(a) Dated and signed authorized cards from 30 percent or more of the eligible employees within the bargaining unit verified by the election officer will result in a secret ballot election to be held within 30 days from presentation to the election officer, unless the Tribe and a labor organization have agreed to a different arrangement that affords the majority of eligible employees the right to choose a labor organization as their exclusive collective bargaining representative.

(b) The election shall be conducted by the election officer. The election officer shall be a member of the Tribal Labor Panel chosen pursuant to the dispute resolution provisions herein. All questions concerning representation of the Tribe and/or employer’s eligible employees by a labor organization shall be resolved by the election officer. The election officer shall be chosen upon notification by the labor organization to the Tribe of its intention to present authorization cards, and the same election officer shall preside thereafter for all proceedings under the request for recognition; provided, however, that if the election officer resigns, dies or is incapacitated for any other reason from performing the functions of this office, a substitute election officer shall be selected in accordance with the dispute resolution provisions herein.

(c) The election officer shall certify the labor organization as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of a unit of employees if the labor organization has received the majority of votes by employees voting in a secret ballot election that the election officer determines to have been conducted fairly. If the election officer determines that the election was conducted unfairly due to misconduct by the Tribe and/or employer or labor organization, the election officer may order a re-run election. If the election officer determines that there was the commission of serious unfair labor practices by the Tribe that interfere with the election process and preclude the holding of a fair election, and the labor organization is able to demonstrate that it had the support of a majority of the employees in the unit at any point before or during the course of the Tribe’s misconduct, the election officer shall certify the labor organization.

(d) The Tribe or the labor organization may appeal any decision rendered after the date of the election by the election officer to a three-member panel of the Tribal Labor Panel mutually chosen by both parties.

(e) A labor organization which loses an election and has exhausted all dispute remedies related to the election may not invoke any provisions of this chapter at the Tribal casino or related facility until one year after the election was lost. [Ord. 41 § 9, adopted, 2/19/2015.]