Cataract, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 28, 1985

274 N.L.R.B. 741 (N.L.R.B. 1985)

CATARACT, INC
Cataract , Inc. and United Association of Journey-
men and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe-
fitting Industry of the United States and
Canada, AFL-CIO, Petitioner . Case 33-RC-
2993
28 February 1985
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
SECOND ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN DOTSON AND MEMBERS
HUNTER AND DENNIS
The National Labor Relations Board has consid-
ered objections to an election held 31 August 1984
and the hearing officer's report recommending dis-
position of them. The election was conducted pur-
suant to a Stipulated Election Agreement. The
tally of ballots shows 13 for and 8 against the Peti-
tioner, with I challenged ballot, an insufficient
number to affect the results.
The Board has reviewed the record in light of
the exceptions and brief, and adopts the hearing of-
ficer's findings and recommendations only to the
extent consistent with this decision. Contrary to the
hearing officer's recommendation to overrule the
Employer's Objection 4, we find that the Petition-
er's offer of a reduced initiation fee was proscribed
under the Supreme Court's decision in NLRB v.
Savair Mfg. Co., 414 U.S. 270 (1973).1
It is undisputed that, in connection with the so-
licitation of authorization cards, employee Michael
Ryan, an executive board member of Plumbers
Local 81, informed employees that there would be
i In view of our disposition of Objection 4, we find it unnecessary to
pass on the hearing officer's recommendations on Objections 1, 2, and 3
The Employer has excepted to some of the hearing officer's credibility
findings The Board's established policy is not to overrule a hearing offi-
cer's credibility resolutions unless the clear preponderance of all the rele-
vant evidence convinces us that they are incorrect Stretch-Tex Co, 118
NLRB 1359, 1361 (1957) We find no basis for reversing the findings
741
a $50 initiation fee "for organizational purposes for
this site . . . for this one time organizational
drive." He also told employees "any local is al-
lowed to set the fee . . . and a fee could go up at
any time." At no time in any oral or written state-
ments to employees did the Petitioner define the
term "organizational purposes" or "organizational
drive" or specify to all employees that the reduced
fee was available for a period of time after the elec-
tion. 2
The Board has found a union's waiver of initi-
ation fees for such periods of time as "organization-
al drives" to be ambiguous and subject to the inter-
pretation by employees as applying only to the
period before the election.3 It is also well settled
that any ambiguity must be resolved against the
party who used the ambiguous term.4
Therefore, we find that the statements of the Pe-
titioner linked the availability of a reduced initi-
ation fee to joining the Petitioner before the elec-
tion, thereby constituting an impermissible induce-
ment to employees. See Crane Co., 225 NLRB 657,
659 (1976); NLRB v. Aladdin Hotel, 584 F.2d 891
(9th Cir. 1978).
In light of the foregoing, we find merit in the
Employer's Objection 4, and we shall set aside the
election and direct a second election in the appro-
priate unit.
[Direction of Second Election omitted from pub-
lication.]
3 Although Alfred Sciadmi, an officer and national representative of
the Petitioner , stated at union meetings , in connection with a discussion
of the $50 initiation fee, that no employee would be expected to pay any
money to the Petitioner until an agreement had been negotiated with the
Employer, only about 15 of the 23 unit employees attended these meet-
ings
3 Equitable Construction Co, 266 NLRB 668 (1983) The ambiguity
contained in terms like "organizational drives" or "purposes " is accentu-
ated here by Ryan's comments to the effect that the local union could
raise initiation fees "at any time," including presumably before or after
the election
4 See Inland Shoe Mfg Co, 211 NLRB 724, 725 (1974)
274 NLRB No. 113