Pacifica Firefighters Assn. v. City of Pacifica

BACKGROUND

Measure F Measure F, an ordinance entitled “Firefighter Dispute Resolution Process Impasse Resolution Procedures: Minimum Wages and Benefits For Firefighters,” was adopted by the City’s voters in 1988. The stated purpose of

1 the ordinance is “to resolve an impasse in wage and benefit negotiations should they occur” between representatives of the City and of the recognized firefighter organization “and to thereafter adopt minimum salary and benefits for firefighters.” Pursuant to Measure F, if representatives of the City and/or the firefighters declare an impasse in negotiations over “wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions,” the parties must, within five days, see the assistance of a mediator “selected by the division of Conciliation of the Department of Industrial Relations of the State of California.” If no agreement has been reached after 15 days of mediation, either party may request the state conciliation service to name a panel of seven factfinders, from which one neutral factfinder is selected by the parties through an “alternate striking process”; that neutral factfinder joins one named by the City and one named by the firefighters to form a…