(a) By an employee or group of employees, or any individual or labor organization acting in their behalf, alleging that a substantial number of employees:
(A) Wish to be represented for collective bargaining and that their employer declines to recognize their representative as the representative defined in ORS 663.015; or
(B) Assert that the individual or labor organization that has been certified or is being currently recognized by their employer as the bargaining representative is no longer a representative as defined in ORS 663.015; or
(b) By an employer, alleging that one or more individuals or labor organizations have presented to the employer a claim to be recognized as the representative defined in ORS 663.015.
(2) The board shall investigate the petition and if, upon the basis of its findings, the board has reasonable cause to believe that a question of representation exists, it shall provide for an appropriate hearing before the board itself, a member thereof or its agent appointed for that purpose. Written notice of the hearing shall be mailed by certified mail to the parties named in the petition not less than seven days before the hearing. If the board finds upon the record of the hearing that a question of representation exists, it shall conduct an election by secret ballot marked at the place of election and certify the results thereof.
(3) In determining whether or not a question of representation exists, the same regulations and rules of decision apply irrespective of the identity of the persons filing the petition or the kind of relief sought.
(4) Nothing in this chapter prohibits the waiving of hearings by stipulation for the purpose of a consent election in conformity with regulations and rules of decision of the board. [Formerly 662.555; 1975 c.147 §13; 2003 c.14 §409]