Clayton & Lambert Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 17, 1957

118 N.L.R.B. 1376 (N.L.R.B. 1957)

1376 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Clayton & Lambert Manufacturing Company and United Steel-
workers of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 9-RC-
3065. September 17,1957
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND CERTIFICATION
OF REPRESENTATIVES
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election issued June 21,
1957,1 an election by secret ballot was conducted on July 11, 1957, under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Ninth
Region, among the employees in the unit found appropriate by the
Board. Following the election, the parties were furnished with a
tally of ballots. The tally showed that of approximately 75 eligible
voters, 70 ballots were cast, of which 19 were for the Petitioner, 50 were
for the Intervenor, Oldham County Union, Local No. 1, and 1 was
against the participating labor organizations. There were no
challenged ballots.
On July 16, 1957, the Petitioner filed timely objections to conduct
affecting the results of the election, alleging in substance that on July
9, 1957, 2 days prior to the election, the Employer distributed to all
employees a 2-page letter, a copy of which is attached hereto, in which
it expressed a preference for an independent union and requested the
employees to vote against the Petitioner. After an investigation, the
Regional Director on August 5, 1957, issued and duly served on the
parties his report on objections to election. In his report, the Re-
gional Director found that the Employer's letter contained neither
threat of reprisal nor promise of benefit, that the contents of the letter
fell within the limits of permissible propaganda, and therefore that
the letter did not interfere with the employees' free choice in the
election. As to the Petitioner's specific contention that the letter
expressed the Employer's preference for an independent union and
requested a vote against the Petitioner, the Regional Director found
that such expression of preference, unaccompanied by threat of re-
prisal or promise of benefit, did not warrant setting aside an election.
The Regional Director therefore concluded that the Petitioner's ob-
jections raised no substantial and material issues and recommended
that the objections be overruled and an appropriate certification of
representatives be issued.
On August 16, 1957, the Petitioner filed exceptions to the Regional
Director's report contending that the Regional Director's conclusions
were in error and should be set aside. The Petitioner argues in sub-
stance that by its, reference to its alleged dealings with unions at its
other plants, the Employer forecast the dire results which the em-
ployees would purportedly face in the event the Petitioner should
1 Not reported in printed volumes . of Board Decisions and Orders.
118 NLRB No. 187.
CLAYTON & LAMBERT MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1377
win the election. Such remarks, the Petitioner maintains, created an
atmosphere of fear among the employees which affected the results
of the election.
We have considered the Petitioner's objections, the Regional Di-
rector's report on objections to election, the Petitioner's exceptions
thereto, and the entire record in this proceeding. We find, in agree-
ment with the Regional Director, that the Employer's letter contained
no threat of reprisal or promise of benefit, and that its contents, being
merely an expression of opinion of results which might follow upon
an election victory of the Petitioner, falls within the limits of per-
missible propaganda. In such circumstances, an expression of pref-
erence for one union over another does not warrant setting aside the
election 2
We find, therefore, that the Petitioner's objections do not raise
substantial and material issues with respect to the conduct of the
election and are accordingly overruled. As the tally shows that a
majority of the valid votes have been cast for the Intervenor, we
shall certify the Intervenor as the representative of the employees in
the appropriate unit.
[The Board certified Oldham County Union, Local No. 1, as the
designated collective-bargaining representative of the employees in
the following appropriate unit : All production and maintenance
employees at the Employer's Buckner, Kentucky, storage equipment
manufacturing plant, including truckdrivers and the leadmen, but
excluding office clerical employees, factory clerical employees, time-
keepers, time-study men, nurses, research laboratory employees, en-
gineering department employees, professional employees, guards, the
assistant foremen, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act.]
9 The De Vilbis8 Company, 115 NLRB 1164 , 1167 ; Rheem Manufacturing Company,
114 NLRB 404, 405. We do not agree with the Petitioner that the Board's ruling in
Aeronca Manufacturing Corporation , 118 NLRB 461, is controlling in the present case.
Here, the totality of the Employer 's conduct , limited as it was to the distribution of a
letter devoid of all threat of reprisal , clearly did not generate the "atmosphere of fear"
which in the Aeronca case the Board found deprived the employees of their freedom
of choice.
