Fehr Baking Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 28, 1950

90 N.L.R.B. 2193 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of FEIIR BAKING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and BAKERY
& CONFECTIONERY WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL,
PETITIONER
Case No. 39-RC-156
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 28, 1950
Pursuant to the Decision and Direction of Etection,l issued on May
17, 1950, an election was conducted in this proceeding on June 8,
1950, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director 2
for the Sixteenth 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, of approximately 150 eligible
voters, 102 cast valid ballots for the Petitioner and 29 cast valid bal-
lots against the Petitioner, and that 15 ballots were challenged .3
The Employer filed timely objections to the conduct of the election
and to conduct affecting the results of the election, . alleging that the
Board agent who conducted the election indulged in such vigorous
and hostile cross-examination of voters challenged by the Petitioner
as to influence other voters to cast their ballots against the Employer,
and requesting that a hearing be ordered on the objections and that
the election be set aside.
On July 11, 1950, the Regional Director issued and served upon the
parties his Report on Objections. The Regional Director found,
among other things, that approximately 80 percent of the nonchal-
lenged voters cast their ballots while no interrogation as to eligibility
was being carried on; 4 that the evidence did not sustain the charge of
189 NLRI3 1401.
9 Whenever used herein , the term "Regional Director" means Regional Director or Acting
Regional Director, as the case may be.
3 All 15 challenged ballots were challenged by the Petitioner.
4 This finding is based , in part , on the statements of a person who served as an observer
at the election for the Employer.
90 NLRB No. 205.
903847-51-vol. 90-139 2193
2194 . DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
bias against the Board, agent; and that the balloting had been fairly
conducted, and concluded that the Employer's objections were with-
out merit. He recommended that the Employer's request for a hearing
be denied and the objections overruled. On July 17; 1950, the Em-
ployer filed exceptions to the Regional Director's report.
The Employer's numerous exceptions, in substance, are based on
the following broad allegations: (1).that the attitude of the Board
agent who conducted the election, particularly in investigating dur-
ing the election and in the presence of employees of the Employer the
grounds for the Petitioner's challenges, was such as to 'create an im-
pression among these and other employees that the Board agent fa-
vored the Petitioner as against the Employer, and that this impression
influenced voters to cast their ballots against the Employer; (2) that
the investigation of the Employer's objections is bad per se, because
it was made by a superior of the Board agent, who would necessarily
be motivated by a desire to exonerate an employee working under
him; 5 and (3) that the Regional Director's report is incomplete, in-
accurate, and prejudiced.e
No exception has been taken to the finding of the Regional Director
that approximately 80 percent of the nonchallenged voters cast ballots
in the election while no interrogation as to eligibility was being carried
on. The evidence presented to the Regional Director shows that the
Board agent questioned the challenged voters to ascertain the nature
of and basis for the challenges, as required by the Board's election
instructions. At the conclusion of the election, the observers for both
parties signed the usual and customary Certification on Conduct
certifying that the balloting was fairly conducted. The Regional
Director's investigation, which included interviewing witnesses made
available by the Employer, discloses that the agent. conducting the
election did no more than interrogate challenged voters on matters
having a bearing on their eligibility to vote. While the investigation
discloses his questioning may at times have been vigorous, no party
protested at the time and' representatives of both the Petitioner and
the Employer certified that the election was fairly conducted. The
Employer's exceptions appear to raise no matter not already thor-
oughly investigated and considered which would require a further
hearing. Under all these circumstances, and on the basis of the entire
a We have held in earlier proceedings that an investigation of objections to an election
may, without prejudice to the parties, be conducted by the Board agent who conducted
the election. We therefore find no merit in this contention . See Nicholson Transit Com-
pany, 89 NLRB 1.278; Arthur J. Wiltse, d/b/a The Ann Arbor Press, 85 NLRB 946.
6 E. g., the Employer asserts that the report is incomplete because it fails to include the
Employer' s allegation as to an alleged whispered conversation during the election between
the Board agent and an observer for the Petitioner . There is no evidence to support this
allegation.
FEHR BAKING COMPANY 2195 ,
record, we are of the opinion that the election was not conducted in
such a manner as to interfere with the exercise of a free choice in the
selection of a collective bargaining representative, so as to warrant
our ordering a hearing on the objections or our setting aside the elec-
tion.
We have reviewed the Employer's objections, the Regional Direc-
tor's report, and the Employer's exceptions. Upon the basis of the
entire record in. this case, we are of the opinion that the Regional
Director's findings are complete and proper, and that his conclusions
are sustained by the evidence. We shall therefore adopt the Regional
Director's recommendations, and deny the Employer's request that a
hearing be held on the objections and that the election be set aside.7
Because, as the tally shows, a majority of ballots were cast.for the
Petitioner, we shall certify the Petitioner as the exclusive bargaining
representative of all employees in the appropriate unit.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Bakery & Confectionery Workers Inter-
national Union, AFL, has been designated and selected by a majority
of the employees of Fehr Baking Company, San Antonio, Texas, in the
unit heretofore found by the Board to be appropriate as their repre-
sentative for the purpose of collective bargaining and that, pursuant
to Section 9 (a) of the Act, the said organization is the exclusive
representative of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of
.collective bargaining, with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of
employment, and other conditions of employment.
7 As the challenges are insufficient in number to affect the results of the election, we find
it unnecessary to pass upon the Employer 's exceptions to the Regional Director 's findings
that the Employer was put on notice, at the preelection conference and by the results of the
investigation in Case No . 39-CA-89, closed by settlement, that the Petitioner would chal-
lange the ballots of certain persons at the election in this proceeding.