Lawrence Security, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 29, 1974

210 N.L.R.B. 1048 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

1048 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Lawrence Security , Inc. and International Union of
Guards and Watchmen , Independent, Petitioner.
Case 19-RC-6783
May 29, 1974
DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF
REPRESENTATIVE
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS
FANNING AND PENELLO
Pursuant to a Stipulation for Certification Upon
Consent Election an election by secret ballot was
conducted on November 8, 1973, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for Region
19 among the employees in the unit described below.
At the conclusion of the election the parties were
furnished a tally of ballots which showed that, of
approximately 49 eligible voters, 56 cast valid ballots,
of which 32 were for, and 17 against, the Petitioner,
and there were 7 challenges which were not determi-
native. Thereafter, the Employer filed five timely
objections to the election.
The Regional Director duly investigated the
objections and on December 14, 1973, issued and
served on the parties his Report on Objections
recommending that the objections be overruled in
their entirety and that the Petitioner be certified.
Thereafter, the Employer filed timely exceptions to
the Regional Director's report pertaining to three
objections and a brief in support of its exceptions.
The Employer requested therein that the National
Labor Relations Board set aside the election of
November 8.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding 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
policies 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 concern-
ing the representation of the employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and
2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The parties stipulated and we find that the
following employees constitute a unit appropriate for
' In the absence of exceptions , we adopt , pro forma, the Regional
Director's recommendation that the Employer 's Objections 2 and 4 be
overruled.
2 In that case the Board held that payment to employees by a union for
the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All employees employed by the Employer who
are working in or out of the Seattle , Washington,
district office, excluding all office clerical employ-
ees, professional employees and supervisors as
defined in the act and those employees working in
the Tri Cities, Washington, vicinity and in
Vancouver, Washington, who are currently repre-
sented by another labor organization.
5. The Board has considered the objections, the
Regional Director's report, and the Employer's
exceptions and brief, and hereby adopts the Regional
Director's findings, and conclusions , as modified
herein, and his recommendations to overrule the
objections.'
With respect to Objection 1, the Regional Director
found that the Petitioner's offer to pay parking fees
incurred by employees while they voted in the
election, and its payment of such fees for those
employees who took advantage of the offer, did not
constitute objectionable conduct since there was no
evidence that any employee was given any sum of
money for parking or any other purpose at any time
prior to or after the election. In excepting thereto, the
Employer contends that the Petitioner's conduct in
this regard conferred a benefit on the employees as
they approached the polls and destroyed the neutrali-
ty of the polling place. We do not agree for the
reasons stated by the Regional Director and those set
forth below.
The Petitioner's offer was not conditioned on the
outcome of the election, how the employees voted, or
whether they had signed cards for it. Rather the offer
was open to all the employees who desired to avail
themselves of it, and, further, the facts establish that
the Petitioner did not know the identities of the
employees for whom it paid the parking fees until
after the election.
In addition, we find that the making of indirect
payments on behalf of eligible voters for the expense
of parking their automobiles, which was associated
with voting in the election, was in furtherance of the
electoral process and consequently cannot be con-
strued as conduct tending to interfere with the
employees exercising their free choice in the election.
Federal Silk Mills, 107 NLRB 876.2
Employer's Objection 5 alleges that "just prior to
the election, the [Petitioner] distributed literature by
which it promised to waive initiation fees if the
[Petitioner] prevailed in the election." The Regional
their expenses in driving other employees to the polling place was in
furtherance of the employees ' right to vote and therefore did not constitute
an inducement or benefit to gain their votes.
210 NLRB No. 156
LAWRENCE SECURITY, INC. 1049
Director found that the Petitioner stated the follow-
ing to the employees by letter during the critical
period:
Should the election favor Union-Representation,
all guards without exception who work for
LAWRENCE SECURITY SERVICE at the time
the National Labor Relations Board certifies the
Union as bargaining-agent will be able to join the
Union without paying an initiation fee.
The Regional Director concluded that Objection 5
should be overruled, based on the Board's decision in
DIT-MCO, Incorporated, 163 NLRB 1019.
The Employer's exceptions argue that the Supreme
Court's decision in N.L.R.B. v. Savair Manufacturing
Co., 414 U.S. 270 (1973), requires that the election be
set aside. We disagree.
The waiver was not conditioned upon the expres-
sion of support for the Petitioner in any form, but
was open to all employees employed as of the time of
certification of the Petitioner as their bargaining
representative. In such circumstances, we are of the
view that the Savair issue as presented by the
objection is governed by our holding in Endless
Mold, Inc., 210 NLRB No. 34, and, for the reasons
stated therein, we shall overrule Objection 5.
As we have overruled the objections and as the
tally of ballots shows that the Petitioner has obtained
a majority of the valid ballots cast, we shall certify it
as the collective-bargaining representative of the
employees in the appropriate unit.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVE
It is hereby certified that a majority of the valid
ballots has been cast for International Union of
Guards and Watchmen, Independent, and that,
pursuant to Section 9(a) of the National Labor
Relations Act, as amended, the said labor organiza-
tion is the exclusive representative of all the
employees in the unit found appropriate herein for
the purposes of collective bargaining with respect to
rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, or other
conditions of employment.