1987-02511-Minutes for Meeting January 28,1987 Recorded 2/5/1987A
e g'7- 2511 ' LB?7yui 8 PAGE 6Q4
DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
SPECIAL MEETING JANUARY 28, 1987 a
Chair Prante called the meeting to order t` t 9:.; „f 1(.",**
Commissioners Throop and Maudlin were in attendancq~;' `ili! , m,
Legal Counsel, was also present.
Chair Prante stated that the Board had originally intended to
adjourn to an executive session, but decided to make this a
public meeting. She then opened the public session.
Mike Maier stated that the purpose of this meeting is to discuss
AFSCMEIs challenge of the recent union vote. He stated that he
and Bruce Bischof have been working on a letter in response to
the union's challenge to the Employment Relation Board which will
then make a decision as to whether the challenge will be upheld
or set aside.
Bruce Bishof stated that he has prepared a letter to the attorney
for the Employment Relations Board who has been assigned to this
case. He gave a brief history of the election stating that the
union filed a petition with the ERB seeking to represent all
County employees except the Sheriff's department. He further
stated that the union listed 180 employees as being in the
bargaining unit. He further stated that 30% of these 180
employees had to have had signed authorization cards provided by
the union in order to have held the election. Mr. Bishof stated
that there are always questions in terms of who are eligible, for
example; supervisors, confidential employees, seasonal,
temporary, etc. He further stated that bargaining units usually
consist of regular, full-time employees, or sometimes part-time
employees who work more than 4 hrs/day or 20 hrs/week. He then
stated that a voter eligibility list is provided to the union
prior to the election with the names and addresses of all
employees that the employer believes are eligible to vote. He
stated that the purpose of this is to give the union an
opportunity to contact employees at home and it also gives the
union a chance to challenge the list prior to the election. He
then explained that in this case the ERB directed the County to
provide the voter eligibility list on December 15, 1986, and in
order to give the union every opportunity to examine this list,
Mike Maier provided the union with it on November 13, 1986. Mr.
Bischof then stated that the union had the list two months prior
to the time the ballots were mailed. He then stated that the
union had plenty of time and opportunity to look up employee
records and check this list. He further stated that the County
provided approximately 200 names on the voter eligibility list,
although the union believed there to be only 180 to be eligible
to vote. He also stated that the three names that were
challenged during the vote were non-determinitive. Mr. Bishof
stated that the law allows that within seven days of the actual
ballot count, either party may file objections to the conduct of
BOCC SPECIAL MEETING 1/28/87 PAGE 1
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the election. Mr. Bischof stated that in this case the union has
objected to the County's conduct by saying that the County either
intentionally or mistakenly excluded 32 names from the voter
eligibility list. He then stated that it is a general rule that
the voter eligibility list is not a valid basis to set aside the
outcome of an election because the union has had the opportunity
to examine the list. He stated that of the 32 names that the
union believes should have been on the list, 9 of them had signed
union-provided authorization cards, which indicates that the
union had full knowledgement of these employees prior to the
election. Mr. Bischof stated that it is his opinion that AFSCME
has misrepresented that facts to the ERB. He stated that the
reason these 32 employees were not on the list is because they
were supervisors, temporary employees, or seasonal employees.
Mr. Bischof stated that he believes that the union's objection
has no merit either legally or factually and that we have asked
the ERB to dismiss the objections and certify the outcome of the
election.
Chair Prante stated that 180 names were asked for and 200 were
given approximately one month earlier than needed and that the
union had the opportunity to examine all records.
Commissioners Maudlin and Throop stated that the letter and
presentation by Bruce Bishof were excellent.
Commissioner Maudlin stated that the Board has no objection to
the union coming in or to the employees trying to have a union.
He stated that the union had sent out a letter with incorrect
information which caused a lot of problems. Commissioner Maudlin
then stated that the County has been above-board in its dealings
with the union.
The meeting was continued until the regular session at 10:00 a.m.
is TES COUNTY BO F COMMISSIONERS
istow r e, Chair
Tom~Th opt commissioner
Dick Maudlin, Commissioner
BOCC:prt
87-102
BOCC SPECIAL MEETING 1/28/87 PAGE 2