U. S. Gypsum Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 8, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 1259 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of U. S. GrrsuM Co., E MPLOYER and PAPER Box MAKERS'
UNION, LOCAL 300, AFFILIATED WITH INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD
OF PULP, SULPHITE AND PAPER MILL WORKERS, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 2-RC-631
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 8, 1949
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election 1 issued by the
Board 2 in the above-entitled matter, an election by secret ballot was
conducted on December 1, 1948, among the employees of the Employer
in the unit found appropriate, under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director for the Second Region. Upon the conclusion of
the election, a Tally of Ballots was furnished the parties.
The Tally shows that there were approximately 180 eligible voters;
however 191 cast ballots. Of these, 155 were for the Petitioner, 17
were against the Petitioner, and 19 were challenged.
On December 8, 1948, the Employer filed its objections to the elec-
tion, alleging that because of certain conduct and actions of an em-
ployee, and the publicity attendant thereon, the employees eligible to
vote could not, and did not exercise a free choice of bargaining repre-
sentatives 3 After the investigation, the Regional Director, on Jan-
uary 21, 1949, issued his Report on Objections in which he found that
none of the issues raised by the Objections were material and sub-
stantial, and recommended that the objections be overruled, and the
Petitioner be certified as the sole collective bargaining agent for em-
ployees in the appropriate unit described in the Decision and Direction
of Election.
' Unpublished.
2 Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act,
the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-man panel con-
sisting of the undersigned Board Members [ Reynolds, Murdock , and Gray].
8 The episode referred to by the Employer concerns the filing of a suit against the
Employer by an employee claiming damages for assault and imprisonment, the subsequent
publication of such suit by local newspapers on the day before the election , and the appear-
ance at the polls of the employee involved in the suit in question.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 198.
1259
1260 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
To the Report on Objections, the Employer has filed timely excep-
tions, in which it contends : (1) that the Report shows a misapprehen-
sion of the basic question represented by the Employer's objections;
(2) that the Report does not disclose the unfair labor practice charge
filed against the Employer in connection with this matter; and (3)
that the conclusions reached in the Report are inconsistent with the
free and untrammelled choice of representatives guaranteed by law.
The main burden of the Employer's exceptions relate to the Regional
Director's finding that the publicity attendant upon the filing of suit
by an employee against the Employer, and claimed by the Employer
as inhibiting a free choice of bargaining representatives, did not con-
stitute a basis for setting aside the election. Although we have on
occasion set aside an election where statements publicly made on the
eve of the election were coercive in character, we fail to see that the
publications herein concerned were in fact coercive, or that they pre-
vented the free choice of bargaining representatives among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit. Moreover, the mere appearance at
the polls of the employee involved in the suit against the Employer
did not, in our opinion, improperly influence the results of the election
in the absence of any evidence that such employee engaged in elec-
tioneering within the polling area.
The Employer's further contention that the election was improperly
conducted during the pendency of unfair labor practice charges filed
by the Petitioner, is likewise without merit.' While it is our practice
in directing an election to require that a charging party waive pending
unfair labor practice charges, as possible grounds for setting aside
the election, no unfair labor practice charges had been filed either
at the date of the Board's Decision and Direction or on the date of the
election. Accordingly, we find that the unfair labor practice charges
could not have affected the election, inasmuch as no unfair labor prac-
tice charges were on file at that time.
Upon the basis of the foregoing, we find that the Employer's objec-
tions raise no material or substantial issues with respect to the conduct
of the election. Accordingly, we hereby overrule the Employer's Ex-
ceptions to the Regional Director's Report on Objections, and adopt
the Regional Director's findings and recommendation therein. As the
Petitioner has secured a majority of the valid votes cast, we shall
certify it as the collective bargaining representative of the employees
in the appropriate unit.
4 The unfair labor practice charges were filed on December 16, 1948, subsequent to the
election.
U. S. GYPSUM co. 1261
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
IT IS HERESY cERTIFIED that Paper Box Makers' Union, Local 300,
affiliated with International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper
Mill Workers, AFL, has been designated and selected by a majority
of all production, maintenance , and shipping employees, firemen and
engineers, in the Employer's Jersey City, New Jersey, plant, excluding
office, administrative , professional , and clerical employees, watchmen,
guards, the storekeeper or stock clerk, employees in the laboratory,5
the plant engineer, assistant plant engineer, master mechanic and
general maintenance foreman, the warehouse supervisor and assistant
warehouse supervisor, the superintendent of the roofing department,
the felt mill superintendent, the felt mill engineer, tour bosses, and all
other supervisors,6 as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to Section
9 (a) of the Act, as amended, the said organization is the exclusive
representative of all employees in such unit for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of em-
ployment, and other conditions of employment.
Excluded under this category are testers, the quality supervisor , and the laboratory
supervisor.
6 Excluded under this category are maintenance foremen ( electric , roofing, steam fitter
and pipe fitter ) ; head loaders, including head loader , carton ; head unloaders ( rags and
papers, roofing and raw material ) ; and beater engineers.