In August 2025, United PCS filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Charge with the California Public Employee Relations Board (PERB). At issue was a lack of financial transparency by PCS management in labor negotiations. Specifically, when United PCS returned to the bargaining table to negotiate our third contract, management refused to disclose the terms of the financial covenant between the Pacific Collegiate Foundation (PCF) and Santa Cruz County Bank. PCF is a non-profit that owns our campus; they lease it to Pacific Collegiate School, and pay the mortgage with those funds.
During the bargaining process, Pacific Collegiate management frequently pointed to the terms of the covenant as a restraint on the school’s ability to afford a salary increase. Violating the covenant could cause the bank to call in the loan on our building. However, PCS management repeatedly refused our request for a copy of the covenant itself.
In order for United PCS to craft fully-informed proposals, as part of a fair bargaining process, it is critical for us to have access to the terms of this covenant. It was for this reason that we chose to file a charge.
When we filed the charge in August, we were welcoming a new head of school to our campus and a new representative of PCS management to the bargaining table. In an effort to establish a collaborative tone, and to allow space for this new working relationship to develop, United PCS chose not to publicize the filing of the ULP.
Since then, there has been no change in management practice regarding the disclosure of the covenant. PERB recently informed us that they have issued a complaint, which means that the facts alleged in our charge indicate that an unfair practice may have been committed. The next step is an informal settlement conference between United PCS and PCS management, conducted by a PERB agent; we are currently waiting for PERB to set a date.
United PCS leadership invests significant time, energy and attention in crafting bargaining proposals that support the needs of our membership and further the mission of the school. We do this work because we firmly believe that the excellence of PCS is grounded in recruiting, retaining and supporting highly-qualified, dedicated faculty. To be repeatedly told that PCS risks financial harm if they increase our salaries (which are among the lowest in the county) and yet denied access to critical information about our school’s finances, is obstructive to the bargaining process.
Our contract expired in June 2025. We have now been teaching without a contract for seven months, while our bargaining and leadership teams volunteer countless hours in a negotiating process that has yielded no significant progress.