Equitable Equipment Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 13, 1974

214 N.L.R.B. 939 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

EQUITABLE EQUIPMENT COMPANY, INC.
Equitable Equipment Company, Inc. and New Orle-
ans Metal Trades Council , AFL-CIO, Petitioner.
Case 15-RC-5334
November 13, 1974
DECISION AND DIRECTION
BY MEMBERS JENKINS, KENNEDY, AND PENELLO
Pursuant to a Stipulation for Certification Upon
Consent Election, an election by secret ballot was
conducted by the Regional Director for Region 15
on April 5, 1974, among the employees in the appro-
priate unit. At the conclusion of the election the par-
ties were furnished with a tally of ballots which
showed that, of approximately 1,100 eligible voters,
402 cast ballots for the Petitioner, 47 cast ballots for
the Intervenor,' and 443 cast ballots for neither labor
organization. There were 115 challenged ballots
which are sufficient in number to affect the outcome
of the election. Thereafter, the Employer and the Pe-
titioner each filed timely objections to conduct af-
fecting the results of the election.
In accordance with the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations the Regional Director
for Region 15 investigated the issues raised by the
objections and by the challenged ballots, and on July
25, 1974, issued and duly served on the parties his
Report on Objections and Challenges. The Regional
Director recommended that 99 challenges be sus-
tained; ruling on 16 challenges be deferred; the
Employer's Objections be overruled in their entirety;
Petitioner's request to withdraw its Objections 1, 2, 5,
6, and 7 be approved; it is unnecessary to make find-
ings relating to Petitioner's Objection 3 as it is the
subject of an unfair labor practice proceeding;
Petitioner's Objection 8 be overrruled; and
Petitioner's Objection 4 be sustained and the election
set aside. Thereafter, the Employer filed exceptions
to the Regional Director's Report on Objections and
Challenges.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
Upon the entire record in this case the Board
finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the pur-
poses of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The Petitioner and the Intervenor are labor or-
' Welders and Burners Union , affiliated with District 2, Marine Engineers
Beneficial Association , AFL-CIO
939
ganizations claiming to represent certain employees
of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of certain employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and
2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The parties have agreed, and we find, the fol-
lowing employees constitute a unit appropriate for
collective bargaining within the meaning of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees em-
ployed by the Employer at its New Orleans,
Louisiana (Industrial Canal) and Madisonville,
Louisiana, facilities, including leadmen and
truckdrivers; excluding all office clerical em-
ployees, confidential employees, managerial em-
ployees, professional employees, draftsmen,
guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.
5. The Regional Director recommended that chal-
lenges to the ballots of 86 persons, classified as fore-
men, be sustained on the grounds that they are su-
pervisors. In our opinion the Employer's exceptions
thereto raise no material issue of fact or law which
would warrant reversal of the Regional Director's
findings and recommendations or require a hearing.
The Employer also excepts to the Regional
Director's setting aside the election on the grounds
that the presence of the 86 foremen in the voting area
constituted interference with the fair and proper con-
duct of the election. We find merit in this exception.
Although the foremen were apparently instructed by
the Employer to attempt to vote in the election, their
status as supervisors was not established until this
proceeding. Since the eligibility of the foremen to
vote was in issue and since there is no evidence that
the foremen engaged in objectionable conduct at the
polls, we find that their mere presence in these cir-
cumstances is an inadequate basis to set aside the
election. Accordingly, we shall overrule Petitioner's
Objection 4.
In the absence of exceptions thereto, we adopt the
Regional Director's recommendations that Em-
ployer's Objections 2, 3, and 6 and Petitioner's
Objection 8 be overruled; no disposition be made
with respect to Petitioner's Objection 3 pending reso-
lution of the related unfair labor practice complaint;
Petitioner be permitted to withdraw its Objections 1,
2, 5, 6, and 7; that the challenges to the ballots of
Reuben Allen, Thomas L. Disalvo, Eric Jackson, Ce-
cil Kersh, William O. Littlejohn, Ivan Magdalenic,
Anthony Mayfield, Shelton Anthony, Louis Caracci-
oca, Keither Kinler, Louis Meyers, Ethel C. Duploa,
and Lois Beaubouef be sustained; and that no dispo-
sition be made with respect to the challenged ballots
214 NLRB No. 136
940 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of Norman G. Garvey and Eual Stanga pending final
resolution of the relevant unfair labor practice
charges.
The Regional Director also recommended that
Employer's Objections 1, 4, and 5 be overruled. In
our opinion the Employer's exceptions thereto raise
no material issue of fact or law which would warrant
reversal of the Regional Director's findings and rec-
ommendations or require a hearing.
There remain 14 challenged ballots 2 with respect
to which the Regional Director made no recommen-
2 There were challenges to 115 ballots, of which 99 have been sustained
and ruling deferred on 2, leaving 14 ballots on which ruling was also defer-
red
dations. As these ballots are sufficient in number to
affect the outcome of the election, we shall direct the
Regional Director to investigate these 14 challenged
ballots.
DIRECTION
It is hereby directed that, as part of his investiga-
tion to ascertain the representative for the purpose of
collective bargaining with the Employer, the Region-
al Director for Region 15 shall, pursuant to the
Board's Rules and Regulations, investigate the issues
raised by the challenges to the above-mentioned bal-
lots and take such further action as is warranted.