Sylvania Electric Products, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 15, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 296 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of SYLVANIA' ELECTRIC PRODUCTS INC., EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS,
CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS, PETITIONER
Case No. 9-RC-778
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND DIRECTION
September 15, 1950
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election 1 dated May 9,
1950, an election was conducted in this proceeding on June 8, 1950,
under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for
the Ninth Region among the employees of the Employer in the unit
heretofore found appropriate. At the close of the election a tally of
ballots was furnished each of the parties in accordance with the
Board's Rules and Regulations. The tally showed that 414 valid
ballots were cast, of which 184 were for the Petitioner, 122 were for
the Intervenor, 4 were against both the Petitioner and the Intervenor,
and 104 were challenged. No objections to the conduct of the election
were filed within the time provided therefor.
As the challenged ballots were sufficient in number to affect the
results of the election, the Regional Director, acting pursuant to the
Board's Rules and Regulations, investigated the challenges, and on
July 20, 1950, issued his report on challenged ballots, in which he
recommended that all the challenges be overruled and the ballots
opened and counted. Thereafter the Employer and the Petitioner
filed exceptions to the Regional Director's report.
The Employer and the Petitioner contend that all the challenged
voters were ineligible to vote in the election because their status was
that of permanently laidoff employees who had not been rehired
prior to May 7, 1950, the payroll eligibility date fixed by the Board's
Decision and Direction of Election. The Intervenor contends that 102
of the challenged voters were eligible to vote in the election because
they had been rehired by the Employer prior to June 8, 1950, the date
of the election, although none of them had been recalled before May 7,
1950.
'Unpublished.
91 NLRB No. 55.
296
SYLVANIA ELECTRIC PRODUCTS, INC. 297
Asa result of his investigation, the Regional Director made the fol-
lowing undisputed findings in his report with respect to the challenged
voters: (a) The largest group of challenged voters, consisting of 85
persons, was laid off in October 1949 because of cutbacks in produc-
tion, but all these persons were rehired by May 26, 1950; (b) 7 other
challenged voters in a second group were laid off at various times
between February 8, 1949, and March 10, 1950, for the same reason, and
they too were all rehired on or before May 26, 1950; (c) 10 challenged
voters in a third group were on excused leaves of absence because of
illness which commenced at various dates between December 2, 1948,
and October 10, 1949, and all persons in this group returned to their
employment by May 26, 1950; and (d) the 2 remaining challenged
voters were also on excused leaves of absence because of illness which
commenced on December 22, 1949, and March 1, 1950, respectively, and
had not returned to their employment on June 8, 1950, the date of the
election.
We have held that laidoff employees who are rehired prior to the
date of an election shall be considered as only. temporarily laid off,
and therefore eligible to vote in the election.2 Accordingly, we find
that the 92 challenged voters in the first 2 groups were temporarily
laidoff employees on the eligibility date fixed by the Direction of
Election, and therefore eligible to vote in the election.3
We find further that the 12 challenged voters in the last 2 groups
who were on excused leaves of absence because of illness on the eligi-
bility date were "ill" at that time within the meaning of the Direction
of Election, and were therefore eligible to vote.4
In view of the foregoing findings, we shall, as recommended by the
Regional Director, overrule the challenges to all 104 ballots and direct
that these ballots be opened and counted.
DIRECTION
IT IS HEREBY DIRECTED that the Regional Director for the Ninth
Region shall, pursuant to the Rules and Regulations of the Board,
within ten (10) days from the date of this Direction, open and count
the ballots cast by the employees listed in Appendix A, attached hereto,
and thereafter prepare and serve upon the parties to this proceeding a
2 See The Whitcomb Locomotive Company, 60 NLRB 1160; St. Joseph Lead Company and
Lead Belt Water Company, 66 NLRB 560; Holeproof Hosiery Co., 67 NLRB 1397.
, Our holding in the cases cited in footnote 2 was made despite the fact that the circum-
stances prior to the election indicated that the layoffs involved were permanent. We find it
unnecessary, therefore, to resolve the disputed issues of fact in the instant case with
respect to such prior circumstances.
"Gastonia Combed Yarn' Corporation, et al., 73 NLRB 169; Standard-Coosa-Thatcher
Company, 74 NLRB 1401.
298 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL - LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
supplemental tally of ballots, including therein the count of said
challenged ballots.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG and MEMBER STYLES took no part in the con-
sideration of the above Supplemental Decision and Direction.
APPENDIX A
Adams, Geraldine
Adkins, Norma
Adkins, Peggy
Altizer, Mary
Baker, Mamie
Ball, Mary
Baumgardner, Alma
Beard, Ramona
Beatty, Kathryn
Bentley, Betty
Bentley, Evelyn
Berry, Mary
Berry, Rowena
Bias, Nell
Bledso, Louise
Booth, Betty
Bowen, Betty
Brown; Evelyn
Bunn, Glenna
Bunn, Helen
Burns, Thelma
Bustetter, Alley
Chaffin, Virginia
Clark, Christine
Cunningham, Mary
Dailey, Eva
Daniel, Helen
Davis, Mary Ellen
Deering, Nell
Dunhen, Maricline
Eads, Lois
Ferguson, Charline
Freeman, Lois
Hall, Gladys
Hamptan, Wilma
Hensley, Arlene
Hooser, Mary
Howard, Pansy
Hudgins, Anna
Hughes, Loretta
Hunter, Alice
Johnson, Bonnie
Jones, Ethel
Keeser, Dorothy
King, Ilene
Kitchen, Elsie
Knight, Margaret
Knight, Ruth
Laggins, Effie
Lawhorn, Tressie
Litz, Beula
McComes, Lula Bell
McCoy, Alice
McCoy, Rosa Lee
McGlone, Ruth
Malone, Lena
Metz, Readith
Maynard, Erwin
Miller, Virginia
Montgomery, Darlene
Morris, Mary
Morrisson, Evelyn
Napin, Ella
Nelson, Margie
Nunley, Frances
Palrick, Irma
Pack, Thomas
Peyton, John
Powell, Mary
_Prellarman, Lois
Preston, Jean
Price, Pansy
SYLVANIA ELECTRIC PRODUCTS, I1\-IC.
APPENDIX A-Continued
Pyles, Gladys
Rice, Martha
Roberts, Mildred
Robinson, Dorothy
Rolfe, Frances
Rose, Katheryn
Rose, Maxine
Rose, Rosalie
Rush, Dorothy
Scarberry, Loretta
Sharpe, Opal Virginia
Shaw, Agnes
Smart, Amy
Sweat, Dorothy
Thacker, Nora
Thompson, Margaret
Tiller, Edna
Truex, Harriet
Tucker, Cora
Vance, Doris
Vauis, Thelma
Walker, Dorothy
Watkins, Loretta
Watson, Betty
Weese, Lena
Wheeler, Audrey
Wheeler, Lois
White, Ethel
Wilgus, Betty
Wilson, Pauline
Winkler, Arlene
Workman, Joan
299