Aubry

Local 889, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) appeals from a judgment denying its petition for a peremptory writ of administrative mandate, by which it sought to overturn a decision of respondent Lloyd W. Aubry, Jr., Director of the state’s Department of Industrial Relations. The director determined, after an administrative hearing, that IBEW was not entitled to represent maintenance workers employed by real party in interest Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in certain job classifications in its subway and light-rail operations. A second real party in interest is Local 1277, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), which currently represents those workers as a portion of a wider bargaining unit.

ATU’s claim to represent the rail workers derived from its preexisting representation of maintenance workers in MTA’s autobus operations. When MTA began rail operations, ATU contended the positions of the rail maintenance workers should be treated as an accretion to the larger bargaining unit comprising bus maintenance workers it already represented. After a labor arbitration proceeding confirmed ATU’s position, MTA and ATU entered into a…