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National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 10, 1951

97 N.L.R.B. 384 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

384 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
same type of functions and have the same hours of work and super-
vision as the permanent employees. They also are paid wages com-
parable to those received by some of the permanent employees and,
like the permanent employees, are given a Christmas bonus each year.'
The record further shows that most of the temporary employees
currently employed on a date approximately 2 months before the
hearing had worked for the Employer intermittently during the last
4 years; 4 that, within this period, they were employed for periods
up to 22 months and had been recalled for work as many as 10 times;
and that the current employment of many of these temporary em-
ployees had extended for 8 months or more. Moreover, the Employer's
general administrator testified that an attempt is made first to recall
employees who have previously worked for the Employer and that,
when vacancies occur or new jobs are created in the permanent classifi-
cation, preference in filling these jobs is given to the temporary
employees.
Under all the circumstances, we find that the temporary employees
have a substantial interest in the employment conditions at the
Employer's plant and are, therefore, eligible to vote.5
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
3 The permanent employees receive a bonus guaranteed by contract while the tem-
porary employees receive an amount decided by special action of the Employer ' s board of
directors.
4 Some temporary employees had worked for the Employer intermittently for over 12
years
c The Welch Grape Juice Company , 96 NLRB 214 . Cf. Taunton Pearl Wosks , 89 NLRB
1382
THE OCALA STAR BANNER and INTERNATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN &
ASSISTANTS' UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, A. F. of L., PETITIONER.
Case No.10RC 1365. December 10, 1951
Order Directing Regional Director to Open and Count
Challenged Ballot
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election 1 of the Board,
an election by secret ballot was conducted on August 17, 1951, under
the direction of the Regional Director for the Region in which this
case was heard, among the employees of the Employer in the unit
found to be appropriate. At the close of the election, the parties were
furnished a tally of ballots. The tally showed that there were three
ballots cast, of which one was for the Petitioner and two were chal-
lenged by the Employer. As the challenged ballots were sufficient to
195 NLRB 569.
97 NLRB No. 57.
TAE OCALA STAR BANNER 385
affect the result of the election, the Regional Director conducted an
investigation and, thereafter, on September 21, 1951, issued and served
upon the parties his report on challenged ballots, recommending that
the challenge to one ballot be sustained and the challenge to the other
ballot be overruled. The Employer duly filed exceptions to this
report.
Donald Lee
The ballot of this employee was challenged on the ground that he
was a supervisor. The Regional Director recommended that the
challenge be sustained on that basis. The Petitioner excepted to this,
recommendation but later withdrew its exception. As there are
therefore no exceptions to this recommendation of the Regional Di-
rector, it will be adopted and the Employer's challenge to the ballot
of Donald Lee will be sustained.
Elven Grubbs
The ballot of this employee was challenged on the basis that he
works less than 50 percent of his time in the appropriate unit, spend-
ing the greater part of his working time in other departments of the
Employer. After conducting an investigation, the Regional Director
concluded that Grubbs was an eligible voter and recommended to the
Board that the challenge to his ballot be overruled. The Employer
duly filed exceptions to this finding and recommendation. -
Grubbs works about 60 hours per week for the Employer, 25 hours
in the pressroom, i. e., within the appropriate unit, and about 35 hours
as bookkeeper, advertising clerk, and messenger, all jobs outside the
unit. When working in the pressroom, Grubbs does work similar in
nature to that performed by the other pressroom employee.
In dealing with the voting rights of employees who work part of
the time in the appropriate unit and part of the time do other work
for the employer, the Board in many cases has applied a rule ex-
tending the franchise only to those who spend 50 percent or more of
their time in the unit 2 On the other hand, in deciding the eligibility
of part-time employees who, when they are not working in the unit,
may be working for another employer or may be merely remaining
idle, the Board generally has allowed such employees to vote even
though they spend less than 50 percent of their time at work included
in the unit, provided only that they are regularly employed for suffi-
cient periods of time to demonstrate that they have a substantial in-
terest in the wages, hours, and working conditions of the employees
' Coca-Cola Bottling Company of St. Louis, 94 NLRB 208 ; Florida Broadcasting Co.
(WBMR-AM, WBMR-FM, WBMR-TV), 93 NLRB 1568; Dispatch Printing Comuany, In-
corporated, Ohio State Journal Division , 93 NLRB 1282 ; WCAU, Inc., 93 NLRB 1003;
Port Arthur College, 92 NLRB 152; WWEZ Radio, Inc., 91 NLRB 1518; and cases cited
therein.
386 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in the appropriate unit.3 Upon reconsideration of these different
eligibility rules, the Board is persuaded that the latter rule should be
applied not only to regular part-time employees but also to employees
performing more than one function for the same employer.
In view of the fact that Grubbs works a substantial number of
hours regularly each week in the appropriate- unit, doing the same
work as the other pressroom employee, we find that he has sufficient
interest in the terms and conditions of employment within the unit
to entitle him to take part in the determination of a collective bargain-
ing representative 4 Accordingly, we find that Grubbs is an eligible
voter and we shall overrule the challenge to this ballot and order it
to be opened and counted.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the challenge to the ballot of Donald Lee
be, and it hereby is, sustained and that the challenge to the ballot of
Elven Grubbs be, and it hereby is, overruled; and
IT IS HEREBY DIRECTED that as part of the investigation to ascertain
representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the
Ocala Star Banner, at its Ocala, Florida, establishment, among the
employees in the unit set forth in the paragraph numbered 4 of the
Decision and Direction of Election issued by the Board on July 25,
1951, the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard
shall, pursuant to National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu-
lations, within ten (10) days from the date of this Direction, open and
count the ballot of Elven Grubbs, and thereafter prepare and cause
to be served upon the parties a revised tally of ballots, including
therein the count of said challenged ballot.
MEMBER MuRDOCK took no part in the consideration of the above
Order Directing Regional Director to Open and Count Challenged
Ballot.
8 Van Raalte Company, Inc., 95 NLRB No. 135 ; Charlotte Barth Howell and Van Schaack
& -Company , et at., 95 NLRB 1028; Industrial Truck and Trailer Service Company, 95
NLRB 354; Howard Johnson, 94 NLRB 1161 ; Etienang News Publishing Company, 93
NLRB 1355 ; and cases cited therein.
4 To the extent that the cases cited in footnote 2 are inconsistent with this finding, those
cases are overruled
LOCAL 57, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS AND ITS
BUSINESS AGENT, JOHN WHITE and JOHN LAMANTIA and M. A.
GAMMINO CONSTRUCTION CO., PARTY TO THE CONTRACT. Case No.
1-CB-1?8. December 11, 1951
Decision and Order
On April 10, 1951, Trial Examiner Alba Martin issued his Inter-
mediate Report in the above-entitled proceedings, finding that the
97 NLRB No. 52.