Clippard Instrument Laboratory, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 7, 1949

86 N.L.R.B. 424 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of CLIrPARD INSTRUMENT LABORATORY, INC., E.rrLOYER
and LODGE 789, DISTRICT 34 OF INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
MACHINISTS , PETITIONER
Case No. 9-RC-313
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
DIRECTION
October 7, 19419
Pursuant to the Decision and Direction of Election 1 issued on
March 30, 1949, an election was conducted in this proceeding on April
27, 1949, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director
for the Ninth Region among the employees in the unit heretofore
found appropriate. At the close of the election, a Tally of Ballots.
was furnished each of the parties in accordance with the Board's.
Rules and Regulations. The tally shows that 7 valid ballots were
cast for the Petitioner , 15 valid ballots were cast against the Petitioner,
and that 55 ballots were challenged. No objections to the conduct
of the election. were filed within the time provided therefor.
As the challenged ballots were sufficient - in number to affect the
results of the election, the Regional Director, acting pursuant to the
Board's Rules and Regulations , investigated the issues raised by the
challenges , and on July 18, 1949 , issued his Report on Challenged
Ballots, recommending that the challenges to 5 ballots be sustained,.
and that the challenges to 50 ballots be overruled and the ballots
opened and counted. On July 25, 1949, the Employer filed exceptions:
to part of the Regional Director's report.
The ballots of Helen Luehrman, 1TVilda Morgan, Brooksie Miller,.
Marie Leist, Marjorie Godby, and Hattie McGaha
The Regional Director recommended that the challenges to the,
ballots of Luehrman, Morgan, Miller, Leist, and Godby be sustained;
and that the challenge to McGaha's ballot be overruled and that here
' 82 N. L . It. B. 533.
86 N. L. R. B., No. 56.
424
CLIPPARD INSTRUMENT LABORATORY, INC. 425
ballot be opened and counted. No exceptions to these recommenda-
tions having been filed by either the Petitioner or the Employer, we
hereby adopt the Regional Director's findings and recommendations
.concerning these ballots.
The remaining 41 challenged ballots
The Employer manufactures radio and television parts at its Cin-
•cinnati, Ohio, plant. The petition herein was filed on November 8,
1948, on which date there was approximately 207 employees in the
.appropriate unit. In the latter part of November and in the early
part of December 1948, there was a strike at the Employer's plant.
During the months of January, February, and March 1949, before the
.issuance of the Board's Decision and Direction of Election, the
Employer laid off 115 employees, and from November 8, 1948, to March
i915,1949,67 other employees had either quit or been discharged. There
were approximately 25 employees actually working on the eligibility
date, March 25, 1949. Forty-nine of the 115 laid-off employees
.attempted to vote at the election on April 27, 1949; they were chal-
lenged by the Employer. Within the 6 weeks following the election,
the Employer recalled 31 of these 49 employees.
The Employer challenged the 49 voters in question on the ground
that they were permanently separated from its employ by the election
date. The Union asserts, however, that these individuals had the
status of temporarily laid-off employees. The Regional Director
accepted the Union's contention and found that the 49 individuals
were eligible voters.
In laying off the 115 employees the Employer sent each of them the
letter set forth below.2 However, in the latter part of March 1949, the
Employer advised these employees as follows :
Since many of our former employees have called personally or
by phone to ask when they could expect to come back to work, we
thought that it would be only fair to write to each of you to let you
know what the situation is.
2 DEAR : Due to a reduction in manufacturing schedules by our customers we
'must reduce our working force. You will be laid off at the end of your shift today. We
-are unable to say when we will have work for you again. However, please give below the
-address where we can reach you if we want you to return to work. You must let us know
if your address changes while you are laid off, otherwise we cannot be responsible for
reaching you. When we do call you, you must report within 3 days, or we must assume
.you have quit.
If, while you are laid off , you take another permanent job, or if for some reason you do
not want us to call you back to work , let us know immediately.
