TIVERTON —  Tiverton’s department heads have not appealed a Nov. 7 ruling by the Rhode Island State Labor Relations Board (RISLRB) that they cannot unionize.

The 30-day period to appeal the decision ran out on Friday, Dec. 7, by which time the group of seven town department heads would have had to go to Superior Court with an appeal or relinquish the effort to try to unionize.

The department heads are “managerial and supervisory” and can’t unionize, the board had decided.

Their cause began on Sept. 6, 2011, when they filed a petition with the board to organize a union bargaining unit, which the town opposed.

John Burns, the organizer for Rhode Island Council 94, of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), who represented the department heads in the board deliberations, said Tuesday that “our attorneys reviewed the case and decided not to appeal.”

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