Bruce Barsook

Represented the District in a case before the Allan Hancock Community College District Board of Trustees to dismiss a police corporal, the highest ranking District employee in the College's police department, for engaging in sexual harassment of co-workers.  Although the corporal was a long time employee without a prior disciplinary record, Bruce was able to demonstrate that dismissal was warranted because the corporal not only failed to prevent or stop inappropriate action, but was also its leading perpetrator.  Employee made crude, vulgar and objectifying comments about the physical attributes, sexual orientation and/or sexual activity regarding students, co-workers and citizens; made racist comments about African American students; discussed and allowed discussion of sex to permeate the work place.

In his role as chief negotiator for the City, Bruce helped the City to negotiate a reduction in compensation to offset the impact of a recent salary increase which the City could not afford.  After lengthy meetings at the bargaining table, as well as "off-the-record" and non-bargaining table discussions with his union counterpart (including a meeting at a council member's house on a weekend), Bruce was able to structure a compensation deal which retained the salary increase but saved the City the equivalent amount of money over time through reductions in retirement contributions, holiday pay, a freeze in step increases, and modifications to retiree medical insurance.

In his role as chief negotiator for the City, Bruce assisted the City in negotiating new labor contracts with four bargaining groups (police, fire, miscellaneous/general, and supervisors/professionals), resulting in significant ongoing savings for the client.  The new labor agreements include, among other provisions, new retirement tiers for all employee groups but the firefighters (who already had the retirement plan the police agreed to), and employee contributions to retirement costs. 

Bruce was the chief negotiator in negotiations with the Santa Barbara Police Officers Association (POA).  While the negotiations were challenging and at times resulted in public exposure, Bruce and the City were able to successfully negotiate a multi-year agreement in which the POA agreed to necessary economic concessions, including deferral of a scheduled pay increase, increased employee payment of retirement costs (paying a portion of the employer share of retirement) and suspension of various leave benefits for the duration of the agreement. 

Bruce was the chief negotiator for three sets of negotiations:  maintenance workers (CSEA), clerical/instructional support employees (ISSU) and academic instructors (PCCFA).  Agreements were reached with all three groups.  Each of the contracts included an early retirement incentive which will allow the District to reduce its costs and make desired changes to its organizational structure.  In addition, the contract with the Faculty Association includes important changes for both sides creating greater efficiencies, instructional improvement, and educational training (e.g., adding part time instructors' office hours, addressing concerns regarding large class instruction and overload assignments, setting aside money to train instructors in online education).

Bruce represented the San Bernardino County Superior Court in this Public Employment Relations Board proceeding. In a case in which the parties stipulated to the facts, the administrative law judge (ALJ) ruled that the Court was not obligated to negotiate implementation of an electronic storage system to archive court reporters' notes because the union failed to articulate any negotiable subjects in its request to negotiate.  Although the union expressed concerns regarding security of electronic files, an alleged requirement to sign an affidavit, and access to the files, none of these concerns, according to the ALJ, affected employees' terms and conditions of employment.