UB Time

I want to keep you in the loop regarding a recent Arizona Supreme Court decision in the case Gilmore v Gallego. On July 31st the Court ruled in a 7-0 decision that union release time (“UB” time) is unconstitutional, violating the Gift Clause of the Arizona Constitution. This clause bars all forms of government (state, county, and city) from providing public resources to private organization with receiving a clear benefit. This effectively means that the 6,000 hours of UB time that UAEA uses for meetings, discipline, interview panels, and events may go away very soon. We disagree with this decision as we believe unions and employee associations have clear benefits for employee retention, engagement, and morale, but accept that there is very little chance of this decision being overturned.

We have always believed that we have cultivated a good relationship with Tempe leadership and think their reaction to this decision indicates the value they see in our work. While several Valley cities are already taking the opportunity to strip UB time from their unions and employee associations, Tempe’s management has expressed the desire to hold off on moving forward until we can identify possible ways to continue serving our members’ needs. UAEA, TOA, TSA, and TFU will discuss this matter with our attorneys and meet every Monday with Rosa for the next few weeks as we determine the best course of action. Our goal is to continue offering the same level of responsiveness and same number of employee events/meetings in the next year as we have done before but it is very possible we will need additional support from our membership in order to manage this new restriction on our work.

We will continue to provide information on this situation as it develops.