FRANKFORT — State government's laborers and tradesmen have voted to have the Teamsters union represent them in talks with Gov. Paul Patton.

        They are the third group of state employees to ally themselves with a union and claim a seat on the State Employee Advisory Council, which Mr. Patton created by executive order.

        The Teamsters won a runoff election against “no representation,” a ballot option for workers who did not want a union, according to figures released Wednesday by the Labor Cabinet.

        The union received 1,244 votes, or 56 percent of the 2,225 mail-in ballots cast. There were 981 votes for no union. To win, the Teamsters needed one ballot more than half of those cast.

        Nearly 4,400 employees were eligible to vote from a category that ranges from painters and park workers to welders, electricians and heavy equipment operators.

        The first election ended Nov. 13 with no majority. Of 2,338 ballots cast, the Teamsters got 1,120, or 49.7 percent. About a third of the ballots — 757 — were for no representation. Well behind, with 396 votes, was K-LASER, an alliance of the Steelworkers and Aerospace Workers and the Ky. Association of State Employees.

        In an earlier election, corrections and parole officers and law-enforcement officers other than Kentucky State Police joined the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

        Health care workers at state hospitals voted to join Health Care Workers United, an alliance of AFSCME and the Service Employees International Union.

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