GBUC – Bargaining Unit Certification and Decertification Processes

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The Board values the contributions of all District employees. The Board acknowledges that employee groups with an appropriate "community of interest" may wish to select an employee organization to exclusively represent them in their employment relationships with the District through collective bargaining. This Policy governs this District's certification and decertification processes for employee organizations.
  1. Composition of a Bargaining Unit

Employee organizations which the Board has previously recognized as the exclusive representative of a specific bargaining unit and which the District engages in collective bargaining with are referred to as "certified employee organizations". The certified employee organizations which the Board currently recognizes are identified in the Exhibit labelled GBUC-E. Current certified employee organizations shall continue to be recognized unless decertified pursuant to the processes set forth hereinbelow.

All personnel assigned to central administration functions shall be considered confidential employees and shall be excluded from a bargaining unit, including all central administrators, professional technical staff, specialists, administrative assistants, and other support staff, as well as all other District administrators, including principals and assistant principals.

All proposed bargaining units shall have an appropriate community of interest, which includes, but is not limited to, similarity of job duties, job functions, job qualifications, job skills, training required to perform the job, wages, hours, roles, responsibilities, and working conditions.

  1. Procedures for Certification of Employee Organizations for New Bargaining Units
    1. Qualifying Community Interest

In the event an employee organization desires to become the certified employee organization representing a new bargaining unit, the organization shall submit to the Chief Human Resource Officer a description of the proposed bargaining unit, subject to the criteria specified in paragraph A hereinabove. The Chief Human Resource Officer shall determine the appropriate employee classifications for the proposed bargaining unit. If approved, the Chief Human Resource Officer shall submit a written report to the Board at the next regularly scheduled board meeting specifying the included employee classifications and verifying the qualifying community of interest for the proposed bargaining unit.

    1. Show of Interest Sufficiency Requirement

Once the Chief Human Resource Officer has established the employee classifications for the proposed bargaining unit, the proposed bargaining unit shall present authorization cards and/or petitions signed by thirty (30) percent of eligible employees of the proposed bargaining unit to meet the show of interest requirement. Eligible employees are current employees who work in a benefit eligible position. Authorization cards and petitions shall include the following verifiable information for eligible employees executing the authorization cards and/or petitions:

      • Full Name
      • Home Address
      • Personal Telephone Number
      • Email Address
      • CCSD Employee Identification Number
      • Position Held and Work Site
      • Employee Signature
      • Date Signed

The Office of Human Resources shall maintain complying certification authorization cards and petition forms. Circulation of the authorization cards and petition forms shall not occur during active work hours when eligible employees are engaged in work duties and shall not disrupt the work and learning environment. The proposed bargaining unit and its representatives shall not use any District resources, including computers, copiers, email, supplies, and the like to distribute information about the proposed bargaining unit.

The Office of Human Resources shall be responsible for verifying the authenticity of the authorization cards and/or petition signatures. If any required information is omitted and/or illegible, that particular employee signature shall not qualify for purposes of establishing the thirty (30) percent show of interest threshold.

Within fourteen (14) calendar days of submission of the petitions and/or authorization cards, the Office of Human Resources shall verify the sufficiency of the authorization cards and petition signatures. The Office of Human Resources shall submit a written report on the outcome of the show of interest sufficiency determination to the Board at its next regular meeting. Once the Office of Human Resources verifies the show of interest sufficiency of thirty (30) percent of the eligible members of the proposed bargaining unit, an election shall be called.

    1. Election Procedures

Within thirty (30) days after the Office of Human Resources has verified that the proposed bargaining unit has satisfied the show of interest sufficiency requirement, the Office of Human Resources shall set dates for the certification election, the locations for casting a confidential ballot, and the voting times at the election sites. The Chief Human Resource Officer shall select a third-party election official to conduct the certification election. The Office of Human Resources shall create a list of eligible employee voters to provide to the third-party election official. The ballot for the election shall contain two options: yes (in favor of organizing a bargaining unit) and no (opposed to organizing a bargaining unit).

The third-party election official shall establish the time and location for counting the votes and the process for determining how to count any questionable ballots. The third-party election official shall certify election results within five (5) business days after voting concludes. The Office of Human Resources shall submit a written report on the election outcome to the Board at its next regular meeting. All election expenses, including the costs of the third-party election official, shall be borne by the employee organization on the ballot.

To be recognized, the proposed bargaining unit, must receive a majority of the vote (at least fifty (50) percent of the votes, plus one) of those employees eligible to vote. If a proposed bargaining unit does not receive a majority of the votes as defined hereinabove, a new petition for certification cannot be submitted for at least twelve (12) months from the date of the most recent certification election.

    1. Post-Election Procedures

If the proposed bargaining unit receives a majority of the votes as defined hereinabove, the Office of Human Resources shall submit a resolution certifying the new bargaining unit to the Board at the next regularly scheduled Board meeting. The procedures for the scope of bargaining a collective agreement between the newly certified bargaining unit and the District shall be established by the Office of Human Resources within thirty (30) calendar days after certification of the election results. The Office of Human Resources and the newly recognized bargaining unit representatives shall mutually determine a process and date to commence bargaining.

While the District and the newly recognized bargaining unit are engaged in initial bargaining discussions, the newly recognized bargaining unit shall be actively engaged in enrolling membership with eligible employees. Within the first six (6) months after the certification election, the newly recognized bargaining unit shall secure membership of at least twenty-five (25) percent of eligible members. Once the negotiated agreement is ratified by the newly recognized bargaining unit and approved by the Board, the bargaining unit shall maintain membership of thirty-five (35) percent of its eligible members to maintain certification as a bargaining unit.

  1. Procedures for Decertification of Existing Employee Organization

To maintain its status as a bargaining unit, all employee organizations recognized by the District shall maintain a membership threshold of thirty-five (35) percent of each units eligible members at all times. If membership in a given bargaining unit falls below the thirty-five (35) percent threshold during a given school year for three (3) or more months, the certification of said bargaining unit shall automatically terminate on June 30th of the school year in which the membership threshold falls below this requirement. The Office of Human Resources will provide written notice of the pending decertification to the bargaining unit by no later than May 1st. The Office of Human Resources shall submit a resolution effectuating the automatic termination of any bargaining unit to the Board at the next regularly scheduled Board meeting.

Adopted: August 8, 2022

Adoption Date: August 08, 2022
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