Calplant Engineering Service, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 22, 1985

274 N.L.R.B. 229 (N.L.R.B. 1985)

CALPLANT ENGINEERING SERVICE 229
Calplant Constructors , A Division of Calplant Engi-
neering Service , Inc. and International Union of
Petroleum & Industrial Workers, Seafarers
International Union of North America, AFL-
CIO, Petitioner . Case 21-RC-17363
22 February 1985
DECISION AND ORDER REMANDING
BY CHAIRMAN DOTSON AND MEMBERS
HUNTER AND DENNIS
The National Labor Relations Board has consid-
ered objections to an election and the hearing offi-
cer's report recommending disposition of them.
The election was conducted pursuant to a Stipulat-
ed Election Agreement. The tally of ballots shows
32 for and 29 against the Petitioner, with 1 chal-
lenged ballot and 1 void ballot. The challenged
ballot is insufficient to affect the results of the elec-
tion.
The Board has reviewed the record in light of
the exceptions and brief, and has adopted the hear-
ing officer's findings and recommendations' only
to the extent consistent with this Decision and
Order.
In his report, the hearing officer specifically
credited the testimony of Church, Petitioner's rep-
resentative, that he told employees at an organiza-
tional meeting held on 14 March 1984 that "all ini-
tiation fees would be waived for employees in the
bargaining unit at the time of the election." He
concluded that this statement was ambiguous be-
cause the word "unit" could be interpreted to
mean "union." He therefore recommended sustain-
' In the absence of exceptions, we adopt, pro forma, the hearing offi-
cer's recommendations concerning Objections I and 6
ing the objection under the Savair doctrine.2 Al-
though alluding to the testimony concerning
Church's comments to employee Rowbotham
about the waiver of initiation fees at an earlier
meeting, the hearing officer made no factual find-
ings nor resolution of the conflict in testimony over
the alleged statements.
We have carefully considered the hearing offi-
cer's report, the Petitioner's exceptions, and the
Employer's answering brief and have decided to
reverse the hearing officer's finding that the use of
the term "unit" by Union Representative Church in
the context of a statement on the waiver of initi-
ation fees is ambiguous. In light of this finding, we
have also decided to remand the case to the hear-
ing officer for specific findings of fact, including
credibility resolutions, conclusions of law, and rec-
ommendations to the Board concerning the state-
ments allegedly made by Church at the Reef Res-
taurant as testified to by employee witness Row-
botham. 3
It is ordered that this case is remanded to the
hearing officer for the purpose of preparing, issu-
ing, and serving on the parties a supplemental
report setting forth resolutions of credibility and
specific findings of fact with regard to the testimo-
ny of the witnesses referred to above and to make
appropriate recommendations pursuant to those
findings. Thereafter, Section 102.69(f) of the
Board's Rules and Regulations shall apply.
z NLRB v Savair Mfg. Co, 414 U S 270 (1973)
3 Member Hunter agrees that the word "unit" is not ambiguous How-
ever, he notes that the hearing officer failed to state the reasons for cred-
iting Church's testimony on this issue, thereby depriving the Board of in-
formation necessary for evaluating the hearing officer's credibility resolu-
tion Member Hunter, therefore, would include in the remand an order
directing the hearing officer to state the reasons for his credibility resolu-
tions concerning the statements made by Church at the 14 March meet-
ing
274 NLRB No. 43