What the heck is Impasse?

In bargaining between the union and its employer, "impasse" occurs when no agreement has been reached AND both parties believe that they are unable to make any more movement — the union is unwilling to reduce or restrict their demands and the employer is unwilling to put anything else on the table.

For institutions of higher education in California and its unions, impasse is governed by the Higher Education Employment Relations Act (HEERA) and administered by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), a state agency. If either the union or the employer believes impasse has been reached, either party may appeal to the PERB to declare impasse. If the parties agree, they may petition jointly. If the Public Employment Relations Board agrees, the impasse process would begin.

Impasse is a 90-day process and includes mediation and "fact-finding."

• Mediation involves meeting with a neutral party who attempts to get the parties to come to agreement. If that fails, the parties move to fact-finding.

• Fact-finding [YOU ARE HERE!] is similar to arbitration or an informal court hearing. UC and CUE would present evidence and witnesses to support their positions. The evidence is heard by a three-member panel. One panelist would be selected by CUE, one by UC and the third would be a mutually-accepted "neutral" party (often a labor arbitrator). If CUE and UC are unable to agree on a neutral party, the PERB would appoint someone.
  
  After hearing all the facts and evidence, the panel renders a decision (or finding). The parties have 10 days (during which the decision is kept confidential) to hammer out an agreement. If no agreement is reached, at the end of ten days the finding is made public. At this point the employer can accept or reject the findings in whole or in part. The panel's findings would be advisory only.

Even if the findings favor the union's position, the university would be allowed to implement language on wages and other contract issues that are based on UC's "last/best" offer in bargaining. At that point, CUE members would have the legal right to strike on economic issues (i.e., an odious wage offer) or accept the University offer.