MARISCAL v. >LOS > >ANGELES > >CITY > EMPLOYEE
RELATIONS BOARD





















Filed 7/23/10;
part. pub. order 8/5/10
(see end of opn.)







>

>

>

IN
THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND
APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION
TWO


>

DAN MARISCAL, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. LOS ANGELES CITY EMPLOYEE RELATIONS BOARD, Defendant; SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 721, Real Party in Interest and Respondent.

No. B218133 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. BS116416)

APPEAL
from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles
County. David Yaffe,
Judge. Affirmed.



Dan
Mariscal, in pro. per., for Plaintiff and Appellant.



No
appearance on behalf of Defendant.



Weinberg,
Roger & Rosenfeld, James Rutkowski and Alan Crowley; Robert Hunt, General
Counsel SEIU Local 721, for Real Party in Interest and Respondent.

Plaintiff and appellant Dan Mariscal
(Mariscal) appeals from the trial court's denial of his petition for writ of mandate challenging an
administrative decision rendered by defendant Employee Relations Board (ERB)
for the City of Los Angeles (City) recognizing real party in interest and
respondent Service Employees International Union Local 721 (Local 721) as the
exclusive bargaining representative for certain City employees. We affirm the judgment.

>BACKGROUND

Mariscal is a City
employee and a member of the Service Employees International Union Local 347
(Local 347), the former exclusive bargaining representative for approximately
9,000 City employees. The Service
Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, CFC (SEIU) is an international union
comprised of local unions chartered by it to represent workers in various labor
relations matters. Local 347 was
chartered by the SEIU in 1962. Local 721
was chartered by the SEIU in January 2007.

In
January 2006, the SEIU sent notice to its local unions in California
that it would conduct hearings to consider restructuring and consolidating
numerous local unions, including local unions whose membership consisted
primarily of local or state government workers.
Hearings on the proposed restructuring and consolidation of the local
unions were held throughout the state from February 2006 through April 2006
before two hearing officers appointed by the SEIU executive committee. Two hearing days in Los
Angeles were devoted to the local and state government
worker unions. Affected local union
members were given the opportunity to be heard during the hearings and to
submit any documents they wished to have considered by the hearing
officers. Some members of Local 347
spoke in opposition to the merger, but the executive board for Local 347 did
not take a formal position on the proposed merger before or during the
hearings. At the conclusion of the
hearings, the hearing officers submitted a report recommending that Local 347
be combined with Locals 535, 620, 660, 998, and 1997 to form a new regional
local union, Local 721, that would represent local government workers in
several counties.

In
June 2006, the SEIU international executive board (IEB) adopted the hearing
officers' report and recommendations.
SEIU's international president, Andrew Stern (Stern), provided the
affected local unions with a summary that included the recommended
reorganization of Local 347 into a larger regional local union. The IEB also adopted an official policy on
implementation that stated: â€