Balboa Pacific Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 15, 1950

92 N.L.R.B. 85 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of BALBOA PACIFIC CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and UNITED
FURNITURE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 576, CIO) PETITIONER
Case No. 21-RC-1069
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND ORDER
November 15, 1950
On April 18, 1950, pursuant to a Board Decision and Direction of
-Election,' an election was held under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director for the Twenty-first Region, among the em-
ployees of the Employer in the unit found appropriate by the Board.
A tally of ballots, furnished to the parties, showed that none of the
parties on the ballot received a majority of the votes cast.2 Pursuant
to the Board's Rules and Regulations, the Regional Director for the
Twenty-first Region conducted a run-off election on May 16, 1950, to
determine whether or not the employees wished to be represented by
the petitioner for the purposes of collective bargaining. Thereafter
a tally of ballots for the run-off election was furnished the parties:.
The tally shows that of approximately 143 eligible voters, 129 cast
ballots, of which 60 were for the Petitioner, 66 were against the Peti-
tioner, 3 were challenged, and 1 was void.
. On May 22, 1950; the Petitioner filed timely objections to conduct
affecting the results of the election. In accordance with the Board's
Rules and Regulations, the Regional Director conducted an investi-
gation and issued a Report on Objections in which he found that
certain objections were material, substantial, and well-founded, and
recommended that the election be set aside and a new election be held .8
1 Balboa Pacific Corporation, 88 NLRB 1505.
2 The tally showed that of approximately 144 eligible voters, 139 cast ballots , of which
61 were for the Petitioner , 37 were for the Intervenor , 38 were against both participating
labor organizations , and 3 ballots were challenged . On May 4 , 1950, all parties to the
election entered into a stipulation that the 3 challenged ballots be opened and the chal-
lenges withdrawn . The challenged ballots were counted and a revised Tally of Ballots
was served on the parties . The 3 ballots were cast against the participating labor
organizations.
3 The Regional Director found that other objections did-not raise --material and substantial
issues , and recommended tha' ' they be d6brruled. As no exceptions have been taken to
the Regional Director 's findings concerning these objections , we affirm t̀he Regional'
Director 's findings in this respect.
92 NLRB No. 13.
85
86 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer filed timely exceptions to the Regional Director's re-
port on objections.
The Regional Director's recommendation that the run-off election
held on May 16, 1950, be set aside is predicated on the following :
1. On May 13, 1950, the following newspaper article, assertedly
quoting statements, of the Employer's acting personnel manager in
regard to the election, appeared near the top of page 3 of a Santa-:Ana,
California, newspaper.4
FULLERTON PLANT WORKERS To VOTE ON UNION C HOICE
FuLLERTON-Employees of the Balboa Pacific furniture plant
here will hold an election Tuesday to determine which labor union
will represent them in negotiating with the company.
The election will be the second. In balloting last week no clear
cut decision was reached, but Allen H. Tyler, acting personnel
manager of the plant said the AFL was decisively defeated
which now leaves workers a choice between the CIO and nonunion.
"It would be disastrous for both the company and our -em-
ployees if Balboa workers vote to join the United Furniture
Workers Local 576 of the CIO at Tuesday's election," Tyler said.
Tyler flatly charged that the UFW local 576 representatives
Gus Brown and Oscar Castor "were Communist sympathizers and
had, at one time, held offices in the Communist Party."
"The Company," Tyler said, "is in no way opposed to union
labor. ATF which owns Balboa Pacific has three plants operated
entirely by union workers, and there has not been the one man
hour lost due to labor troubles in the past 10 years."
"However," he added, "the joining of this particular union
would mark every worker in this plant for the rest of his life
as having had Communistic affiliations."
Tyler added that the choice of a union is- entirely up to the
workers. "If they want AFL, non-union, or if they want to
organize their own union, we will comply with their wishes," he
said.
Neither Castor nor Brown are available for comment on the
dispute.
Tuesday's election will be conducted under the supervision of
the National Labor Relations Board.
The Regional Director interpreted this article as implying that the
-Employer would not bargain with the Petitioner if it won the election
4 The Regional Director found that a number of the Employer ' s employees - lived in.and
near Santa Ana, which is about 10 miles from the Employer ' s plant.
