moved into consideration.

Among the supporters thanked were Kristen Petersen, Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson, Jimmy Dutra, Ari Parker, Manu Koenig, Rebecca Downing, Donna Meyers, Alta Northcutt and Laird.

“After a period of discord under the prior CEO, the support from the board has helped this bill advance along,” Sandoval said. “We’re going to do our best to make sure it gets fair consideration by state lawmakers.”

The bill is under review by the Senate’s Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee and is scheduled to be heard by the committee on April 18 at 3:00 p.m. The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear the bill on April 26 at 1:30 p.m.