L.A. County supervisors act to resolve impasse over labor panel

Los Angeles County government leaders fired another round Tuesday in a yearlong battle with unions over the makeup of a key commission that decides labor disputes that can affect thousands of public employees.

The three-member Employee Relations Commission has been stalemated for months because management and labor representatives can’t agree on who to appoint.

Elected county supervisors gave initial approval Tuesday to a proposal that would eliminate the need for both sides to agree on the panelists, and potentially allow the county board to name a working majority of members.

Under the plan, if management and labor fail to agree on a third candidate within 90 days of a seat opening up, each side can submit nominees and the supervisors would select one to fill the position.

The action, which was immediately attacked by the head of a coalition of employee unions as illegal, is the latest twist in a long-running battle over the commission.

About a year ago, the entire panel quit over changes in the contract for hearing officers. Afterward, the county board approved an appointment process under which labor and management would each name a member and the third seat would go to a person both sides approved. Previously, labor and management had to agree on all three members, a system preferred by employee unions.

In response to the revision, organized labor backed a state bill that would have forced the county to return to the old system. But last month, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the legislation.

For now, the commission has only one member, appointed by management. The commission lacks a legal quorum to meet and hundreds of requests for arbitration and claims of unfair labor practices are backed up, awaiting review.

The supervisors voted unanimously and without discussion Tuesday to move ahead with the latest appointment procedure. A vote to finalize the action is expected next week.

County Assistant Chief Executive Jim Adams acknowledged that the alternate process could tilt the commission toward one side or the other, but said it was appropriate for the elected officials to have the final say.

“We have to move forward with this and get a commission going, and this is the only way we know how to do it,” he said. “…I don’t think it’s a heavy-handed approach. I think it’s a fair approach.”

Labor groups formally protested the action.

Blaine Meek, chairman of the Coalition of County Unions, sent a cease-and-desist letter to county management, calling the vote illegal. The county is required to confer with the unions before making such a change, Meek said. He demanded the vote be rescinded.

Adams said employee unions have been invited to meet and discuss the proposal before the board takes its final vote.

abby.sewell@latimes.com