Code of Maine Rules › 12 - DEPARTMENT OF LABOR › 180 - MAINE LABOR RELATIONS BOARD › Chapter 11 - BARGAINING UNIT COMPOSITION AND REPRESENTATION MATTERS › REPRESENTATION PETITIONS: PETITIONS TO CREATE OR MODIFY BARGAINING UNITS AND PETITIONS TO HOLD BARGAINING AGENT ELECTIONS › Section 180-11-1 - Types of Representation Petitions

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
Petitions are used to request Maine Labor Relations Board
					 (Board) proceedings to create or modify a bargaining unit or to conduct a
					 bargaining agent election. The following are the different types of
					 representation petitions used at the Board.
1.
Unit Determination Petition
.
				  When there is a disagreement on the categories of jobs to be included in a
				  bargaining unit, a petition for unit determination should be filed with the
				  Board in which the petitioner proposes an appropriate bargaining unit. A unit
				  determination petition is also used when the goal is to sever a group of
				  positions from an existing unit to create a new separate unit or to expand an
				  existing unit by adding a new group of jobs.
1-A.
Majority sign-up petition
.
				  A majority sign-up petition is used when a majority of the employees in a unit
				  appropriate for bargaining have signed valid authorizations designating the
				  employees' organization specified in the petition as their bargaining agent and
				  no other individual or labor organization is currently certified or recognized
				  as the bargaining agent of any of the employees in the unit. When a majority
				  sign-up petition concerns a proposed bargaining unit, the petition will be
				  presumed to be a concurrent petition for unit determination. A majority sign-up
				  petition may only be used for employees who fall under the Municipal Public
				  Employees Labor Relations Law, 26 M.R.S.A. §961,
et
				  seq
.
2.
Election
				  Petition
. An election petition is necessary for a bargaining agent
				  election, a decertification election or a combined election to decertify the
				  incumbent and certify a new bargaining agent.
3.
Unit Clarification
. A unit
				  clarification petition is used when either the employer or the incumbent
				  bargaining agent wishes to modify an existing bargaining unit. A unit
				  clarification petition is the only way to modify the composition of a unit
				  during the term of a collective bargaining agreement, absent agreement of the
				  parties.
4.
Merger
				  Petition
. A petition for a merger election is used when two bargaining
				  units that are represented by the same bargaining agent want to combine to form
				  a single bargaining unit.
5.
Petition to Intervene
. A petition to intervene is appropriate when
				  a third party wishes to become a party in a unit determination hearing,
				  majority sign-up petition or a bargaining agent election or
				  decertification.
6.
Petition
				  to contest exclusionary designation
. A petition to contest exclusionary
				  designation may be filed by an individual who has been excluded from collective
				  bargaining because his or her position does not fit within the statute's
				  definition of covered employee.