The
University Professional and Technical Employees/Communication
Workers of America (UPTE/CWA), a labor union/organization, has
filed a petition for certification with the Public Employment
Relations Board (PERB) requesting that it conduct a secret ballot
election to decide if it is the shared will of UC/LBNL Administrative
Professionals to be exclusively represented by UPTE.
Under the Higher Education Employer-Employee Act (HEERA),
all non-managerial, non-confidential employees have the right
to form, join and participate in union activities, or to refuse
to do so.
Unions become the exclusive representative to bargain on
behalf of a particular group, or unit, of employees through
a secret ballot election process supervised by PERB, the State
agency that administers HEERA and other public sector labor
relations laws.
Over the past year, UPTE has been collecting signatures on
authorization or interest cards. For a union to activate the
process for exclusive representation of a bargaining unit,
it must first obtain at least 30% of the proposed unit's signatures.
The petition to PERB states that UPTE has collected the necessary
signatures.
PERB then must determine the unit in which an election would
be held. This process would involve deciding what classifications
of employees would be included or excluded, whether the unit
would be system-wide in scope or possibly limited to individual
locations, and whether certain employees are supervisors or
confidential employees. Once a unit is determined, it is likely
that an election would be set, which PERB would supervise
and conduct. A simple majority of votes cast decides the election.
If the union is elected, it becomes the exclusive representative
for that employee group's terms and conditions of employment.
Exclusive representation means all employees in the group
will be bound by the terms of the labor contract negotiated
between UPTE and the University/LBNL, rather than maintaining
an employee's present individual employment relationship with
the Berkeley Lab. If "no union" is the majority
selection, no other petition will be accepted for at least
one year.
More information will be provided as it becomes available.
Where to go for more information:
http://www.lbl.gov/Workplace/HumanResources/union_organizing/index.html.
If you have any questions, please send them to [email protected].
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