[§377-4.6]  Streamlining unioncertification.  (a)  When an employee, group of employees, or anyindividual or labor organization acting on their behalf, files a petitionalleging that a majority of employees in a unit appropriate for the purposes ofcollective bargaining wish to be represented by an individual or labororganization for those purposes, the board shall investigate the petition.  Ifthe board finds that a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate forbargaining have signed valid authorizations designating the individual or labororganization specified in the petition as their bargaining representative, andthat no other individual or labor organization is currently certified orrecognized as the exclusive representative of any of the employees in the unit,the board shall certify the individual or labor organization as therepresentative without directing an election similar to that under section377-1(11).

(b)  The board shall adopt rules governing thecertification of an exclusive representative under this section and shall havethe final determination on any controversy concerning the eligibility of anemployee to sign an authorization card and the validity of an employee'ssignature on an authorization card.

(c)  For the purposes of this section, the term"employee" means an employee as defined in section 377-1; providedthat the employee is employed by an employer with an annual gross revenue ofmore than $5,000,000. [L Sp 2009, c 6, pt of §1]