Missoula Textile Service

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 12, 1982

261 N.L.R.B. 816 (N.L.R.B. 1982)

DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Missoula Textile Services and International Associ-
ation of Machinists and Aerospace Workers,
AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 19-RC-10375
May 12, 1982
DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF
RESULTS OF ELECTION
BY MEMBERS FANNING, JENKINS, AND
ZIMMERMAN
Pursuant to authority granted it by the National
Labor Relations Board under Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a three-
member panel has considered the objection to an
election' held on December 18, 1981, and the
Acting Regional Director's report recommending
disposition of same. The Board has reviewed the
record in light of the exception and brief, and
hereby adopts the Acting Regional Director's find-
ing and recommendations, but only to the extent
consistent herein.
At issue is a ballot which is blank on its face, but
contained the word "No" written on its back. The
Acting Regional Director, relying on then-current
Board law, 2 recommended that the ballot be con-
sidered a void ballot. The Board has since enunci-
ated a new position on such ballots in Hydro Con-
duit.3 The Board will henceforth, consistent with
I The election was conducted pursuant to a Stipulation for Certifica-
tion Upon Consent Election. The tally was 11 for, and 11 against, the
Petitioner; there were no challenged ballots The tally included the ballot
at issue as a vote against the Petitioner
2 Staco, Inc., 234 NLRB 593 (1978); Manhattan Corporation, Manhattan
Guest Hlouse, Inc., 240 NLRB 272 (1979).
' Hydro Conduit Corporation, 260 NLRB 1352 (1982).
its policy of considering voter intent expressed ir-
regularly on the front of a ballot, also give effect to
the intent of the voter if such intent is manifested
on the back of the ballot. The voter here expressed
his intent to vote against representation by the
Union by writing "No" on the back of the ballot.
Therefore we find that the Board agent properly
counted the ballot as a vote against the Petitioner.
Accordingly, we shall certify the results of the
election.
CERTIFICATION OF RESULTS OF
ELECTION
It is hereby certified that a majority of the valid
ballots have not been cast for International Associ-
ation of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-
CIO, and that said labor organization is not the ex-
clusive representative of all the employees, in the
unit herein involved, within the meaning of Section
9(a) of the National Labor Relations Act, as
amended. 4
MEMBER JENKINS, dissenting:
For the reasons expressed in my dissenting opin-
ion in Hydro Conduit Corporation, 260 NLRB 1352,
I would adopt the Acting Regional Director's dis-
position of the issue presented here.
4 Member Fanning believes that a rule such as he proposed in Hydro
Conduit Corporation, 260 NLRB 1352, would be the most efficient and
cost effective way to handle cases of this kind. But, with due regard to
the Board's panel system of deciding most cases, since his colleagues
have rejected this approach, he would find that the disputed vote in this
case was a vote against the Union and he would certify that a majority of
the valid ballots have not been cast for the Petitioner
261 NLRB No. 116
816