Sincerely yours,
THE CLIPPARD INSTRUMENT LABORATORY, INC.
I acknowledge the above notice of lay-off and I agree to notify you as requested if I change
address Or do not wish to return to work.
Signed --------------------
426 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
By a careful trade survey made last week, we find that the indus-
try has greatly overestimated potential demand and has produced
far more than can be sold in some time to come. In our position
as a supplier of parts, this means that it will be many months
before there can possibly be any pick-up in demand that cannot
be filled by our present working force.
For those reasons, and with considerable regret, we inform you
that you should endeavor to obtain employment elsewhere as we
are no longer carrying you on our payroll. This reaffirms the
position we took with reluctance at the time of your separation.
The Employer asserts, in support of its contention that the individ-
uals in question were permanently separated from employment by
virtue of the March 1949 letter, that it normally reaches its lowest level
of employment in July of each year and that it had no expectation,
when it sent out these letters in March, of reaching its former level of
production. The Employer attributed its increased production and
the hirings after the election to strenuous sales efforts and improve-
ments in production and to price reductions, necessitated by increas-
ingly competitive conditions.
The employee status and voting eligibility of the 49 individuals
involved depend on whether on the election date they had a reasonable
expectation of fitither employment.3 In resolving this issue the con-
tinuation of the individuals in question on the Employer's pay roll,
while relevant, is not conclusive. The first letter clearly indicated that
the employees were temporarily laid off and had a reasonable expecta-
tion of further employment. The second letter did not dispel this ex-
pectation; it did not indicate that the employees should not continue
to inform the Employer of change of address, or changes in employ-
ment status of a desire not to be recalled, as the earlier letter had re-
quested. In fact the second letter specifically reaffirmed the position
which the Employer took at the time of the original lay-off. Our
conclusion that, at the time of the election, the 49 voters in question
did have a reasonable expectation of further employment, is verified
by the fact that 31 of these employees were actually recalled within
6 weeks after the election.
We accordingly find that the 49 voters who were challenged had
the status of temporarily laid-off employees who were eligible to vote.
We shall therefore overrule the challenges to the 49 ballots and, in
accordance with the Regional Director's recommendation, shall direct
that such ballots be opened and counted.
B Matter of Ozark Dam Constructors , 77 N. L. R . B. 1136; Matter of Glenn L. Martin
Company, 74 N. L. R. B. 546.
CLIPPARD INSTRUMENT LABORATORY, INC. 427
DIRECTION
IT is h EREBY DIRECI9ED that, the Regional Director for the Ninth
Region shall, pursuant to the Rules and Regulations of the Board set
forth above , within ten ( 10) days from the date of this Direction, open
and count the ballots cast by Hattie McGaha and by each of the em-
ployees listed on Appendix A, attached hereto, and thereafter prepare
and serve upon the parties to this proceeding a Supplemental Tally
of Ballots.
MEMBERS REYNOLDS and MURDOCK took no part in the consideration
of the above Supplemental Decision and Direction.
APPENDIX A
Nancy Ayers
Etta Ball
Viola Vernabe
Betty Byrum
Anna Carr
Inez Carr
Patricia Casey
Laura Chambers
Lois Coy
Janet DeZarn
Lorine Elam
Stella Ellison
Ruth Garrett
Margaret Grant
Alberta Green
Lou Hall
Amanda Harris
Minnie Hatter
Betty Hennies
Vernel Johnson
Louise Jones
Irene Kidd
Opal Kincer
Amelia Latscha
Nelus Lykins
Cassie Marshall
Ruby Miller
Truie Neal
Jeannette O'Nan
Mildred Parrott
Marie Patton
Elveda Perry
Wilma Prater
Lorraine Rammage
Delta Rethorford
Pauline Richards
Mary Ruch
Ida E . Schmidt
Grace Scott
Julia Springer
Gladys Stansbery
Marguerite Summers
Betty Taylor
Nora Vanover
Evelyn Vickery
Ira Wade
Elizabeth Webster
Carolyn White
Malfrey Wright