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(http://www.lbusd.k12.ca.us/Employees/bargaining_updates.cfm).
There are no surprises for the public when the contracts are brought to the
Board of Education in a public session for ratification. Our City government
should do no less.
Schools districts are required by Government Code Section 3547 to “sunshine” collective bargaining
proposals and to give the public an opportunity in an open meeting to provide
input on the proposals. Our City government should do no less.
We can either make
this an amendment to our City Charter and let the voters approve or the Council
can pass an ordinance and make it law immediately before the next round of
negotiations begin.
In either case, the
public should know what we are doing. And the public should have been told that
proposed contracts with three bargaining groups had been voted on by their
members before the City budget was approved. (By the way, when an employee
association has a public vote to ratify a proposed agreement – that isn’t and
should not be considered a secret to be kept from taxpayers.)
These contracts will
come back to City Council for its public ratification but well after the City budget
was approved. That’s not open and transparent and the process must be changed.
