How California teachers can bypass state strike restrictions

Oakland and L.A. cases reveal a system heavily favoring labor unions that makes it nearly impossible to stop walkouts

The Oakland teachers strike is over, the school year has ended, but the legal battle over the 12-day walkout that probably violated state bargaining rules could be just beginning.

The unusual case and a similar legal case settled Thursday in Los Angeles, stemming from a three-day strike of school support staff such as bus drivers, teacher aides and custodians, highlight the power imbalance in California school strikes that left tens of thousands of students without classroom instruction.

The system has become so heavily tilted in favor of labor unions that if school workers choose to strike without first following state-mandated negotiation procedures, which include mediation and fact-finding, there's little district officials can do to stop them.

The first arbiter of disputes over the legality of strikes is the labor-friendly California Public Employment Relations Board, known as PERB, whose members are appointed by the governor.

Currently four of the five board seats are filled. The appointees of Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom are two former union presidents, a former union lawyer and a former Democratic assemblyman.

A school district cannot go directly to court seeking an injunction to immediately stop what it considers an illegal strike. Only the PERB board can seek court action. So, the district must persuade PERB to intervene.

J. Felix De La Torre, PERB'S general counsel, said the board has received six injunction requests from school districts during his eight-year tenure, but has not pursued any of them in court.

Beyond an injunction, districts and unions can also go before an administrative law judge at PERB to pursue claims of improper bargaining or strike behavior. The judge's decision can then be appealed to the board and eventually to the state appellate courts, which usually defer to the board.

So a resolution can take years, long after a strike is settled. Which is one of the reasons why districts and unions usually drop their complaints when they settle their strikes.