20.15  Elections.
  1.  Upon the filing of a petition for certification of an employee organization, the board shall submit a question to the public employees at an election in the bargaining unit found appropriate by the board. The question on the ballot shall permit the public employees to vote for no bargaining representation or for any employee organization which has petitioned for certification or which has presented proof satisfactory to the board of support of ten percent or more of the public employees in the appropriate unit.
  2.  If a majority of the votes cast on the question is for no bargaining representation, the public employees in the bargaining unit found appropriate by the board shall not be represented by an employee organization. If a majority of the votes cast on the question is for a listed employee organization, then that employee organization shall represent the public employees in the bargaining unit found appropriate by the board.
  3.  If none of the choices on the ballot receive the vote of a majority of the public employees voting, the board shall conduct a runoff election among the two choices receiving the greatest number of votes.
  4.  Upon written objections filed by any party to the election within ten days after notice of the results of the election, if the board finds that misconduct or other circumstances prevented the public employees eligible to vote from freely expressing their preferences, the board may invalidate the election and hold a second election for the public employees.
  5.  Upon completion of a valid election in which the majority choice of the employees voting is determined, the board shall certify the results of the election and shall give reasonable notice of the order to all employee organizations listed on the ballot, the public employers, and the public employees in the appropriate bargaining unit.
  6.  a.  A petition for certification as exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit shall not be considered by the board for a period of one year from the date of the noncertification of an employee organization as the exclusive bargaining representative of that bargaining unit following a certification election. A petition for certification as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit shall also not be considered by the board if the bargaining unit is at that time represented by a certified exclusive bargaining representative.
  b.  A petition for the decertification of the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit shall not be considered by the board for a period of one year from the date of its certification, or within one year of its continued certification following a decertification election, or during the duration of a collective bargaining agreement which, for purposes of this section, shall be deemed not to exceed two years. However, if a petition for decertification is filed during the duration of a collective bargaining agreement, the board shall award an election under this section not more than one hundred eighty days and not less than one hundred fifty days prior to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. If an employee organization is decertified, the board may receive petitions under section 20.14, provided that no such petition and no election conducted pursuant to such petition within one year from decertification shall include as a party the decertified employee organization.
  c.  A collective bargaining agreement with the state, its boards, commissions, departments, and agencies shall be for two years and the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement or arbitrator’s award affecting state employees shall not provide for renegotiations which would require the refinancing of salary and fringe benefits for the second year of the term of the agreement, except as provided in section 20.17, subsection 6, and the effective date of any such agreement shall be July 1 of odd-numbered years, provided that if an exclusive bargaining representative is certified on a date which will prevent the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement prior to July 1 of odd-numbered years for a period of two years, the certified collective bargaining representative may negotiate a one-year contract with the public employer which shall be effective from July 1 of the even-numbered year to July 1 of the succeeding odd-numbered year when new contracts shall become effective.
[C75, 77, 79, 81, §20.15]
2010 Acts, ch 1165, §18