Bradley W. Parks Originally published on April 6, 2021 4:50 pm Aides in the Oregon State Capitol have cleared a major hurdle in their quest to become the first employees of their kind in the U.S. to form a union. In an order issued Tuesday, the Oregon Employment Relations Board roundly rejected a list of objections to a 180-member staff union raised by the state Legislature. Instead, the ERB sided with employees who’ve contended that they are eligible under state collective bargaining laws to organize. Legislative aides are now planning to hold an official election by mail in coming days that will decide whether they are the first partisan Capitol staff in the country to form their own union. It was not immediately clear whether the Legislature, which is being represented by the Oregon Department of Justice in objecting to the union push, would ask the ERB to reconsider.