Leonard Valve Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 12, 1955

114 N.L.R.B. 1349 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

LEONARD VALVE COMPANY 1349
such individual an officer who was required to comply with Section
9 (h) of the Act. We are administratively satisfied that the Peti-
tioner, at all times material, was in compliance with the filing re-
quirements of the Act.
For the reasons heretofore stated under (a), -(b), and (c), we here-
by deny the Intervenor's motion to dismiss.
3. The Intervenor moved to dismiss the petition on the ground
that, pending adjudication of several civil suits charging the Peti-
tioner with the illegal seizure of the Intervenor's assets, there cannot
be a free choice of representatives. For the reasons more fully stated
in Webster Electric Co., supra, we find no merit in the Intervenor's
contention and we hereby deny the motion.
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All tool- and die-makers and their apprentices and helpers'' at the
Employer's Racine, Wisconsin, plant, excluding all other employees,
office clerical employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the
Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
MEMBERS MuRDocn. and BEAN took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision and Direction of Election.
e This classification includes the one alleged production employee.
Leonard Valve Company and District 64, International Associ-
ation of Machinists, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 1-RC-4123.
December 12,1955
DECISION, DIRECTION, AND ORDER
Pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon consent election
entered into between the parties and the Regional Director for the
First Region, an election by secret ballot was conducted under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director among the em-
ployees at the Employer's Cranston, Rhode Island, plant. At the
conclusion of the election, the parties were furnished with a tally of
ballots which shows that, of approximately 27 eligible voters, 27 cast
114 NLRB No. 210.
1350 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ballots, of which 13 were for the Petitioner , 9 were against the Peti-
tioner, and 5 were challenged.
As the challenged ballots were sufficient in number to affect the
result of the election , the Regional Director conducted an investigation
of the challenged ballots and thereafter , on August 15, 1955, issued
and served upon the parties his report on challenged ballots in which
he recommended to the Board that the challenges to the ballots of
George Moralee, Frank Leo Brennan , and Henry A. N. Hendrikson
be sustained and that the challenges to the ballots of Edward Hassell
and Percy R. Garbett be overruled . In his report , he stated that it
was not necessary to open and count the ballots of Hassell and Garbett
and therefore recommended that these ballots not be opened and
counted. The Regional Director further recommended that the Pe-
titioner be certified.
On August 24, 1955, the Employer filed exceptions to the said report
on challenged ballots.
Thereafter, on August 26, 1955, the Regional Director filed a motion
to remand the proceeding to him for further investigation of the eli-
gibility of the challenged voters and to make a supplemental report
on such investigation.
On September 12, 1955, the Board remanded the proceeding to the
Regional Director for the First Region for appropriate action.
Thereafter , pursuant to Section 102.61 of the Board's Rules and
Regulations and the Board 's order of September 12, 1955, the Re-
gional Director conducted a further investigation and, on October
14, 1955, issued his supplemental report on challenged ballots in which
he recommended that the challenges to the ballots of Brennan , Moralee,
and Hendrikson be sustained on the ground that in the performance
of their duties they act as guards for part of their working time. The
Regional Director further recommended , in view of the absence of
exceptions by either party to the Regional Director 's recommendation
in the original report on challenged ballots, that the challenges to the
ballots of Hassell and Garbett be overruled and that these two
ballots not be opened and counted . Finally, the Regional Director
reported that, based on the foregoing recommendations , an amended
tally of ballots will show that a majority of the valid votes have
been cast for the Petitioner and, accordingly , he recommended that
the Petitioner be certified.
Thereafter , on October 24,1955, the Employer filed exceptions to the
Regional Director 's supplemental report on challenged ballots.
The Board has considered the Employer's exceptions and the entire
record in this proceeding and makes the following findings :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
LEONARD VALVE COMPANY 1351
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent the
employees of the Employer.
3. A question of representation affecting commerce exists concern-
ing employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act :
All production, maintenance, and foundry employees at the Em-
ployer's plant in Cranston, Rhode Island, excluding all office clerical
employees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors as defined
in the Act.
5. As no exception has been taken to the Regional Director's recom-
mendation with respect thereto, the challenges to the ballots of Edward
Hassell and Percy R. Garbett are hereby overruled.
6. In his supplemental report, the Regional Director rested his con-
clusion that Moralee, Brennan, and Hendrikson perform guard duties
essentially on these f actfindings: He found that the three employees
in question, in addition to their janitorial duties, spend part of their
time in making watch rounds during the course of which, in addition
to guarding against fire hazards, they check doors, windows, and
equipment, thereby guarding against other hazards. The Regional
Director also found that these three employees control the admission
of persons to the plant and refuse to allow unauthorized persons to
enter the plant without clearance from company executives.
In its exceptions to the Regional Director's supplemental report,
the Employer denies that the three employees make rounds, other
than for firewatch purposes, or that they check doors and windows as a
security measure, or that they are required to inspect machinery and
equipment, or that they control the admission of persons to the plant.
As the Employer thus controverts the truth of the essential findings
upon which the Regional Director rested his conclusion that the three
employees in question are guards, the exceptions raise substantial and
material issues of fact as to the Regional Director's findings.
Inasmuch as the counting of the ballots of Edward Hassell or Percy
R. Garbett, the challenges to which we have overruled, may determine
the results of the election, we shall direct that they be opened and
counted. In the event that either ballot was cast for the Petitioner,
thereby giving the Petitioner a majority of the votes cast, we shall
direct that the Petitioner be certified as the collective-bargaining
representative of the employees in the unit heretofore found appro-
priate. We shall also direct that, in the event that the ballots of
Hassell and Garbett when opened and counted do not determine the
1352 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
results of the election, a hearing be held to determine the issues raised
by the Employer's exceptions to the Regional Director' s supplemental
report.
[The Board directed that the Regional Director for the First Region
shall, within ten (10) days from the date of this Direction, open and
count the ballots of Edward Hassell and Percy R. Garbett and serve
upon the parties a revised tally of ballots.]
[The Board ordered that, in the event the ballots of Edward Has-
sell and Percy R. Garbett do not determine the results of the election,
a hearing be held to determine the issues raised by the Employer's
exceptions to the Regional Director' s supplemental report on chal-
lenged ballots and further ordered that, in the event a hearing is held,
the hearing officer serve upon the parties a report containing resolu-
tions of the credibility of witnesses , findings of fact, and recommenda-
tions to the Board as to the disposition of said exceptions. Within ten
(10) days of receipt of such report, any party may file with the Board
in Washington, D. C, an original and six copies of exceptions thereto.
Immediately upon the filing of such exceptions, the party filing shall
serve a copy thereof upon each of the other parties, and shall file a
copy with the Regional Director. If n0 exceptions are filed thereto,
the Board will adopt the recommendations of the hearing officer. The
Board also ordered that the above-entitled matter be, and it hereby is,
referred to the Regional Director for the First Region for disposition
as provided for herein, and in the event a hearing is held, the Regional
Director is hereby authorized to issue early notice thereof.]
MEMBERS MURDOCK and BEAN took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision, Direction, and Order.
G. Washington and Burnetts Division of American Home Foods,
Inc.' and Local 68, International Union of Operating Engineers,
AFL-CIO,' Petitioner . Case No. I-RC-2824. December 13,1955
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act a hearing was held before Alan Zurlnick, hearing offi-
cer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
I The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
2 The AFL and CIO having merged after the hearing in the case , we are amending the
identification of the affiliation of the Unions.
3 Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, CIO, and Local 13-272 were
permitted to intervene on the basis of their contractual interest.
114 NLRB No. 212.