The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:
(a) The people of this state have a fundamental interest in the development of harmonious and cooperative labor relations between public transit districts and their employees.
(b) Public transit districts are not subject to a common statewide statutory scheme or an administrative agency that has jurisdiction over the conduct of employer-employee relations.
(c) Other public sector employees in the state have been granted the opportunity for collective bargaining through the adoption of the Meyers-Milias Brown Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 3500) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code), the Ralph C. Dills Act (Chapter 10.3 (commencing with Section 3512) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code), the Educational Employment Relations Act (Chapter 10.7 (commencing with Section 3540) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code), and the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 3560) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code), and it would be advantageous and desirable to expand the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board to cover the employees of public transit districts.
(d) The people and the public transit district employers each have a fundamental interest in the preservation and promotion of the responsibilities granted by the people of this state. Harmonious relations between each public transit district employer and its employees are necessary to that endeavor.
(e) It is the purpose of this chapter to provide the means by which relations between the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and their supervisory employees may assure that the responsibilities and authorities granted to each transit district by statute are carried out in an atmosphere that permits the fullest participation by employees in the determination of conditions of employment which affect them. It is the intent of this chapter to accomplish this purpose by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of the employees of these transit districts to full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing for the purpose of representation in their employment relationships with their employers and to select one employee organization as their exclusive representative for the purpose of meeting and conferring.
(f) It is the further purpose of this chapter to provide orderly and clearly defined procedures for meeting and conferring and the resolution of impasses, and to define and prohibit certain practices that are inimical to the public interest.
(Added by Stats. 2003, Ch. 833, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.)