Five Washington State University bargaining units, currently represented by the Washington Federation of State Employees, filed petitions on March 16 to request decertification (to no longer be represented by the union).
The requests were sent to the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC). WFSE and WSU received copies of the decertification forms. PERC is the only one of those three agencies to receive Request for Decertification forms, which identify the individual staff submitting the forms.
State regulations require that in order for the decertification process begin, at least 30 percent of the people in a bargaining unit must request decertification. Petitions and forms were submitted for the following bargaining units:
* Bargaining Unit 5, library
* Bargaining Unit 2, services supervisors?
* Bargaining Unit 3, skilled trades
* Bargaining Unit 9, office, administrative and clerical
* Bargaining Unit 10, administrative assistants/supervisors
Two major steps remain in the decertification process: 1) verification by PERC that the requests and decertification forms meet state requirements; 2) establishing a date for a decertification election and holding the election among affected bargaining unit employees.
Decertification elections (if supported in the previous two steps) are conducted by PERC via mail-in ballots.
“Decertification is an issue that is strictly between the employees represented, the WFSE and PERC,” said Glenn Frye, WSU’s labor relations officer. “The university holds no opinion on the topic.”
