[§ 1.01, Ord. 522, eff. December 18, 1969]
This chapter shall be known as the "Employer-Employee Relations Law" of the City.
[§ 1.02, Ord. 522, eff. December 18, 1969]
The purpose of this chapter is to implement Chapter 10, Division 4, Title 1 of the Government Code of the State (§§ 3500, et seq.), entitled "Public Employee Organizations", by providing orderly procedures for the administration of employer-employee relations between the City and its employee organizations and for resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.
[§ 5.01, Ord. 522, eff. December 18, 1969]
The provisions of this chapter are not intended to conflict with the provisions of Chapter 10, Division 4, Title 1 of the Government Code of the State (§§ 3500, et seq.) as amended in 1968, and nothing in this chapter shall be construed to deny any person or employee the rights granted by Federal and State laws and City Charter provisions. The rights, powers, and authority of the Council in all matters, including the right to maintain any legal action, shall not be modified or rescinded by mutual agreement of the parties thereto.
[§ 1.03, Ord. 522, eff. December 18, 1969]
The City Manager is hereby designated as the Municipal Employee Relations Officer and shall be the City's principal representative in all matters of employer-employee organizations. The City Manager is hereby authorized to delegate these duties and responsibilities to other management officials.
[§ 1.04, Ord. 522, eff. December 18, 1969]
For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:
(a) 
APPROPRIATE UNIT – Shall mean a unit established pursuant to the provisions of §§ 2-6.302 and 2-6.303 of Article 3 of this chapter.
(b) 
CITY – Shall mean the City of Avalon, a municipal corporation, and, where appropriate, "City" shall refer to the City Council, the governing body of the City, or any duly authorized management official as defined in subsection (j) of this section.
(c) 
CITY SERVICES – Shall mean all governmental and proprietary functions services, or activities hereinbefore or hereinafter performed, authorized to be performed or required to be performed by the City pursuant to the authority granted in the Constitution of the State or any act of the Legislature of the State.
(d) 
CONSULT OR CONSULTATION IN GOOD FAITH – Shall mean communicate verbally or in writing for the purpose of presenting and obtaining views or advising of intended actions.
(e) 
EMPLOYEE – Shall mean any person regularly employed by the City except those persons elected by popular vote.
(f) 
EMPLOYEE, CONFIDENTIAL – Shall mean an employee who is privy to decisions of City management affecting employer-employee relations.
(g) 
EMPLOYEE, PROFESSIONAL – Shall mean employees engaged in work requiring specialized knowledge and skills attained through the completion of a recognized course of instruction, including, but not limited to, attorneys, physicians, registered nurses, engineers, architects, teachers, and various types of physical, chemical, and biological scientists.
(h) 
EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATION – Shall mean any organization which includes employees of the City and which has as one of its primary purposes representing such employees in their employment relations with the City.
(i) 
EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE RELATIONS – Shall mean the relationship between the City and its employees and their employee organization, or, when used in a general sense, the relationship between City management and employee or employees' organizations.
(j) 
MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS – Shall mean the City Manager, department heads, and their designated representatives acting in their executive, administrative, or ministerial capacity as authorized or prescribed by this Code.
(k) 
MEDIATION – Shall mean the effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the City and the recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion and advice.
(l) 
MEET AND CONFER IN GOOD FAITH (SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS "MEET AND CONFER" OR "MEETING AND CONFERRING") – Shall mean performance by duly authorized representatives of the City and of recognized employee organizations of their mutual obligation as set forth in § 2-6.205 of Article 2 of this chapter.
(m) 
POLICE OFFICER – Shall mean and include those employees referred as such in § 3508 of the Government Code of the State.
(n) 
RECOGNIZED EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATION – Shall mean an employee organization which has been formally acknowledged by the City as an employee organization that represents employees of the City as provided in § 2-6.304 of Article 3 of this chapter.