Pillsbury Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 26, 1969

178 N.L.R.B. 226 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

226 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Larkwood Farms, a Division of the Pillsbury
Company and Amalgamated Meat Cutters &
Butcher Workmen of North America , District
Union No. 405 , AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case
10-RC-7725
August 26, 1969
DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF
RESULTS OF ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
JENKINS AND ZAGORIA
Pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon
consent election, an election by secret ballot was
conducted on April 18, 1969, under the supervision
of the Regional Director for Region 10, among the
employees in the stipulated unit. At the conclusion
of the balloting, the parties were furnished with a
tally of ballots, which showed that of approximately
241 eligible voters, 231 cast ballots, of which 94
were for, and 130 against, the Petitioner, and 7 were
challenged. The challenged ballots were not
sufficient in number to affect the results of the
election. Thereafter, the Petitioner filed timely
objections to conduct affecting the results of the
election.
In accordance with the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended,
the Regional Director investigated the objections
and, on May 28, 1969, issued and duly served upon
the parties his Report on Objections, in which he
recommended that Petitioner's Objection 2 be
overruled; and that Objection 1 be sustained, the
election set aside, and a second election directed.
Thereafter, the Employer filed timely exceptions to
the Regional Director's Report, and a brief in
support thereof.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case 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
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming
to represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation of employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1)
and 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees, as stipulated by the
parties, constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose
of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9(b) of the Act:
All production employees, maintenance
employees, sanitation employees, warehouse
employees and janitors employed by the Employer
at its Guntersville, Alabama, facility, but excluding
all office clerical employees, technical employees,
quality assurance laboratory employees, professional
employees, buyers, salesmen, truck drivers, chicken
catchers, egg handlers, guards and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
5. The Board has considered the Regional
Director's Report and the Employer's exceptions
and brief, and makes the following findings:'
With regard to Objection 1, investigation revealed
that the Employer's observer at the election, while
stationed at the checking table wore a hat with the
words "Vote No" on the side facing toward the
voters and away from the Board agent. The
Regional Director found that this conduct
constituted electioneering which interfered with the
election.
We do not agree with the Regional Director.
Although Board instructions direct observers not to
wear or display buttons and other insignia in the
polling place, it has been held that the wearing of
prounion insignia by union observers does not in
itself constitute interference with an election.' The
question for determination here is whether the
wearing by an employer observer at the polls of a
hat which bears an antiunion inscription warrants a
different conclusion. We do not think so.'
As the Board stated in Western Electric
Company, Inc., 87 NLRB 183, 185, "the identity of
election observers, as well as the fact that they
represent the special interests of the parties, is
generally well known to the employees." The
identity and special interests of employer observers
may not reasonably be presumed to be less well
known than that of the union observers. We are of
the opinion that the impact on the voters is not
materially different whether the observers wear
prounion or antiunion insignia of this kind.
Moreover, we do not consider this type of conduct
to constitute the kind of electioneering at or near
the polling place which affects the results of an
election. Nor is there any indication that the
Employer's observer refused to obey a specific order
by the Board agent to remove the insignia. In all the
circumstances, therefore, we find that the action of
the Employer's observer did not constitute
interference with the employee freedom of choice.
Accordingly, we find no merit in Objection 1.
As we have overruled the objections to the
election and as the tally of ballots shows that the
Petitioner did not receive a majority of the valid
ballots cast in the election, we shall certify the
results of the election.
'In the absence of exception thereto, we adopt, pro forma, the Regional
Director ' s recommendation that Objection 2 be overruled.
'Electric Wheel Co, 120 NLRB 1644
'Cf Delaware Mills. Inc., 123 NLRB 943
178 NLRB No. 38
LARKWOOD FARMS, A DIV OF THE PILLSBURY CO. 227
CERTIFICATION OF RESULTS
District Union No. 405, AFL-CIO, and that said
It is hereby certified that a majority of the valid labor organization is not the exclusive representative
votes has not been cast for Amalgamated Meat of the employees in the appropriate unit within the
Cutters & Butcher Workmen of North America, meaning of Section 9(a) of the Act.