PITTSBURGH—The National Labor Relations Board plans to count
ballots on whether to create a bargaining unit cast by a
Pittsburgh university's part-time faculty.  The vote by adjunct
professors at Duquesne University was held by mail and ended in
July. But the ballots have been impounded while the private,
Catholic school appealed, claiming it should be given a
religious exemption from an earlier agreement with the United
Steelworkers union to allow the election.  The Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review ( http://bit.ly/Pqr3yW) says the NLRB rejected
that appeal Friday and plans to count the ballot on Thursday.
The school in May agreed to the vote then reconsidered before
the balloting began anyway starting June 22.  The union contends
most of Duquesne's roughly 130 part-time faculty members want to
form a bargaining unit.  Duquesne plans to appeal if the
adjuncts vote to unionize.