Section 180-11-13 - Response to Election Petition or Decertification Petition A party wishing to object to the filing of a bargaining agent election petition or a decertification election petition must do so within 5 working days of the date the Board provided an official copy of the petition to the respondent. If no response is filed by a respondent within the 5-day response period, the election will be scheduled. The permissible objections are limited to the following:
1.Objection to Timeliness of Filing. A party may object to the petition on the basis that the executive director incorrectly determined that the petition was filed within the time frames established by section 6 of this Chapter. A party making such an objection must submit evidence supporting a reversal of the initial finding, such as a copy of an applicable collective bargaining agreement.2.Objection to Showing of Interest. A party may object to the petition based upon a good faith doubt of the sufficiency of the showing of interest submitted. Any party making such an objection shall file with the objection an alphabetized list of the employees in the bargaining unit. The executive director will verify the contents of the list with the employer if it was submitted by a party other than the employer. If a party challenges the authenticity of the signatures, copies of the employees' signatures must be provided by the employer for comparison by the Board.3.Objection to Continued Appropriateness of the Bargaining Unit. If there has not been any collective bargaining activity in the bargaining unit for five or more years, that is, there has been no contract in effect for over 5 years and no negotiation sessions or attempts to negotiate have occurred, the employer may respond to an election petition by objecting to the continued appropriateness of the bargaining unit and requesting a unit determination hearing. If the bargaining unit has been inactive for less than 5 years and is unrepresented at the time the petition is filed, the employer may respond by objecting to the appropriateness of the bargaining unit only if the employer alleges that there has been a substantial change in the circumstances since the expiration of the last collective bargaining agreement that warrants modification of the unit. The employer's response must include a description of the changed circumstances affecting the continued appropriateness of the bargaining unit and a description of the unit it considers appropriate.12- 180 C.M.R. ch. 11, § 13