Negotiate the process for implementing agency shop well in advance of the election. For most of its contracts, Los Angeles County and its unions have developed language stipulating that an election must be held to determine if employees want to have agency shop. The list of eligible voters is generated from the payroll records as of the date for which the 60 percent threshold is confirmed. Employees who are on unpaid leave on the date of confirmation are eligible to vote. Most contracts require at least 20 percent of eligible voters to cast ballots in order to have a valid election.
All contracts specify that the unions are to bear the costs involved with the election.
Contracts provide that the actual election will be conducted by a neutral third party - in our case the Employee Relations Commission for the County of Los Angeles. Employees generally are given two weeks to return a form stating whether they wish to either join the union, pay a service fee, or claim a religious objection. Under the MMBA, employees who belong to bona-fide religions that historically have held conscientious objections to joining or financially supporting public employee organizations do not have to join or pay a service fee. However, the law does allow a requirement for these employees to pay an amount equivalent to the service fee to a nonlabor, nonreligious charity, and Los Angeles County's contracts include such a provision. The MMBA outlines procedures for recession of agency shop.