American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees v. City of Santa Clara

Defendant City of Santa Clara (city) appeals from a writ of mandate ordering it to vacate its resolution reducing wages for city workers involved in the Barricade Monitor Program; to reimburse those city employees for the losses suffered from the reduction; and to meet and confer with plaintiff unions. The city contends that the wholly voluntary Barricade Monitor Program was outside the scope of representation of the employees’ unions and not subject to the meet and confer requirement of Government Code section 3505. We affirm.

The city’s major thoroughfare, El Camino Real, had become congested by the local youths “cruising” the street in their cars Friday and Saturday nights. The loitering and cruising problem became too great a burden for the city’s police force to control without depleting manpower needed for other assignments. In July 1980, in an attempt to relieve the overburdened police force, the city council instituted the Barricade Monitor Program as a temporary measure. On Friday and Saturday nights, between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., police set up barricades along El Camino Real to discourage cruising and loitering. Volunteers were enlisted from among the city’s…