American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees v. Metropolitan Water District

*253 Opinion

INTRODUCTION

This appeal involves the grievance procedure under a memorandum of understanding (the MOU) between the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (the MWD) and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Local 1902, AFL-CIO (the Local), the union representing the MWD’s general employees. During its reorganization, the MWD created a number of new managerial positions. It then issued and amended a list of current supervisory employees who would automatically be placed in some of the new positions, leaving the remaining new jobs open to competitive bidding from MWD’s other employees. The Local filed a grievance under the MOU to challenge the amendment to the list. The MWD rejected the grievance.

In its three separate appeals, the Local challenges the trial court’s orders (1) denying its petition to compel arbitration (Code Civ. Proc., § 1281.2), (2) denying its petition for writ of mandate (id., § 1085), and (3) granting the MWD cost-of-proof fees and expenses. (Id., § 2033, subd. (o).) We hold that the MOU is not an agreement to arbitrate and affirm the order denying the Local’s petition under section 1281.2. We further…