The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:

(a) The people of the State of California have a fundamental interest in the development of harmonious and cooperative labor relations between the public institutions of higher education and their employees.

(b) All other employees of the public school systems in the state have been granted the opportunity for collective bargaining through the adoption of Chapter 10.3 (commencing with Section 3512) and Chapter 10.7 (commencing with Section 3540), and it would be advantageous and desirable to expand the jurisdiction of the board created thereunder to cover the employees of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and the California State University. These institutions of higher education have their own organizational characteristics.

(c) The people of the State of California have established a system of higher education under the Constitution of the State of California with the intention of providing an academic community with full freedom of inquiry and insulation from political influence in the administration thereof. In so doing, the people have caused to be created the regents to govern the University of California, a board of directors to govern Hastings College of the Law, an affiliate of the University of California, and a board of trustees to govern the California State University.

(d) The people and the aforementioned higher education employers each have a fundamental interest in the preservation and promotion of the responsibilities granted by the people of the State of California. Harmonious relations between each higher education employer and its employees are necessary to that endeavor.

(e) It is the purpose of this chapter to provide the means by which relations between each higher education employer and its employees may assure that the responsibilities and authorities granted to the separate institutions under the Constitution and by statute are carried out in an atmosphere which permits the fullest participation by employees in the determination of conditions of employment which affect them. It is the intent of this chapter to accomplish this purpose by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of the employees of these systems to full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing for the purpose of representation in their employment relationships with their employers and to select one of these organizations as their exclusive representative for the purpose of meeting and conferring.

(Amended by Stats. 1983, Ch. 143, Sec. 176.)