Sunshine - 50 Care Centers, Inc.,

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 25, 1975

217 N.L.R.B. 86 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

86 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Sunshine - 50 Care Centers , Inc., Hilton Convalescent
Home Division and Nursing & Convalescent Home
Employees Division of Local 79
,
Service Employees
International Union, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case
7-RC-12548
March 25, 1975
DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF
REPRESENTATIVE
All full-time and regular part-time employees em-
ployed by the Employer at its facility located at
3161 Hilton, Ferndale, Michigan, including
nurses aides, orderlies, housekeeping aides, main-
tenance employees, laundry aides and kitchen em-
ployees; but excluding office clerical employees,
registered nurses, professional employees, licensed
practical nurses , guards and supervisors as defined
in the Act.
BY MEMBERS FANNING, PENELLO, AND KENNEDY
Pursuant to authority granted it by the National
Labor Relations Board under Section 3(b) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, as amended, a three-mem-
ber panel has considered objections to an election held
August 22, 1974,' and the Regional Director's report
recommending disposition of same. The Board has re-
viewed the record in light of the exceptions and brief,
and hereby adopts the Regional Director's findings and
recommendations.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVE
It is hereby certified that a majority of the valid
ballots have been cast for Nursing & Convalescent
Home Employees Division of Local 79, Service Em-
ployees International Union , AFL-CIO, and that, pur-
suant to Section 9(a) of the Act the foregoing labor
organization is the exclusive representative of all the
employees in the following appropriate unit for the
purposes of collective-bargaining with respect to rates
of pay , wages, hours of employment , or other condi-
tions of employment:
I The election was conducted pursuant to a Stipulation for Certification
Upon Consent Election. The tally was. 24 for, and 13 against, the Petitioner;
there was I challenged ballot, an insufficient number to affect the results
MEMBER KENNEDY, dissenting:
I would direct a hearing on Objection 2. In his_re-
port, the Regional Director finds that the Board agent
on three occasions left the'polling area with the ballot
box unsealed. The Employer in its exceptions asserts
that during the Board agent's three absences, the un-
marked ballots were left lying on a table in the polling
area. If the Employer's assertions are true, the election
should be set aside.
In my recent dissent in Benavent & Fournier, Inc.,
208 NLRB 636 (1974), I pointed out that it has been
a cardinal principle of the Board that unmarked ballots
remain in the sole possession and custody of the Board
agent at all times. In the absence of such a rule, the
possibility of fraudulent voting presents a distinct
threat to the Board's election process. It could well be
that in many cases, depending upon the ingenuity or
guile of the perpetrator, fraudulent voting could be
undetected. The Regional Director states in his report
that there is no evidence of tampering with the ballot
box. Where it appears that unauthorized persons have
had access to both unmarked ballots and an unsealed
ballot box, it is obviously unnecessary to tamper with
the ballot box. I adhere to the view that the Board's
standards of conducting elections should not be low-
ered to permit the abandonment of both ballots and
ballot box to others.
217 NLRB No. 14