Home < Policies, Employee & Labor Relations < Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining < Background on Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining at the University < The Collective Bargaining Process
California's Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) is the law passed by the California State Legislature which gives UC employees the right to decide whether or not they want to unionize and have collective bargaining as the sole means of determining their wages, hours and working conditions. HEERA also designates the State of California's Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) as the administrative agency to implement and oversee the provisions of HEERA. PERB makes determinations about which units are appropriate for collective bargaining; conducts elections to determine whether employees in a given unit want to be unionized and engage in collective bargaining; and investigates, holds hearings, and makes decisions on whether or not unfair labor practices have been committed.
Employees are protected from reprisals, discrimination, coercion or interference with their exercise of rights guaranteed by HEERA, including 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 and for the purpose of meeting and conferring. Employees shall also have the right to refuse to join employee organizations or to participate in the activities of these organizations subject to the organizational security provision permissible under HEERA.
Employees who are managerial or confidential within the meaning of HEERA, and some student employees are excluded from the law's coverage. Supervisory employees have some rights to union representation under HEERA; however, the law precludes collective bargaining of supervisors' terms and conditions of employment.