A. Whenever, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the board, a petition is filed by a labor organization containing the signatures of at least thirty percent of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit, the board shall post a notice to affected employees regarding the filed petition and proceed with the process for conducting a secret ballot representation election.
B. Once a labor organization has filed a petition with the board requesting a representation election, other labor organizations may seek to be placed on the ballot. Any labor organization may file a competing petition containing the signatures of not less than thirty percent of the employees in the appropriate bargaining unit no later than ten calendar days after the board has posted a written notice that a petition for a representation election has been filed by a labor organization.
C. All representation elections shall include the option for “no representation,” except in a run-off election where the choice of “no representation” was not one of the two choices that received the highest vote.
D. In the event of an election with two or more labor organizations on the ballot and none of the choices on the ballot received a majority of the votes cast, then a run-off election shall be held within fifteen calendar days. The choices on the run-off election shall consist of the two choices which received the greatest number of votes in the original election.
E. A valid election requires that at least forty percent of the eligible employees in an appropriate bargaining unit cast a vote. In an election with only one labor organization, and the majority of the votes cast are in favor of representation, the board shall certify the labor organization as the exclusive representative for all the employees in the bargaining unit.
F. No election shall be conducted if an election has been conducted in the twelve-month period immediately preceding the proposed representation election. No election shall be held during the term of an existing collective bargaining agreement, except as provided in Section 12.94.130(B) of this chapter, or after the expiration of the third year of a collective bargaining agreement with a term of more than three years.
G. Election disputes shall be resolved by the board.
H. As an alternative to the provisions of subsection A of this section, the employer and a labor organization with a reasonable basis for claiming to represent a majority of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit may establish an alternative appropriate procedure for determining majority status. The procedure may include a labor organization’s submission of authorization cards from a majority of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit. The local board shall not certify an appropriate bargaining unit if the employer objects to the certification without an election. (Ord. 1776-2004 §3(part), 2004).