San Bernardino firefighters seek compliance with contract talks laws

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, April 9 – San Bernardino City Professional Firefighters, Local 891 filed a lawsuit on April 19 against the City of San Bernardino, Calif., in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

The union said the city is obligated, after implementation of interim modifications to an existing memorandum of understanding related to a collective bargaining agreement or after obtaining court approval to reject the memorandum, to follow state law in the formation of a new memorandum of understanding before modifying existing terms and conditions of employment.

According to the lawsuit, San Bernardino imposed interim modifications to the firefighters’ union’s expired memorandum of understanding in January 2013, claiming the changes were critical to the implementation of city’s pendency plan and necessary to confirm a plan of adjustment.

On Sept. 11, 2014, the court partially granted the city’s motion to reject the firefighters’ memorandum of understanding, but did not approve San Bernardino’s “unilaterally imposed 2013 interim modifications and the debtor’s intended 2014 post-rejection modifications.”

However, the union said the city unilaterally implemented additional changes to the terms of employment for firefighters’ union employees without any consent or approval by the court or the union.

On Jan. 26, the union said it received a request from the city manager to “continue discussions regarding bargaining proposals, but that the city made it very clear that it was neither proposing to meet and confer for a new memorandum of understanding, nor was it proposing a meeting to discuss Chapter 9 plan proposals.

The union said there have not been any negotiations between the parties for a new memorandum of understanding or plan of adjustment since the court approved rejection of the previous memorandum.

Through the lawsuit, the union is asking the court to rule that the city is required to comply with state labor laws regarding negotiations over terms and conditions of employment.

San Bernardino filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 1, 2012. The Chapter 9 case number is 12-28006.

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