20.15 - ELECTIONS.
20.15 ELECTIONS.
1. Upon the filing of a petition for certification of an employee
organization, the board shall submit a question to the public
employees at an election in an appropriate bargaining unit. The
question on the ballot shall permit the public employees to vote for
no bargaining representation or for any employee organization which
has petitioned for certification or which has presented proof
satisfactory to the board of support of ten percent or more of the
public employees in the appropriate unit.
2. If a majority of the votes cast on the question is for no
bargaining representation, the public employees shall not be
represented by an employee organization. If a majority of the votes
cast on the question is for a listed employee organization, then the
employee organization shall represent the public employees in an
appropriate bargaining unit.
3. If none of the choices on the ballot receive the vote of a
majority of the public employees voting, the board shall conduct a
runoff election among the two choices receiving the greatest number
of votes.
4. Upon written objections filed by any party to the election
within ten days after notice of the results of the election, if the
board finds that misconduct or other circumstances prevented the
public employees eligible to vote from freely expressing their
preferences, the board may invalidate the election and hold a second
election for the public employees.
5. Upon completion of a valid election in which the majority
choice of the employees voting is determined, the board shall certify
the results of the election and shall give reasonable notice of the
order to all employee organizations listed on the ballot, the public
employers, and the public employees in the appropriate bargaining
unit.
6. A petition for certification as an exclusive bargaining
representative shall not be considered by the board for a period of
one year from the date of the certification or noncertification of an
exclusive bargaining representative or during the duration of a
collective bargaining agreement which shall not exceed two years. A
collective bargaining agreement with the state, its boards,
commissions, departments, and agencies shall be for two years and the
provisions of a collective bargaining agreement except agreements
agreed to or tentatively agreed to prior to July 1, 1977, or
arbitrators' award affecting state employees shall not provide for
renegotiations which would require the refinancing of salary and
fringe benefits for the second year of the term of the agreement,
except as provided in section 20.17, subsection 6, and the effective
date of any such agreement shall be July 1 of odd-numbered years,
provided that if an exclusive bargaining representative is certified
on a date which will prevent the negotiation of a collective
bargaining agreement prior to July 1 of odd-numbered years for a
period of two years, the certified collective bargaining
representative may negotiate a one-year contract with a public
employer which shall be effective from July 1 of the even-numbered
year to July 1 of the succeeding odd-numbered year when new contracts
shall become effective. However, if a petition for decertification
is filed during the duration of a collective bargaining agreement,
the board shall award an election under this section not more than
one hundred eighty days nor less than one hundred fifty days prior to
the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. If an
employee organization is decertified, the board may receive petitions
under section 20.14, provided that no such petition and no election
conducted pursuant to such petition within one year from
decertification shall include as a party the decertified employee
organization. Section History: Early Form
[C75, 77, 79, 81, § 20.15]
Referred to in § 20.14, 602.1401