News Update - January 29, 2007

As you are aware, in February, 2006, UMC faculty members filed a Petition with the Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS) to decertify UEA as the Exclusive Representative of UMC Faculty. UEA objected to the filing of the Petition, and the BMS requested additional information from the Petitioners, the University, and UEA before determining whether any decertification election would take place. After reviewing the information submitted by the University, UEA and the petitioning UMC faculty members, the BMS dismissed the Petition for Decertification.

The Petition was dismissed on the grounds that while the petitioning UMC faculty did provide a showing of support for decertification by 30% or more of the members of the UMC faculty, both UMD and UMC faculty members are members of the bargaining unit and must vote to decertify UEA, and therefore a showing of support of 30% or more of both the UMC and UMD faculty is needed to order a decertification election.

The University appealed the dismissal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals on the grounds since state law provided that UMC faculty and UMC faculty alone are permitted to vote whether to have UEA on the Crookston campus, UMC faculty should be permitted to vote on their own whether to retain UEA on their campus.

Copies of the briefs submitted by the University and UEA can be found at: http://hr.umcrookston.edu/decert.htm. The matter was heard by the Court of Appeals on January 24, 2007. A decision is expected from the Court of Appeals within 90 days.

Patti Dion
Director, Employee Relations and Compensation Office of Human Resources University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota , Crookston (UMC) is one of four campuses in the University of Minnesota land grant system.  UMC is a coordinate campus that provides a unique approach through applied and polytechnic baccalaureate education, research, and service.

UMC is an equal opportunity educator and employer