>SAN JOSE > v.
OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL

UNION NO. 3















Filed 7/1/10













IN THE SUPREME
COURT OF CALIFORNIA







CITY OF SAN JOSE, )

)

Plaintiff
and Appellant, )

) S162647

v. )

) Ct.App.
6 H030272

OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL )


UNION
NO. 3 et al., )

) Santa
Clara County

Defendants
and Respondents. ) Super. Ct.
No. CV064707

__________________________________ )



In
California, labor relations
between most local public entities and their employees are governed by the
Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) (Gov. Code, § 3500 et seq.), which
recognizes the right of public employees to bargain collectively with their
employers over wages and other terms of employment. The administrative agency authorized to
adjudicate unfair labor practice charges under the MMBA is the California Public Employment Relations Board
(PERB). Subject to certain exceptions,
local public agencies and their employees must exhaust their administrative
remedies under the MMBA by applying to PERB for relief before they can ask a
court to intervene in a labor dispute.

California
allows public employees to go on strike to enforce their collective bargaining
demands unless the striking employees perform jobs that are essential to public
welfare. But whether a particular
employee's job is so essential that the employee may not legally strike is a
complex and fact-intensive matter, and one on which public employee
organizations and public entities may disagree.

Here,
we address this issue: If a public
entity is of the view that a threatened strike by its employees will be
unlawful because a strike by some or all of the employees creates a substantial
and imminent threat to public health and safety, must the public entity first
file an unfair labor practice complaint with PERB and await PERB's adjudication
of the complaint before asking a court for an injunction prohibiting the
strikeâ€