What does it mean to have filed an election petition?
Under Ohio labor law, a group of employees may petition the State Employment Relations Board (SERB) for a secret-ballot election to vote on unionization once they can show that at least 30% of the affected group supports having an election. “Demonstrated support” is shown by collecting signed “authorization cards” that call for a vote in support of being represented in collective bargaining by an organization of the group’s choosing. For us, that group is the BGSU-FA, which is affiliated with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). The BGSU Faculty Association pledged to file for an election only if a solid majority of full-time faculty supported the collective bargaining drive. At the time of the filing, 58% of our faculty colleagues had signed authorization cards, nearly twice as many as required by law.
