§ 154-39. Procedures.

(a)

Any eligible employee snail have the right to form and join an employee organizations and to meet and confer with Fulton County relative to wages, hours, and working conditions through the exclusive employee organization of their own choosing.

(b)

Any employee organization which is designated or selected by a majority of eligible employees as their exclusive representative for purposes of this article shall request recognition to the to the board of commissioners by filing a written request on the organization's letterhead with the county manager. The county manager shall submit the request to the board of commissioners with an analysis and recommendations within 14 days of filing. This analysis shall include the number of employees affected. administrative costs, and any other factors deemed necessary by the county manager. If satisfied as to the majority status of the employee organization, the board of commissioners shall recognize and certify the employee organization as the exclusive employee organization representing eligible employees in the designated unit. If recognition of the employee organization is granted, the county manager will so notify the director of finance and the employee organization.

(c)

If the board of commissioners does not recognize and certify the employee organization based upon the request by the employee organization, the employee organization may file a written petition with the board of commissioners for certification as the exclusive employee organization representing eligible employees in the designated unit The petition shall be accompanied by dated statements signed by at least, 30 percent of the employees in the designated unit, indicating that such employees desire to be exclusively represented for the purposes of this article by the petitioning employee organization. The board of commissioners shall investigate the petition to determine its sufficiency and if it has reasonable cause to believe that the petition is sufficient, shall provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. If the board of commissioners finds the petition to be insufficient, it may dismiss the petition. If the board of commissioners finds upon the record of the hearing that the petition is sufficient, it shall immediately, order an election by secret ballot, The date, time, location, rules and procedures for the election shall be decided upon by mutual agreement of the petitioning employee organization and Fulton County and reduced to writing within 14 days of the filing of the petition.

(d)

When an employee organization is selected by simple majority of the employees voting in an election, the board of commissioners shall certify the employee organization as the exclusive representative of all employees in the designated unit.

(e)

No petition may be filed seeking an election in any proposed or existing unit of eligible employees to determine an exclusive employee organization within 12 months after the date of certification covering any of the employees in designated unit or within 12 months of the execution of an agreement concerning wages. hours or working conditions.

(f)

Any Fulton County employee who receives a Fulton County payroll check may join the exclusively recognized employee organizations and have their member dues deducted from their payroll checks and paid to the employee organization by properly completing the dues within 30 days of signing the dues authorization card. This deduction will be in force unless employment is terminated, the employee stops deduction, the dues authorization expires, or the employee organization is no longer recognized by the board of commissioners. The above-mentioned deduction is also conditioned upon the fact that any employee or any official or member of an organization individually or collectively will not strike, and will not take part in any strike, sit-down, slow-down, or any interference with the operation of Fulton County by picketing, patrolling, demonstrating, or any stoppage of work, or similar activities. In addition, the deduction of dues is conditioned upon there being no campaigning or soliciting or membership on Fulton County property during working hours except as defined in MOU. The dues deduction shall not be made in the event the wages of an employee for any period of pay, after making all deductions required by law and previously authorized by the employee, should not equal the amount of such dues.

(g)

After deducting the cost to Fulton County of implementing such deduction of dues, the director of finance will remit the balance of dues collected to the employee organization, together with a list of names of those employees from whom the dues were collected on the last business day of each month.

(90-RCM-661, 8-15-90; 90-RC-695, 12-15-90; Ord. No. 10-0347, 3-17-10)