Martin Food Products, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 5, 1943

49 N.L.R.B. 464 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the MATTER of MARTIN FOOD PRODUCTS, INC., and WAREHOUSE AND
DISTRIBUTION WORKERS , UNION, LOCAL 208, I . L. W. U. (C. I. O.),
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Case No. B-4{909
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION -
ORDER
AND
DIRECTION
May 5, 19.3
On March 11, 1943,,tbe National Labor,Re'lations Board issued
Decision' and Direction of Election iii the above-entitled proceeding.}
Pursuant to the Direction of Election, an election by secret ballot was
conducted on March 25, 1943,• under the direction and supervision"-of
the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois)
On March 31, 1943, the Regional Director, acting pursuant to Article
III, Section 10, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu-
lations, Series 2, as amended, issued and duly served upon the parties
his Election Report.
As to the balloting and its results, the Regional Director reported
as follows :
Total number of ballots cast----------- --------------------- X86
Total number of challenged ballots--------------------------- 2
Total void ballots------------------------------------------- 0
Total valid votes counted------------------------------------ 84
Votes cast for Warehouse and Distribution Workers Union,
Local 208, I. L. W. U. (C. I. 0.) --------------------------- ,42
Votes cast against Warehouse and Distribution Workers Union,
Local 208, I. L. W. U. (C. I. 0.) ---------------------------- 42
In- his Election Report, the Regional Director recommended that
the challenge to the ballot of Dorothy Blue, made by the Company,
and the challenge to the ballot of William Meyer, Jr., made by an
agent of the Board, should be overruled.
Thereafter, the Union filed Objections to Report of Election, con-
tending that the Company had engaged in electioneering and anti-
148N L R.B 19.
49 N. L. R. B., No 61.
464
MARTIN FOOD PRODUCTS, INC. 465
union activities on the day prior to and the day of the election in the
present proceeding and that by reason thereof the said election did not
reflect the free choice of the employees eligible to vote therein. The
Company filed an answer denying the allegations contained in the
Objections filed by the Union. On April 21, 1943, the Regional Direc-
tor issued and duly served upon the parties his Report on Objections
to Election Report, wherein among other recommendations, he again
recommended that the challenges- be overruled. Since neither the
Objections filed by the Union nor the Answer filed by the Company
'raises any objections to the recommendation with respect to the chal-
lenges referred to, we shall defer passing upon the Objections until
after the challenged ballots, which we find below are valid, have been
counted. '
The ballot of Dorothy Blue was challenged by the Company upon
the ground (1) that she did not appear on the list of eligible voters
as prepared by the Company and (2) that she did not work during
the week ending March 6, 1943, the pay-roll period immediately pre-
ceding the date of Decision and Direction of Election. In his Election
Report the Regional Director reported that an investigation discloses
that the absence of Dorothy Blue from work during the week ending
March 6, 1943, was due both to her illness and a temporary disciplinary
lay-off on the part of the Company. We find that Dorothy Blue was
eligible to vote. Accordingly, we sustain the recommendation of the
Regional Director and shall direct that her ballot be counted.
The ballot of William Meyer, Jr., was challenged by an agent of
the Board upon the ground that the Board had specifically included
him among certain employees listed in footnote 3 of the Decision as
being supervisory employees. The record discloses that William
Meyer, Jr., is' a production employee without supervisory duties and
that his inclusion among the employees found by the Board to be
supervisors was inadvertent due to the similarity between his name
and that of his father, William Meyer, Sr., a supervisor who properly
was excluded. Since William Meyer, Jr., was inadvertently excluded
from the appropriate unit, we shall amend the Decision and Direction
of Election by deleting his name from footnote 3 of the Decision and
shall further direct that his ballot be counted.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the Decision and Direction of Election
be, and the same hereby is, amended by striking from footnote 3, page
3 of the Decision, the name of William Meyer, Jr.
And it is further ordered that the Decision and Direction of Election,
as printed, shall appear as hereby amended.
466 DEIOISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c)a of the National Labor Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Sections 0 and 10, of National Labor Re-
lations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives,for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Martin Food Products, Inc., Lhicago, Illinois, the Regional
Director for the Thirteenth Region shall, pursuant to the said Rules
and Regulations and subject to Article-III; Section 10, of said Rules
and Regulations, within ten (10), days from'the date of this Direction,
open and count the challenged ballots of Dorothy Blue and William
Meyer, Jr., and shall thereafter preparejand cause to be served upon
the parties a Supplemental Election Report embodying his findings
therein and his recommendations as to the result of the secret ballot.
DIR. JOHN M. HOUSTON took no part in the above Supplemental De-
cision,.Order and Direction.
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