APPENDIX
CLAYTON & LAMBERT MFG. Co. COPY
1701 Dixie Highway
Louisville 10, Kentucky
July 9, 1957.
To the Employees of The Buckner Plant:
The Labor Board election to be held in our Buckner plant on July
11th is to determine who will represent you in dealing with the Corn-
450553-58-vol. 118-88
1378 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
pany. We understand that some of you wish to know what our
Management's position is in that connection.
The law does not permit an employer, preceding an election, to make
any promises as to what the Company will do in the future; we are,
however, permitted to review the past history of our Company and to
give you the reasons for any preference which we may, at this time, have
for one of the two Unions whose names will be on the ballot.
As you probably know, all of our Company's plants, including those
now at Louisville and Buckner, and our former plants at Ashland and
Middletown, have been operated under contracts with Unions repre-
senting the employees. At Dixie Highway and our Louisville
Ordnance plants the United Steel Workers have represented the em-
ployees since those operations were started; at present you are rep-
resented at Buckner by Oldham County Union, Local No. 1, an Inde-
pendent Union certified by the Labor Board as a bona fide labor
union. The employees at our former Middletown plant, whose op-
erations were transferred to Buckner last January, were also repre-
sented by a certified Independent Union. We believe that a compari-
son of how the employees at these other plants have actually fared, in
Louisville and Middletown, under different Union representation will
be of interest. Our Dixie Highway and Ordnance Plant employees,
represented by a National Union, have been called out on several
costly strikes, in none of which did their actual "gains" received in
settlements over what the Company was willing to pay before the
strike equal the loss of wages suffered by the employees. For ex-
ample, one recent strike at Dixie Highway lasted eleven weeks, was
accompanied by such violence that several pickets served jail sentences,
following which the Union settled for no more than they could have
settled for without the strike. Negotiations for the last contract at the
Ordnance plant were also accompanied by a strike lasting four weeks,
followed by a settlement in which the employee's loss of wages con-
siderably exceeded the increased benefits obtained.
The employees at our Middletown plant, represented by an Inde-
pendent Union certified by the Labor Board, were never called out on
strikes, lost no time from work through labor troubles, and at the same
time obtained wages, hours and working conditions equal to those at our
Louisville plants. They also paid lower initiation fees and monthly
dues, and were never required to pay assessments to be used by a
national organization.
Based on this experience in our own Company with the two types of
Unions, we feel that an Independent Union, wholly controlled by the
CLAYTON & LAMBERT MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1379
employees of the Buckner plant would in the long run be most satis-
factory for all concerned.
Page 2
July 9, 1957.
To the Employees of The Buckner Plant :
Another problem with which you may be confronted at Buckner in
case you become represented by the same Union as at Dixie Highway is
that, in our recent negotiations for the present contract there, the
Steel Workers asked that the employees there and at Buckner be placed
under one contract the result of which would have been to give the
Dixie Highway employees seniority over those at Buckner; in case of
a shut-down or lay-offs at Dixie, this would allow those employees to
take your jobs at Buckner.
Here at Buckner, we are all starting from scratch. In starting any
new plant, particularly where most of the personnel are not experienced
in the business, it usually takes months, or longer, to get the plant on a
paying basis, and our Company is no exception. In fact, our stock-
holders have now gone without any dividends for the last two quarters.
However, we believe that with the type of employees we have, and with
the co-operation of all concerned, we can in time make a success of the
Buckner plant and thereby give continued profitable employment to
citizens of Oldham County and neighboring counties which are not now
adequately industrialized. The success of our plant at Buckner will
be the best advertisement of your community in getting other industries
to follow. We started your plant as a local project, for the benefit
of this community, and we hope it can be continued on that basis.
In regard to our present contract with Oldham County Local No. 1,
we recognized that Union in good faith, when it was certified to us as
representing a substantial majority of the employees and at a time when
no other Union had claimed to represent them and our relations have
been satisfactory.
Our Management believe that the interests of the employees, the
Company, and this community will best be served by your continuing
to be represented by your own locally controlled and operated
Independent Union.
Very truly yours,
CLAYTON & LAMBERT MEG. CO.,
(Signed) Charles F. Lambert,
CHARLES F. LAMBERT,
President.
CFL/I f