BALBOA PACIFIC CORPORATION 87
and was certified by the Board.' We do not agree. We do not believe
that the article, read as a whole, was reasonably susceptible of such
an interpretation. Accordingly, we find this objection to be without
merit, and it is hereby overruled.
2. The Regional Director's investigation disclosed that the Rev-
erend William J. Barry spoke to Paul Dollard, the Employer's presi-
dent, about May 1, 1950. In this conversation Father Barry indicated
his desire to influence employees not to affiliate with the Petitioner be-
cause of alleged "communist" tendencies, and asked Dollard if the
Employer would bargain with an independent representative of the
employees. on wages, hours, and working conditions. Dollard an-
swered that the Employer would not refuse to bargain with such an
independent group.
Father Barry then asked for, and received, a list of employees of
Mexican extraction from one of the Employer's supervisors. He wrote
and sent the following letter to the 60 employees on the list :
DEAR FRIEND : It has come to our attention that you are about
to cast your vote to determine whether or not you will organize
under the banner of the C. I. 0. Local 567 Furniture Workers
Union.
If you vote at this time for the Union you should realize that
at the National Convention of the Union in June, Local 567 will
probably go through a purging process and as a result may with-
draw from the International or be thrown into a state of con-
fusion.
It seems it may be wiser for your own security to vote against
tying yourselves up with the Local and during the year set up
your own representative bargaining group from your own ranks.
I have the word of your employers that they will bargain with
such a. group for the year. You then will be able to make your
choice of union affiliations after you see what comes of the present
problem of Local 567 C. I. 0., and your choice will then be certi-
fied by the National Labor Relations Board.
If there is any further help I can give, either in helping you
set up a bargaining group or in obtaining further assurance from
' On May 15 , another article was published in the same newspaper , in which Tyler
repudiated some of the statements attributed to him in the May 13 Issue , including the
one where he was quoted as having said it would be disastrous for the Employer and
the employees if the employees voted for the Petitioner. The Regional Director, however,
found that the statements which he believed implied that the Employer would not bargain
with the Petitioner, were not repudiated.
'88 DECISIONS- OF, NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
management of their-willingness to-bargain with you for this
coming year, I will be glad to help. Please feel free to call on me.
Sincerely in Christ,
(S) William J. Barry,
(Reverend) WILLIADI.J. BARRY,
Former Director of East Los Angeles Labor School
and member. of the Catholic Labor Institute.
Phone : Torrey 521-85 of- Los Angeles.
'This was done without specific authority or knowledge of the Em-
ployer, except that at the time Father Barry requested the list of em-
ployees, he.indicated that he might write a letter to them.
The Regional Director interpreted this letter as containing an im-
plication that the Employer would not bargain with the Petitioner
even if it were certified, but would bargain with. the employees' "'own
representative bargaining group." He further found that the latter
statement constituted a promise of benefit. He therefore concluded
that, as the Employer did nothing to repudiate this letter, the em-
ployees' freedom of choice was interfered with because it might well
have led the employees to believe that a vote for the Petitioner would
be futile.
We do not find enough in this letter to warrant the inferences and
conclusions drawn by the Regional Director. Nor do we believe that
the letter contained a promise of benefit. We therefore find no merit
in this objection, and it is hereby overruled.
Accordingly, we find that the Petitioner's objections to the election
raise no substantial' or material', issues. We hereby overrule them.
As it appears from the tally of ballots that no collective bargaining
representative has been selected, we shall dismiss the petition.'
ORDER
IT, IS HEREBY ORDERED that. the petition for investigation and certi-
fication of representatives of employees of Balboa Pacific Corporation,
Fullerton, California, filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
MEMBERS HOUSTON and REYNOLDS took no part in the consideration
of the above Supplemental Decision and Order.
s No question has been raised as to the challenged ballots which, in any event, are not
sufficient in number to affect the results of the election.
a In view of our decision herein, we deny the Employer's motion to reopen the record
in this case for the purpose of adducing testimony to show that the Petitioner is now a
defunct labor organization.