The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) regional director on Friday ordered a hearing be held later this month on whether an election on union representation be conducted among DHL employees in the company’s international operations at the DHL Air Park in Wilmington.

NLRB Regional Director Gary Muffley’s order follows a May 4 written request from DHL to dismiss the union’s October 2006 application for an election. The order also comes after a May 8 written argument from the American Postal Workers Union opposing DHL’s request. The hearing will enable an NLRB hearing officer to receive testimony and ask the parties questions so the NLRB afterward can be in a position to decide whether to conduct an election.

In the company’s request, attorneys for DHL assert the election application should be dismissed because of DHL’s plans to soon end its Wilmington operations and move the services to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

In the union’s reply, attorneys for the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO, argue the current complement of DHL employees in the applicable group at the Wilmington facility is representative of the projected future workforce in Kentucky.

Muffley’s Friday memo said the upcoming hearing will focus on three issues, upon which will turn the NLRB’s ruling whether to proceed with a union election.

First, is DHL’s move from Wilmington to the northern Kentucky airport a “relocation” of its Wilmington operations, and will the work to be performed in Kentucky substantially be the same as the work currently done by employees in the company’s international operations at Wilmington?

Second, does DHL currently employ “a representative complement” of employees in the proposed union group?

And third, what changes in the description of the proposed union group would be required to reflect any new employee classifications due to DHL’s move to Kentucky?

Attorneys for DHL speak of an NLRB tenet that, according to the attorneys, tries “to balance two competing interests: ensuring maximum employee participation in the selection of a bargaining representative, and permitting employees who wish to be represented as immediate (a) representation as possible.”

Attorneys for the American Postal Workers Union noted the application for an election was filed on Oct. 11, 2006. In the nearly two and a half years since, “the company has used unlawful conduct and legal delays to frustrate their (employees’) attempts at getting a free and fair election,” the attorneys wrote.

The hearing will be held 9 a.m. May 28 at the John Weld Peck Federal Building in Cincinnati.