Fibre Leather Manufacturing Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 11, 1967

167 N.L.R.B. 393 (N.L.R.B. 1967)

FIBRE LEATHER MFG. CORP.
Fibre Leather Manufacturing Corporation and
International Leather Goods, Plastics & Novelty
Workers Union , AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case
1-RC-9483
September 11, 1967
DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF
SECOND ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
FANNING AND ZAGORIA
Pursuant to the provisions of a- Stipulation for
Certification upon Consent Election, executed on
April 5, 1967, an election by secret ballot was con-
ducted on April 20, 1967, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for Region 1,
among the employees in the stipulated unit. At the
conclusion of the election, the parties were
furnished a tally of ballots which showed that of ap-
proximately 86 eligible voters, 80 cast valid ballots,
of which 40 were for, and 40 against, the Petitioner,
and 5 ballots were challenged. Thereafter, the Peti-
tioner filed timely objections to conduct affecting
the results of the election.
In accordance with Section 102.69 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations and
Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, the
Regional Director conducted an investigation and,
on June 13, 1967, issued and duly served upon the
parties his consolidated report on challenged ballots
and objections in which he recommended that all
the objections be overruled, the challenges to the
ballots be sustained, and a revised tally of ballots
and certification of the results of the election be is-
sued. The Petitioner filed timely exceptions to the
Regional Director's recommendation that Objec-
tion 1 should be overruled, asserting that the elec-
tion should be set aside and that the Board should
direct a second election.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel.
The Board has considered - the Regional
Director's report, the Petitioner's exceptions
thereto, and the entire record in this case, and
makes the following findings:
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 is a labor organization which
claims to represent certain employees of the Em-
ployer.
Palm Container Corp., 117 NLRB 434, and Craft Manufacturing
Co , 122 NLRB 341, cited by the Regional Director, are distinguishable
on their facts from the instant case
2 An election eligibility list, containing the names and addresses of all
the eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer with the Regional
Director for Region I within 7 days after the date of this Decision, Order,
393
3. A question affecting commerce esxists con-
cerning the representation of certain employees of
the Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1)
and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees, as stipulated by the
parties, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9(b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees in-
cluding shipping and receiving employees and
truckdrivers at the Employer's New Bedford, Mas-
sachusetts, plant, but excluding office clerical em-
ployees, professional employees, guards, and super-
visors as defined in the Act.
5. We find merit in the Petitioner's contention
that the Regional Director did not conduct the elec-
tion with due regard to the needs of Portuguese-
speaking employees who could not read English. At
the preelection conference, the Petitioner called the
Board agent's attention to this language handicap,
affecting 15 to 20 of the 86 employees in the unit,
and reached what it thought was an agreement that
the notices of election and the ballots would be
bilingual. When notice and ballots were issued in
English only, the Petitioner continued to press for
a solution to the language problem, and called the
Board agent's attention to the language difficulty on
the day of the election. While an arrangement was
made at the election whereby each party provided
an additional bilingual observer, not all the Portu-
guese-speaking employees were advised of the pur-
pose of the special observers, so far as the record
shows, and no employee approached either of the
bilingual observers to ask a question or request
assistance. The observers themselves volunteered
assistance only to four to six of the Portuguese-
speaking employees. In these circumstances, we
are not satisified that the conditions under which
the election was conducted were such as to assure
the effective and informed expression by all em-
ployees of their true desire. Accordingly, we shall
set the election aside and direct chat a new election
be held in which the notice and ballots are bilingu-
al.'
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the election previously
conducted herein on April 20, 1967, be, and it
hereby is, set aside.
[Direction of Second Election2 omitted from
publication.]
and Direction of Second Election The Regional Director shall make the
list available to all parties to the election No extension of time to file this
list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinary cir-
cumstances Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for
setting aside the election whenever proper objections are filed Excelsior
Underwear Inc, 156 NLRB 1236
167 NLRB No. 51